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Brain injury affects families. While injured brains share common symptoms, no two brain injuries are exactly alike. That is the reason the best care and the best hope for becoming a successful survivor lies with having knowledgeable and loving family members.
A victim of brain injury must have hope, a plan, and resources in order to be successful. There must be at least one loyal person who will become the primary caregiver.
Let's take a look at brain injury using pictures to help us understand why it can be so overwhelming.
All traumatic brain injuries share a common beginning. Life is going along normally just like everyone else. And then...an unexpected and unwanted event happens.
Photo licensed from iStockphoto |
Brain injury is similar to the ground giving way and the person falling into a deep crevice.
Family members stand atop the crevice while the injured person is far below struggling for life or seeking a return to "the way it was." |
Photo licensed from iStockphoto |
Your loved ones, deep in the crevice, finds that they are trapped in a fog because their brain is not doing what it once did.
They cannot remember things: names, places, people, events. They have trouble coming up with the correct words when trying to talk.
Something is wrong, but they don't know what it is.
Not knowing becomes a problem, itself. |
Photo licensed from iStockphoto |
Your loved ones are scared, handcuffed by an unwanted reality they don't understand.
They may tend to deny anything is wrong while they struggle with little things that seem so hard now.
Fear of the unknown and not being able to perform simple things leads to mental fatigue, and they become very easily irritated.
Irritation is a natural response when things are not going right. |
Photo licensed from iStockphoto |
Your loved ones are chained in a new reality on the other side of the crevice.
More problems arise:
...memory
...thinking
...behavior changes
A chain of events can easily begin to take root and overwhelm them.
...mental fatigue
...confusion
...frustration
...guilt
...depression
This Cycle of Response can have devastating results. A good portion of our book examines this Cycle.
What you should know now is that the Cycle must be stopped before it reaches the far side of depression. |
Photo licensed from iStockphoto |
Beth's favorite phrase, if you don't already have it memorized, is "Knowledge is power to a brain injured person."
It is imperative that you, the family caregiver, arm yourself with knowledge that you can share with your loved one. You are the rescue team. |
Photo licensed from iStockphoto |
Caregiver knowledge allows you to move to the other side of that vast crevice between you and your loved ones.
No one understands the changes in your loved ones more than you. You will learn what you can do to reach out to your loved ones.
You will help them find strategies to deal with behavioral, memory, and cognitive problems.
Dozens of strategies Beth and I developed over the years appear in our book. Many of the aids we used can be downloaded free on this website. |
Photo licensed from iStockphoto |
Caregivers can find help, knowledge, and support in many places.
Let someone else give you a supporting hand, someone who lives in the world of brain injury and has overcome the obstacles you face.
Support groups can be the best help you can find.
Most support groups are run by volunteers; most are caregivers who understand what you need to know.
If there is not a local group in your area, you can find groups online. |
If your family has been fortunate enough to have a professional team working with you, there is something you need to know. The day will come when the professional team goes away, but the brain injury will still be there.
Physical therapists can do only so much, but the therapy, to be successful, must be continued. The same goes for any services you have obtained from speech and occupational therapists or social workers.
Let me say this again. In order to develop a successful lifestyle, a brain injured person must have hope, a plan, resources and at least one loyal person to guide them along the way.
Our pledge to you is that we will continue to develop resources for your use on this website. Our World, the world of brain injury, adds thousands of "citizens" each week...each week...each week. Some will not be diagnosed with brain injury. Most will not have insurance coverage for brain injury rehabilitation.
Those facts, however, do not mean they should just accept things for what they are. They need for you to become an active caregiver who can share information with them, and they need for us to continue to share information with them.
Benjamin Franklin, at the signing of America's Declaration of Independence, said, "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately." That is equally true for those of us living in Our World. Together, we can make a difference.
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