Returning to the Nest

After my accident, during my time in the hospital (3 weeks) I lost a lot of weight – 35-40lbs; mainly muscle. I was fed with a feeding tube and because of all the pain that I was in I was vomiting non-stop. There were a lot of personality changes as well. I have always been someone who is very compliant and if someone tells me not to do something, I won’t do it. This all changed though right after the accident. While I don’t remember anything from this time, when I had a feeding tube in, I was constantly pulling it out. I would be told not to remove it and then I would immediately pull it. They ended up putting me in restraints to stop me from pulling it out. I would then ask everyone to untie me, promise that I wouldn’t yank it out, and then proceed to yank it out. (Edit: because it’s yank not hank) One of my nurses (poor guy) made a deal with me that he would undo one restraint if I promised not to undo the others. Of course I promised not to pull it out and then immediately broke my word. Luckily, once I had my surgery, and the pressure on my brain decreased, this side of my personality went back to normal. The doctors warned my parents that I might be different. They told them that some people become withdrawn and shy after an accident. To which my roommate replied – “She couldn’t possibly become more shy!” He was right about there being some changes to my personality as I would say that I am a lot more assertive now than I used to be. Whether that is because of the brain injury or the test of character and strength that I would have to endure I couldn’t tell you.

These photos were taken post surgery and you can see the bruising from the surgery. My surgery scar starts about an inch from my hairline and goes across the top of my head, down the back, and comes out over the top of my ear. As you can see from these photos, they only shaved the area around my scar. Which is nice. I have a lot of hair so it covered up the area where the bone flap was removed.

After my first surgery, because my right bone flap was out, I had to be extremely careful at all times. As I mentioned, I had lost a lot of muscle and I was very weak. I needed support in order to stand and my legs would shake beneath me. I didn’t have the strength to walk with assistance more than a few steps. My mom, who is a Godsend, would get me out of my bed several times a day to walk me to help build up my strength. We would walk a few steps, go back to bed. Building up bit by bit until I was able to walk down the hallway while holding on to her for support. It was a slow process. I was considered a “falls risk” so I had to be monitored at all times and there wasn’t much that I could do on my own. I was just to weak to do it. I was also SO TIRED all. the. time. I slept most of the day everyday. I was constantly falling asleep. After the surgery when they removed the feeding tube I couldn’t even feed myself more than a bite or two before falling asleep. My mom, who never left my side (she’s amazing!!) would feed me to ensure that I ate. When they remove your bone flap, they have to cut your jaw muscle, so I had to have a special soft solids diet. I also had trouble swallowing liquids so I had to have all of my liquids thickened.

Back To The Nest

When the time came for me to be discharged it was decided that I would go back to my parents house. They are both retired so they would be home all day with me and my mom was a registered nurse so she would know how to look after me. It was expected that the flap would be out for three months to give enough time for the brain swelling to decrease. So we all anticipated that I would be at my parents house for this length of time (Spoiler: I’m still here). I required 24hour care due to how weak I was and I needed a lot of support. With everything – feeding, bathing, dressing, walking, everything! In addition to being so weak, I would get dizzy all the time. It would happen whenever I would sit, stand up, or lie down. I had to be at a 30 degree angle when lying down because I couldn’t be flat. My mom has been so great! She was an amazing support system to me during my recovery. I am so lucky to have the mother that I do who so willingly put aside her own life in order to look after me. When I was in the hospital she was there with me all day and night. The only time she left was to shower when another family member would come in and relieve her. She is my guardian angel and guard dog. No one messed with me when Margaret was around.

I know that it was a long post, so if you made it to the end, thank you for sticking around!

Charlene xoxo