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, 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 a week before Chris was completely
out of comatose state, 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; 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! Continued......PAGE 4
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