Mom's Story: Rehab
After a long and hard trip we arrived at the James A. Haley VA Hospital
in the late afternoon. Chris had not had a good day and I was getting
to the end to the point that the dam was going to bust. Well it did, I
came into the hospital where I saw many older veterans. This is not
what I expected! This wasn’t the wonderful rehab center I had
pictured in my head! This was an old sick people’s home! The
Army was sending him here to be warehoused! I was mortified! This is my
child he didn’t belong HERE! I started to cry and I
didn’t stop! Chris was brought up to the TBI ward and the
nurses all started to tend to him, they put him in a vale bed, I called
it a CAGE! Everything they tried to do for him I cried, I mean I cried
uncontrollably! One nurse took me aside and with a very calming voice
asked me where I was staying, I told her and she recommended that I
call another place better suited. I made reservations where she
suggested; she helped me with my bags and drove me to my hotel. I spent
the rest of the night upset and crying, I hadn’t gotten very
upset about the whole situation until this day. I guess it was just my
time to fall apart!
The next day brought new light to me and I was ready to see what wonderful things were going to happen here. I kept telling myself I need to give this place a chance, afterall, they know what they are doing! I have to calm down get my senses back and learn what I have to do to get my son better! It was obvious that the staff here was used to handling TBI patients, they had special beds and a system in place for new patients. But you see I didn’t know them and this was my son! I was back in my helpful hint mode for a while and I needed to know that my son was going to get what he was entitled to! It took almost another week before Chris was completely out of comatose state, and during that week they spent time evaluating his whole condition. Chris had very little used of his left side, his left arm was flexed up into his chest, and he had uncontrollable tremors, clonus, in his left leg. He had lost all sense of balance; he could not even sit upright. His eyes were so dark, almost black, not the soft baby blue they had always been, and he would stare into blank space, I often wondered if he had any idea what was going on. His face looked somewhat distorted, the loss of control of the left side caused a droop and he had lost so much weight he was like a skeleton. He would only respond to yes and no questions with a shake or nod, words were few and far between. When he did speak it seemed the only thing he wanted was to have a cigarette! He had never been a heavy smoker but now he was obsessive about it.
In the beginning it was tough for the therapists to work with him, little by little he became more aware and with the persistence of his therapists he was making progress. His therapists were wonderful; the Physical Therapist and Speech Therapist worked especially hard all the time. PT worked on balance, strength, and control. Speech worked on his voice, breathing, cognitive problems, speed of processing, memory etc. Like in every hospital, shortages of staff and therapists, it’s hard for all of the patients to get everything that is needed; also some patients need allot more care than others need. I decided that the only way Chris was going to get all the treatment I thought he needed was for me to stay with him and be the therapist’s aid. I would spend time in therapy with him and learn everything I could so that in his off time I could continue to work with him. Please understand I knew I was not going to learn in a few hours what they had spent years learning, but they also didn’t know him like I did! I knew his motivation level and I wanted to make sure that if and when he was ready to work, someone was going to be there to help him work. That meant we spent many hours, playing cards, picking up coins, watching TV, looking at pictures, sitting, standing, voice exercises, socializing and anything else that he was ready to try! There was a time that his team had requested that I not be there all the time, they were afraid that he was getting too much assistance from me and it would not help him be independent. I understood this and assured them I will follow not lead and I will help, I will not do. They agreed that this was fine, and that it did seem to help that I was there.
Chris always had a NEVER give up, attitude. This attitude was seen everyday in his therapy sessions, he said over and over “I will do anything to get better.” and that attitude has continued on. I mention the social part of his therapy because I know that it was just as important as everything else was. We spent time rolling the halls and meeting the veterans Chris’ pride, of the Army was felt by many of them and he made life long friends. Chris had many visitors in Tampa his Dad, brother, sister in law, cousin and his family, and many other friends came to see him. Once again some of the soldiers from Chris’ unit came; it amazed me over and over how much support they offered.
