These are fictitious journal entries written by a husband whose wife sustained a closed head injury.  He is expressing

how he feels about the changes that have occurred since his wife's accident and explaining his wife's therapy sessions.

This unifying genre ties all of my genres together.

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September 27, 2005

When I awoke this morning I found Andrea sitting on the porch playing with our cat.  I cannot get over how she still calls him Smokey, which is the name of her first cat she had as a child.  I have been trying to correct her for the past few weeks, but I know it just isn’t sinking in.  In fact, I have been helping her remember everyone’s name by looking at old pictures.  I just thank God that she remembers mine and especially Sarah’s, our three-year old daughter.  

After I finally talked Andrea into coming inside to eat breakfast that I made, I realized that I still had to hurry up and get ready for work.  This waking up at five every weekday is really draining me down.  It never took me two and a half hours to get ready for anything, but things have changed a lot around here since the car accident.  I wake up every morning to find Andrea asleep on the couch or sitting on the porch swing.  I cook breakfast for her and Sarah hoping that neither of them argue with me about what I made.  You think the little one would be more picky, but around here it is the opposite now.  Next, I try to get ready.  This takes over an hour because there are several interruptions from both of them.  Then around seven-thirty Andrea’s mother arrives as I walk out the door.  I do not know what I would do without Sandra.  She has been such a great support ever since this all started.  

Everyday that I arrive at work at least two of my co-workers ask how things are going at home and if there are any improvements with Andrea.  They all know the struggles that I endure everyday, and they remind me that they continue to pray for a full recovery.  I am just happy that Tom is always there to listen and help me research new information.  Just the other day he found a great pamphlet online that has some very informative information about closed head injuries. He is very supportive because he knows the changes that can occur after a loved one experiences a brain injury.  (His wife fell off of a horse and sustained a head injury three years ago.) 

After work I drove straight home to relieve Sandra.  Of course she stuck around for a while to tell me how the day went. She first showed me a poem that she found sitting on the kitchen table that Andrea wrote.  This poem made me realize that Andrea is blaming all of her changes and struggles on the accident, but on the positive side she is still very grateful that she is alive.  Next, Sandra told me how Andrea argued and yelled at her a few times.  I am always happy to hear this only because it allows me to realize that Andrea acts the same around everyone that is close to her.  I know that she still loves me even though she says she wants to divorce me everyday. (I pray that she still loves me!) We were so much in love before her car accident.  Ever since high school everyone knew that we were meant for each other.  I just hope she completely recovers because I am terrified that our lives might one day change if she doesn’t.

Later that evening we ate dinner and decided to rent a movie.  During the movie all three of us snuggled up on the couch like we used to. (I wish our relationship was like this all of the time.)  Of course Andrea’s attention span was lost half way through the movie.  Maybe we will be able to finish the movie tomorrow.  That is if she remembers it.

After I decided it was time for bed, Andrea wanted to tuck Sarah into bed.  I allowed her but still kept a close eye on her from the hallway.  She is a great mother, but I still want to make sure our little girl gets a good night kiss every night.  (Sometimes Andrea accidentally forgets simple things like this)  Next, I asked Andrea where she wanted to sleep.  After she answered, I prayed to God that I will lucky enough to wake up with her beside me in the morning.   

 

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September 30, 2005

When I awoke this morning Andrea and Sarah were already up eating breakfast.  I accidentally made the mistake of teasing them by asking them were mine was.  (Andrea takes every comment that is said serious now.  She just cannot pick up on sarcasm anymore.)  After our small argument, I reminded her of what we had in store for the day.  (It was an appointment with a speech-language pathologist.)  After she complained for about an hour I helped her get ready.  We then left the house around nine and dropped Sarah off at Sandra’s house. 

Once we arrived at Wheeling’s Speech and Hearing Clinic I could tell that Andrea was becoming very frightened.  Therefore, I reminded her that her neurologist, Dr. Andrews, would not send a referral letter to a SLP that would not be concerned about her condition or not be able to help her with her recovery.  Once the SLP came to get us in the waiting room she politely introduced herself and lead us back to a therapy room.  She started out by telling us a little bit about her interests. She also informed us that we could find out more about her by checking out her webliography online at http://mupfc.marshall.edu/~miller255/webliography.htm. Next, she explained how long the evaluation was going to take and summarized what would be taking place during it. 

