We are eight-year survivors of a traumatic brain injury. Jessica is the survivor; Garry is the caregiver.
We believe we are working toward a successful recovery from Jessica’s TBI. But what is a “successful" recovery from a brain injury? How do survivors and caregivers survive successfully? We are examining these questions for a forthcoming book: We Changed Our Minds: Successfully Surviving a Brain Injury.
Of course, by “successful” we do not mean a complete recovery—a return to the person you were before the injury. The most important element to a successful recovery is acknowledging and learning to live with the permanent impairments caused by the brain injury. Without this understanding by both survivor and caregiver, the recovery is doomed to failure!
For instance, Jessica has slowly developed a full, satisfying, and productive new life despite considerable cognitive, physical, emotional, and behavioral impairments. She exercises regularly at the gym. She volunteers at a hospice and a pediatric intensive care unit. She is an active volunteer and member of the board of directors of a monkey sanctuary. She has turned our house into a foster home for rescued cats. She participates in a monthly book discussion group. Moreover, she has developed a wide circle of warm and caring, bright and energetic, friends, who through their joint activities challenge Jessica to continue her recovery every day.
However, in the early stages of Jessica's recovery, we felt that we were barely hanging in there, certainly not "succeeding." As we look back over what we've learned during the past eight years, all too often we say to each other:
Why didn't we think of that?
For example, in the beginning Garry wishes someone had forcefully encouraged him to take better care of himself and to accept more of the many offers from others to help care for Jessica. He often was far too tired and frazzled to be a good caregiver. If he had relaxed more, outside the physically and emotionally draining world of brain injury, his time with Jessica would have been more productive and satisfying for both of them.
Jessica regrets not being more assertive in challenging the therapists and doctors in her outpatient rehabilitation when they emphasized one area of her rehabilitation (recreational therapy) at the expense of an area that she felt was far more important (speech therapy).
Our accomplishments and failures over the past eight years have taught us much that can be useful to others. We want to share this information through our book, so that others facing brain injury will have the resources we lacked.
We also recognize that there is a wealth of information on recovering successfully from a brain injury that we still have to learn. Therefore, We are asking for your help.
How do you define a "successful" recovery? Are you recovering "successfully?" What advice do you have for survivors and their families who are just beginning their recovery?
This is your opportunity to help our readers become successful survivors. Correspondents who provide material used in the book will be recognized, but only with their permission. Also, we will donate any profits from the book to brain injury associations.
We would be grateful to hear from you. Together, we can make life easier for future survivors of brain injury and their caregivers.
Garry Prowe and Jessica Whitmore are writing a book titled We Changed Our Minds: Successfully Surviving a Brain Injury. This article is the first in a series that will cover many aspects of the recovery and rehabilitation from a brain injury. The purpose of the series is to examine the elements that contribute to a "successful" recovery from the perspective of both the survivors and their caregivers.
This material is provided by:
Lash & Associates Publishing Training Inc.
708 Young Forest Drive, Wake Forest NC 27587
Tel: (919) 562-0015 www.lapublishing.com
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