woodcraft

Glad to hear of the progress.

ptempel

Sorry for missing all of this until a few days ago. Then it took that time for me to catch up on the thread. I'm glad to read that Rowan is recovering well from the accident. Best wishes to you both and hope to get back to reading about your adventures soon. I've never had any experience on TBI. But your good links and the responses in this thread have educated me on it. Onward and upward...

- Philippe

Machka 

3 months & 3 days

Rowan came home this weekend for one night. It was a trial run to see how it would go, and in general, it went all right.

But he is still struggling with a lot of fatigue. He's got a way to go yet.

We live in a very hilly area so our walks this weekend were very short, but we did get out for a couple brief strolls.



We both thank you so much for all your thoughts and prayers.

2manybikes

That's nice to hear. Continued best wishes and hope for the future.

BobbyG

Great news!

JanMM

Going home - even if only for one night - is a good step forward.

Dave Cutter

Awesome to read he is progress so well. An over-night at home... what a great event.

LesterOfPuppets

That must've been really nice for the both of you.

So were you OK with him being home? As in not overly worried about anything going wrong?

Machka 

No, I wasn't overly worried about anything going wrong.


Rowan and I and two of his rehab team had done a home visit earlier in the week ... just a couple hours to look around the place and see if there were any areas of potential difficulties. But our place is not bad because the main living area is all one level, and while some access points outside are difficult (we're on quite a slope), there's one that is OK.


While there then, he had a bit of practice doing a few things, and we all felt confident he could manage the basics at least.


He does need to stop and rest a lot, which I was aware of so that was all right.

znomit

Wow that's great progress!

himespau 

Did he recognize the house/area?

Machka 

Yes, in fact prior to his short home visit last Tuesday, he had drawn some quite detailed floor plans for his rehab team.

Machka 

Physically, Rowan is doing reasonably well.

He's got manual dexterity so he's feeding himself, and even following the dining etiquette regarding utensils he was taught while growing up (something I never learned for some reason). He can write, although his handwriting has changed a little. He's been drawing floor plans of our house to show the therapists and keeping a log of the exercises he's doing.

He's showering, dressing, putting on his shoes and tying his laces, walking on his own without a walker or cane or anything, and doing his physio exercises, including riding the stationary bike sometimes. Regarding walking, our longest walk has been 2.5 km with 2 lengthy breaks along the way, so he's gaining strength.

He does have a few physical issues ... physio is working on some and some may resolve over time.

However, with regard to the brain injury, he is having some difficulty with fatigue, patchy memory (short and long term), moderate aphasia, and issues mainly related to a left brain injury.

But he does quite well with orientation (he was able to give very accurate directions to where we live and his drawings of our floorplans were good), math (or is it arithmetic? I said something was $15/month and he immediate said "$180/year" ... he's done that sort of thing a few times), and date & time.




Defining "fatigue" in Rowan's world ...

It's not: "if I got a solid 8 hours of sleep for a week, I'd feel less fatigued"

It is more like: "I waited till the last weekend before Christmas to do all my Christmas shopping, and decided to hit the biggest, most packed, shopping centre in town for an all-day shopping marathon ... flocks of screaming children, rude annoying people, loud music, bright colours, walking up and down and up and down, trying to decide, stores that don't have what I want, and someone just ran into me with their shopping cart." ... that sort of fatigue. Pounding headache, meltdown fatigue.

But for him, it doesn't take much to reach that point. So he keeps activities short and takes lots of breaks. And we avoid things like crowded cafes.

2manybikes

He's lucky to have you.

CliffordK

It sounds like things are going quite well... slow... but progressing well. I'm glad to hear that Rowan was home for a couple of days... hopefully those times will get longer.

Do the two of you drive? Can you drive? That might make a few things easier.

