Total Entries: 5 Jennifer Geoghegan Sunday, 1/27/02, 12:56 PM   I just wanted to say thank you for this web page. I read it and found I have already been doing alot of things with my hsuband like that. We were in a bad car accident in September. My husband has a traumatic brain injury he had a open head wound. He came out of his 7 week coma with speech and writing and long term memory and some short term memory still intact. It is hard and I can't wait to get him home. How long did it take to finally get your mother home?   From: Wisconsin E-mail: lileanme@yahoo.com   patti & al Tuesday, 1/22/02, 11:18 PM   happy new year   From: ft lauderdale E-mail: pathwl@webtv.net   patti & al Tuesday, 1/22/02, 11:18 PM   happy new year   From: ft lauderdale E-mail: pathwl@webtv.net   Tina Jones Thursday, 1/17/02, 9:10 AM   You have inspired me. I had a wreck in August of this year. I was hit by a gas 18 wheeler. I was in a coma for 29 days. I suffered brain injury as a result. I agree with you about family support. I have had alot. I could not do it if wasn't for my family & my determination. I have two boys, I was trying to get home to them and my husband.   From: Oneonta, Alabama Web Site: tinytina E-mail: ctjones@otelco.net   Kim Wednesday, 1/16/02, 6:01 PM   Hello again, Betsy. It has been over six months since I originally wrote in to thank you for your web site (see "Kim - 6/25/01"). At that time, my 76- year-old dad had just suffered a brain injury due to a 4-wheeler accident and being on a blood thinner. He had a cerebral hemmorrhage involving the left frontal lobe, 4 broken ribs, and was unable to move his right hand nor his legs, nor could he speak or swallow. I found and printed your Mom's story on your web site that night and showed it to my mom and sister the next day at the hospital. We followed your suggestions consistently day by day and kept things positive in spite of fear that was often overwhelming. Your words encouraged me greatly, and I found myself reading them over and over whenever I got discouraged or feared he might never recover. Two days after I wrote in, the ICU doctor at the hospital where he was at told us that Dad would have to have a tracheotomy and a feeding tube in his stomach the next day. They said they were disturbed by his sleeping and breathing patterns, and that he could not be woken up. It was very scarry that day. We held Dad's hand as he slept, told him how much we loved him and that he was going to be fine. My mom made the decision to have him flown that same day by helicopter to a well-known hospital in the Chicago area. Once there, the doctors who saw him felt that he did not need a trach nor a feeding tube, and the speech therapist there felt he could swallow enough to eat on his own. He ate solid food by mouth the next day and steadily improved little by little. Over the next few months, every tiny improvement was a milestone that we celebrated with him--when he moved his right thumb for the first time, his right toe, when he spoke his first words. We continued to pray and to keep things positive, even if we got a negative report from a doctor or from a physical therapist. There were many ups and downs during his recovery. One of us was at the hospital with Dad every day of the week every week, and we did not show him our fears. Dad started physical therapy in July at a sub- acute center. We helped with his therapy and arm massage, but only after getting the ok to do so by his physical therapist, just as your web site suggests. (I since learned that the reason that it's important to check with a doctor/therapist first is because doing massage to a swollen arm/leg can cause a clot.) By August, Dad was at a very aggressive rehabilitation center, and by the end of the month he was able to take some steps while assisted. My dad had an incredible will to get well again and to be self sufficient. He never complained, he just worked harder. By Christmas 2001 he was able to walk around the house with only a walker, and he recently started working on his taxes. Dad's plans are to take a trip out west this summer with Mom. I write this with tears welling up in my eyes a bit, because as I write, I remember my fears and my emotions last summer when things looked so grim. I am very thankful to God that He has healed my dad, and very thankful there was someone like you out there who has given her time to help others like you have with this site. I have left copies of your story in the ICU waiting rooms at both hospitals, and I have shared your web site many times. Your story and your ideas have meant a lot to our family as we put them into practice in our own situation and as my dad recovered over the last six months.   From: Union Mills, IN E-mail: kimberly.land@quantitude.com   (Members can delete entries.)