We had been at the James A Haley hospital for about 6 weeks and the team had decided that it was time for Chris to move on to the next phase, going back to Walter Reed Hospital for continued therapy and medical board proceedings. It was amazing the amount of progress that had taken place. Chris’ memory was intact, both short and long term, this is one area that always seems to suffer but in Chris’ case he was spared. His left arm was now almost straight, and he had some control of his left hand. He was upright! He had a center of balance, and he could walk, he had a very stiff gate and needed a cane or assistance but he could walk! Chris would tire easily but this improved with time. By this time Chris was talking much better too, he would talk in short sentences and his vocabulary was good. He had been on a respirator for so long that he suffered some respiratory compromise, he would get short of breath and talking was hard. I know the smoking didn’t help but no one could get him to stop!
The next day brought new light to me and I was ready to see what wonderful things were going to happen here. I kept telling myself I need to give this place a chance, afterall, they know what they are doing! I have to calm down get my senses back and learn what I have to do to get my son better! It was obvious that the staff here was used to handling TBI patients, they had special beds and a system in place for new patients. But you see I didn’t know them and this was my son! I was back in my helpful hint mode for a while and I needed to know that my son was going to get what he was entitled to! It took almost another week before Chris was completely out of comatose state, and during that week they spent time evaluating his whole condition. Chris had very little used of his left side, his left arm was flexed up into his chest, and he had uncontrollable tremors, clonus, in his left leg. He had lost all sense of balance; he could not even sit upright. His eyes were so dark, almost black, not the soft baby blue they had always been, and he would stare into blank space, I often wondered if he had any idea what was going on. His face looked somewhat distorted, the loss of control of the left side caused a droop and he had lost so much weight he was like a skeleton. He would only respond to yes and no questions with a shake or nod, words were few and far between. When he did speak it seemed the only thing he wanted was to have a cigarette! He had never been a heavy smoker but now he was obsessive about it.
In the beginning it was tough for the therapists to work with him, little by little he became more aware and with the persistence of his therapists he was making progress. His therapists were wonderful; the Physical Therapist and Speech Therapist worked especially hard all the time. PT worked on balance, strength, and control. Speech worked on his voice, breathing, cognitive problems, speed of processing, memory etc. Like in every hospital, shortages of staff and therapists, it’s hard for all of the patients to get everything that is needed; also some patients need allot more care than others need. I decided that the only way Chris was going to get all the treatment I thought he needed was for me to stay with him and be the therapist’s aid. I would spend time in therapy with him and learn everything I could so that in his off time I could continue to work with him. Please understand I knew I was not going to learn in a few hours what they had spent years learning, but they also didn’t know him like I did! I knew his motivation level and I wanted to make sure that if and when he was ready to work, someone was going to be there to help him work. That meant we spent many hours, playing cards, picking up coins, watching TV, looking at pictures, sitting, standing, voice exercises, socializing and anything else that he was ready to try! There was a time that his team had requested that I not be there all the time, they were afraid that he was getting too much assistance from me and it would not help him be independent. I understood this and assured them I will follow not lead and I will help, I will not do. They agreed that this was fine, and that it did seem to help that I was there.
Chris always had a NEVER give up, attitude. This attitude was seen everyday in his therapy sessions, he said over and over “I will do anything to get better.” and that attitude has continued on. I mention the social part of his therapy because I know that it was just as important as everything else was. We spent time rolling the halls and meeting the veterans Chris’ pride, of the Army was felt by many of them and he made life long friends. Chris had many visitors in Tampa his Dad, brother, sister in law, cousin and his family, and many other friends came to see him. Once again some of the soldiers from Chris’ unit came; it amazed me over and over how much support they offered.
We had been at the James A Haley hospital for about 6 weeks and the team had decided that it was time for Chris to move on to the next phase, going back to Walter Reed Hospital for continued therapy and medical board proceedings. It was amazing the amount of progress that had taken place. Chris’ memory was intact, both short and long term, this is one area that always seems to suffer but in Chris’ case he was spared. His left arm was now almost straight, and he had some control of his left hand. He was upright! He had a center of balance, and he could walk, he had a very stiff gate and needed a cane or assistance but he could walk! Chris would tire easily but this improved with time. By this time Chris was talking much better too, he would talk in short sentences and his vocabulary was good. He had been on a respirator for so long that he suffered some respiratory compromise, he would get short of breath and talking was hard. I know the smoking didn’t help but no one could get him to stop!