The Cellar - Fuck Coma

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got an update call today while i was in my kayak....

positive signs, increased effort, along with the suggestion to begin plans for recovery from the medical staff..... that indicates hope. Seems like overwhelming odds have been overcome at this point. The road to recovery looks long and trying, but what a blessing to be on it at all!

be strong my friend.....and when that gets too hard, come talk to us about it.

I've obviously had this entire subject messed up, along with those affected, so let me just say that I fully sympathize with what you are going through, having been there myself some years past. Much energy and prayers are going out.

There's not much words can do -- except to say we're with you, and you shouldn't feel alone.

Thanks for the update Jim.

yesman we're thinking of you. *hugs*

More prayers for you, Yesman.

Oh wonderful, wonderful! Any step forward is an awesome thing. I'm so happy to hear it. The coming months will no doubt be hard, but the Yesman clan is a strong one!

I'm still sending good vibes and prayers your way. This is good news.

Is this the same coma as in the parenting thread?

Do we have an update?

I'm confused.

*sorry*

A friend emailed this to me ...
link
The author wrote so much better than I could have, but the post accident situational similarities are striking.

they are striking (no pun intended).

I haven't lived that chapter, and I'm very grateful I haven't. the author makes a mistake, saying the Jewish people are one, having come together like they did to support his family. That's not a Jewish quality, that is a human quality. We're all one people, and I cry when your son is hurt, regardless of where you worship.

Love your children today.

Posting the whole article for those of you who do not open links....

Gabrielle Giffords and You: The Truth About Brain Injuries

Quote:

Pretend for a moment that you are Gabrielle Giffords, about whom we are at last being told the truth. After 6 months of inpatient treatment, the best that money can buy, you can't speak fluently and must rely upon facial expressions and hand gestures to make up for words that vanish as you search for them. But continuing rehabilitation will not be available to you because your insurance won't pay for it.

Imagine yourself the victim of a serious brain injury: losing the ability to bathe yourself, feed and dress yourself, walk, and even think clearly. Imagine that the career you love will be lost, and that the people you once took care of must become your caretakers, unless you can get further treatment.

No effort or force of will can prevent your personality, relationships, and career from being seriously and possibly irrevocably changed.

Those are often the consequences of even a "mild" brain injury. Every 19 seconds someone in the US sustains a traumatic brain injury, and 90,000 Americans are left with long term disabilities each year. These alarming numbers do not include military personnel, tens of thousands of whom also suffer a TBI annually.

Unlike Gabrielle Giffords, their inpatient rehabilitation ends after 6-12 weeks, not 6 months. They will be discharged the moment they can transfer from bed to commode and use a walker, even if they are incoherent and cannot take care of themselves in the simplest ways.

Once at home, visits to a cognitive, speech or occupational therapist are limited by insurance policies to 12 to 15 hours total. Ready or not, you are then forced to rely on whatever resources you and your family can muster. No one will pay for the years of therapy that your recovery would require.

Giffords may someday be able to return to Congress, but she will need a great deal of assistance to track details of policies and news stories, read proposals, summarize meetings, and write speeches. These high-level skills will take years to fully integrate. Most brain injury patients do not have their job waiting for them, much less the medical care, support staff, and cognitive, speech and physical therapy to assist them with that job until they are up to the task themselves.

Giffords's office has urged President Obama to require that insurance companies offer all brain injury patients the same continuity, quality, and duration of inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation services that are being provided to Giffords at taxpayer expense. Congress should mandate this coverage so that ordinary people with brain injuries, both veterans and civilians, have a chance to return to their careers.

It is a national tragedy for a gunman to shoot a US congresswoman in the brain, but it is a national disgrace that most brain injured civilians and military personnel in the US never receive the therapy necessary to recover any semblance of their former lives.

Link

Thank goodness for the NHS.
At least before the Tories get a chance to dismantle it.

Not that the rich and powerful need it of course. If you go private (pay for it) you'll get the same treatment as Gabriel Giffords. Extremely expensive of course, but you get to dictate your own treatment (to an extent). The downside of the NHS is form filling and box ticking; especially proving that you need the help.

They were talking of "rehabilitating" Grandad, with occupational therapy and more visits from carers. With Mum fighting on his behalf all the way, Grandad went into a Nursing Home and is now cared for 24 hours. Falls and bouts of diarrhoea and dehydration are all taken care of. Mum managed as long as she could, but he is so in the right place.

Once again I say - thank FSM for the welfare state.
So sorry for those who have no access to care and treatment when it could make all the difference to them or those they love.