The SLP first started out by asking several questions about Andrea’s accident, her family, her previous doctors, and what troubles her the most.  Andrea tried to answer the majority of the questions, but I chimed in whenever she needed help.  Next, the SLP gave me a rating scale to complete called the Profile of Executive Functioning.  This scale was used to help measure Andrea's functioning level (Proctor, Wilson, Sanchez, & Wesley, 2000). While I was filling the profile out, a test was administered to Andrea.  It was called the Scale of Cognitive Ability for Traumatic Brain Injury.  It was used to establish the severity of her injury. After the test was completed the SLP asked her to do several other tasks.  Of course Andrea became frustrated and even outraged once when she could not remember the list of words that she was supposed to repeat back.  It seems like her short-term memory has been impaired the most since she awoke from her coma.  After all of the questions were asked and the tests were administered the SLP discussed Andrea’s strengths and weaknesses. She then provided me with me a link to a PowerPoint.  She told me that it included several communication, behavioral, and cognitive issues that take place after a closed head injury is sustained. In addition, she said it also explained several therapy methods that can be considered when these type of issues occur. Last but not least, she suggested that Andrea should attend speech therapy twice a week. All three of us agreed that therapy would be the right decision.

On our ride home Andrea talked up a storm about the SLP.  She kept saying over and over how nice and pretty she was.  I just hope that when she starts therapy that her therapist will be the same lady because that will be her motivation to go everyday.  We stopped by Sandra’s on our way home to pick up Sarah.  Once Sarah saw her mom she ran directly to her and hugged her.  I live for moments like this and do not know what I would have done if Andrea never woke up from her coma.  Thank you God for not taking her away from us!

 

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November 11, 2005

It has been almost three months since the car accident, and I am starting to see some improvements with Andrea’s communication skills and memory problems.  I feel that this is because she has been attending speech therapy for about six weeks now.  I am really excited about all of this because I now know that she might have a chance for a complete recovery or I hope at least come close to one.

Andrea attends therapy two times a week, and each session last about 45 minutes each. Well, this usually depends on the mood that Andrea is in.  On Tuesdays I usually take her to the clinic to observe her session and talk to the SLP while on Thursdays Susan and Sarah go with her. After every session the SLP allows me to speak with her and ask any questions that I have.  She has been informing me about several of the methods that she has been using in order to improve Andrea’s communication and language skills.  Some of these include functional activities and compensatory strategies (Coelho & DeRuyter, 1996).  One compensatory strategy that the SLP recommends Andrea to use is a day planner.  The day planner helps her with her memory problems.  In addition to writing things in her planner, I believe Andrea developed her own compensatory strategy.  She prints off every email or article she reads on the internet. This allows her to read them again incase she forgets what they were about.  In fact, just the other day I found a large stack of journal articles that she must have read and several email exchanges that took place a few weeks ago between Andrea and her best friend, Jen.  As long as this helps her remember, I do not care how much ink or paper I have to buy.

This past Tuesday was her sixth week in therapy.  Therefore, the SLP scheduled a meeting with Andrea and I  to talk about the improvements she is making.  The SLP explained that her rapid improvements were a combination of her attending all of her therapy sessions, and the great effort that Andrea and I put forth at home with her so called “homework.”  Therefore, I am now more determined to complete every assignment or task with Andrea even if it is going to cause a disagreement or consume a majority of our time.

 

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References:

Coelho, C.A., & DeRuyter, F. (1996). Treatment efficacy: Cognitive-communication disorders resulting form traumatic brain injury in adults.

     Journal of Speech & Hearing Research, 39 (5), 22-35. Retrieved October 5, 2005, from the ERIC database.

Proctor, A., Wilson, B., Sanchex, C., & Wesley, E. (2000). Executive function and verbal working memory in adolescents with closed head injury.

     Brain Injury, 14 (7), 633-647. Retrieved October  5, 2005, from the ERIC database.

 

 

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