Wednesday, June 20, 2007
June Gloom-High School Cheer
It’s mid June and I’m behind in writing about Kathy. The last months have been interesting in observing how far Kathy has gone and how far she needs to go. Overall I fell Kathy is slowly coming back and needs more time (maybe a lot more time) to overcome her inability to control her thoughts and emotions as before. Let’s take this BLOG one step at a time:
Kathy’s shunt operation healing is progressing well and her only major surgery pain is from the incision made into the skull for her fluid valve. Most bone cuts like hers take a long time to stop aching. Her overall shunt operation success seems OK. The headaches, related to the shunts operation, have gone down significantly. Her slightest motion or head movement used to created sharp pains has now lessened. Unfortunately, the traumatic brain injury Kathy received is just going to give her some problems life long. Our doctor comments, symptoms of people with shunts tend to be unfortunate and at times difficult to deal with. Kathy has to attempt to just find a way to get them under control and minimize there impact on her life.
The bulk of the problems Kathy is having seem to be the way the brain is relearning how to process what a typical day shells out. The stress of all the variables, decisions, pressures, uncertainties are too much for Kathy. Until she has time to relearn what we all take for granted, then she will have difficulty in dealing with the symptoms. The constant muscles strains and tightening around the head and neck, stress related headaches and the uncertainty of what’s around the corner are all effects of her uncertainty.
The good news is that she will learn to handle these things better as she learns to grasp the tools to control these actions. Unfortunately it will many months and maybe years for this to happen. She’s almost like a small child having to learn control and the discipline of emotions. It takes kid years and some never get it-just ask me!
Lately, she is been going through a combination of Bio-Feedback therapy and special healing treatments that seem to be very successful. Watching Kathy get better, even more engrain into my beliefs, that the physical side of Kathy’s head pain is not as great as the internal issues. The minute by hour control of the brain and how it operates is the prime factor behind her getting measurably better in the future. After both treatments her headaches and pain go totally away.
I not an expert but somehow the different processes work on the internal control of her mind and allow the brain to be calm and operate in an efficient and controlled manner. Unfortunately these various treatments result in only short term improvements, only for a few hours or one day. It is significant enough to keep doing and the training of the mind could hasten her recovery.
Now, let’s get to Kathy’s walking after her double Achilles surgery. She is coming along and is finding good strength and healing on her left side. The right one continues to be problemic due to the nerve damage it received. Unfortunately she cannot balance with the foot being so weak and uncooperative and she needs help walking. We hope Kathy can overcome this physical retaining process and eventually walk without assistance. But as I have learned, for the first time in my life, a good dose of patience is always an important skill to acquire. He doctor feels Kathy will get back to a good percentage of her old skill level with her strong desire and hard ethic. Possibly in a year or two?
Kathy’s most recent problem is trying to deal with the realization that she will not be what she was 100%. When you have to go through something a horrible as this, it takes all your hopes and desires away. She is slowly integrating back into society and was able to enjoy going out and attending her daughter high school graduation last week! As, I explained to her, this is the reason you lived and weren’t taken away from us, to go to events like these. It was great to get out and inhale the moments we all live for.
Again, thank you all for your concerns and wishes. Kathy is very strong and one day I hope you will see her and not believe she changed one bit since before her accident. It can happen!
Kathy’s shunt operation healing is progressing well and her only major surgery pain is from the incision made into the skull for her fluid valve. Most bone cuts like hers take a long time to stop aching. Her overall shunt operation success seems OK. The headaches, related to the shunts operation, have gone down significantly. Her slightest motion or head movement used to created sharp pains has now lessened. Unfortunately, the traumatic brain injury Kathy received is just going to give her some problems life long. Our doctor comments, symptoms of people with shunts tend to be unfortunate and at times difficult to deal with. Kathy has to attempt to just find a way to get them under control and minimize there impact on her life.
The bulk of the problems Kathy is having seem to be the way the brain is relearning how to process what a typical day shells out. The stress of all the variables, decisions, pressures, uncertainties are too much for Kathy. Until she has time to relearn what we all take for granted, then she will have difficulty in dealing with the symptoms. The constant muscles strains and tightening around the head and neck, stress related headaches and the uncertainty of what’s around the corner are all effects of her uncertainty.
The good news is that she will learn to handle these things better as she learns to grasp the tools to control these actions. Unfortunately it will many months and maybe years for this to happen. She’s almost like a small child having to learn control and the discipline of emotions. It takes kid years and some never get it-just ask me!
Lately, she is been going through a combination of Bio-Feedback therapy and special healing treatments that seem to be very successful. Watching Kathy get better, even more engrain into my beliefs, that the physical side of Kathy’s head pain is not as great as the internal issues. The minute by hour control of the brain and how it operates is the prime factor behind her getting measurably better in the future. After both treatments her headaches and pain go totally away.
I not an expert but somehow the different processes work on the internal control of her mind and allow the brain to be calm and operate in an efficient and controlled manner. Unfortunately these various treatments result in only short term improvements, only for a few hours or one day. It is significant enough to keep doing and the training of the mind could hasten her recovery.
Now, let’s get to Kathy’s walking after her double Achilles surgery. She is coming along and is finding good strength and healing on her left side. The right one continues to be problemic due to the nerve damage it received. Unfortunately she cannot balance with the foot being so weak and uncooperative and she needs help walking. We hope Kathy can overcome this physical retaining process and eventually walk without assistance. But as I have learned, for the first time in my life, a good dose of patience is always an important skill to acquire. He doctor feels Kathy will get back to a good percentage of her old skill level with her strong desire and hard ethic. Possibly in a year or two?
Kathy’s most recent problem is trying to deal with the realization that she will not be what she was 100%. When you have to go through something a horrible as this, it takes all your hopes and desires away. She is slowly integrating back into society and was able to enjoy going out and attending her daughter high school graduation last week! As, I explained to her, this is the reason you lived and weren’t taken away from us, to go to events like these. It was great to get out and inhale the moments we all live for.
Again, thank you all for your concerns and wishes. Kathy is very strong and one day I hope you will see her and not believe she changed one bit since before her accident. It can happen!
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