79pmooney

Sounds good, Machka. Rowen seems on schedule; ahead of my progress in some areas, behind in some other, but that is entirely to be expected. Physically I was ahead of Rowan. (I walked the two miles to PT for my second and third outpatient PT visit. Unintended consequence - they fired me. Said I was doing too well. That was the last of my followup except going back to the doctor a month later. Aftercare has changed a little in the past 40 years!)

At 4 months I still had a lot of manual skills to learn but I had suffered a bruise on the base of my motor nerves causing me loss of all right side learned skills. (I'm completely right handed,) By this time I could hold silverware just fine, tie my shoes, dress and the like but writing was going to wait until nearly a year passed and I started going to a tutor. I could remember what the letters looked like. I'd just never held a pen before. For that year, I couldn't write the simplest of phone messages fro my housemates. I relearned bike tool skills working at the shop that sponsored our club. (I'm sure they hired me as good PR.)

Take care of yourself, Machka. This is going to be as hard on you as on Rowen, but very different. Your friends will be seeing the changes in Rowan every time they see him. You will be seeing the Rowan who is a weird mix of college educated 6 yo and it will become very old. When your friends thrill in the changes, you will be seeing the now 7 yo. Keep your feelers out for those who "get it". You are going to need them.

I wore people out. I got to see who my true friends are. You are one of those friends for Rowan. You both are going to pull through this. But it is going to be the hardest thing each of you have ever done and it is going to test both of you to the core.

Ben, one of your believers

Machka 

Rowan drove, but cannot do that now. I used to drive a lot (up around 1000 km/week for a while there during my last year or two in Canada), but I have hardly driven since 2010. In the last year, I think I've driven a very short distance once, and I've never driven our "new" van which is the only one that works right now.


So I've been doing the "car free" thing since Rowan's accident. Fortunately, I was "car free" for about 6 years (1999-2005), so I've just reverted back to the way I did things then.

noglider 

I've been following Rowan's story here and on facebook, and I'm sorry about all these difficulties, and I'm encouraged by all the progress. I'm with you, in a virtual sense.

sevenmag

I haven't been on much at all for the last few weeks and just saw this thread. Mrs. Mag and I are sending all the good vibes we have your way and will be looking forward to hearing about his continued progress.

joewein

I am wishing Rowan continuous progress on his road to recovery.

Reynolds 

Great news Machka! Glad to hear about Rowan's steady progress.

Machka 

Rowan is home!

101 days after the accident he has finally returned home.

He will have full-time 5-day-a-week home care + Community Rehab for a while (weeks? months?) but gradually the home care will be reduced as he is able to be more independent.

The Community Rehab will likely be 5 days a week too, but just for short periods of time like perhaps an hour or two at most. They will pick him up and drop him off as well. The short time at Community Rehab is because of the fatigue I mentioned in an earlier post (Post 338). That will include physio, occupational therapy, and speech therapy (for his aphasia).


He will need to go for further testing soon because of headache/balance issues.

He'll have follow-up optical testing because of the double vision ... but he just got new glasses which have helped make things clearer at least.

He may need orthotics for his left foot because of some muscle/ligament issues there. (Incidentally, I may also need orthotics because an X-ray has revealed I have severe arthritis in one joint on my right foot and moderate arthritis in the matching joint of my left foot. Walking has become rather painful for me.)

And he'll need treatment for just a little while longer for the DVT he developed in his left arm.


They have said that his memory might improve a little bit more rapidly at home, for a while, because he can see more things which might trigger memories.


He still has a way to go, but I'm hoping all of this will be positive for both of us! Perhaps a bit more of a "normal" routine. For me, for example, it means I can come home at the usual time I used to come home after work, rather than late in the evening. For Rowan, things should be quieter and more comfortable.

CliffordK

It sounds like excellent news, although it will undoubtedly be busy at home for a bit.

I hope the transition goes well.

Machka 

Yes, although this weekend, I'm hoping we can keep things relatively quiet and low-key. Both of us need the rest!

We don't have to go anywhere at all for the next couple days which is really nice!

ericy

Very good news indeed.