Hi Deb and thanks for the great update. Your outing sounds wonderful and I can appreciate your last sentence. You reminded me that about a year and 3 months after my brain injury, my husband and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. Well, we went out to a movie and then dinner. Before my injury, my husband never went to the movies; he preferred to rent DVD's so I went to the movies with girlfriends. After our anniversary movie, several women came up to me and said that I was so smart to bring my husband to this movie and they were going to come back with their husbands. Well, if I knew them, I would have shared that yes there was something about me almost dying that my husband was now agreeable to going to the movies with me ... lol!
Susan. It is opposite for me. I never would go to the movies before I met my boyfriend 4 years ago. Since I met him I have seen more movies in the past 4 years than I’d have ever seen. So going to the movies is something he likes to do, that’s why I took him. While we were at the show he went into the men’s room and was taking a while. I started to be concerned so I asked a guy who was near there to go check on him. He came back out and said he seemed to be fine. We started talking and come to find out he had an AVM removed in 1996! Talk about a small world!
My boyfriend and I have always had a strong bond, but there is something to be said about a stronger bond once you almost lose them. It was a good day and he was able to struggle out two short sentences.
Thanks for your continued support. This site has really been a big help.
Deb
Deb, thanks so much for the story you shared and yes sometimes it seems like a small world! I'm thrilled to hear this site has helped you!
Well said, Deb!
Good luck, again, to both of you two.
Lisa
Thank you so much, and I look forward to hearing good news from you, that your last AVM has been obliterated!
That's great - wonderful that you have a teaching background, too. We were just lucky that my brother's therapy was covered (we live in Canada, so I think it might be different in the U.S.?) but it only lasted a few months and the rest has been on his own, mainly. I remember the speech therapists telling us about some great websites to help with aphasia and apraxia of speech (hope I spelled those right!)...I'll see if I have a record of them anywhere, or maybe you could Google them. AMAZING that your boyfriend already made it to a movie...a sense of normalcy is the best therapy :))
Goldilocksrox,
Here is something else that helped me to recover. Going thru my recovery, I tried to always focus on any big, and even small POSITIVES in my recovery. (For instance, with my paralyzed side, I remember that it got better slowly. So, I watched and watched, and little by little, maybe week to week or months to months I might see just a subtle improvement. Whenever I saw just a little improvement, I was THRILLED!) I still have a block out memory, and being in the rehabilitation center is part of my memory loss. So, I am not sure how long I was paralyzed, but I was in 2 rehab centers doe around 1 ¼ years.
So both of you, try your best to stay positives! That was a key for me.
Lisa
Thanks for your reply Lisa. I kind of wonder how much he remembers from the hospital and rehab stay. He still isn’t speaking much. He will repeat words that I ask him to, but any sentence is a struggle. He knows what he has to do to get his strength back and is doing leg and arm lifts on his own. He was very fit and went to the gym daily before this happened, so he is trying real hard to get better. I do remind him every time that he does something new that he couldn’t do that before so he knows that he is improving.
Glad to hear you got your strength back and are doing well,
Deb
Sounds like he will, too, because he is a survivor AND he has good support system that is including YOU! As you mentioned that he is very fit, do not you think that that is going to help him even more to overcomes some of the set backs going on right now with him? I hope and bet so.
For around 15 years, you would not believe how many current and former patients have told me that they have no memory of their trauma/hospital/rehab period. I think people, including myself, block out such horrible memories ON PURPOSE, because it was such a terrible time. I could be wrong, but that makes sense to me.
Try the best for both of you two to focus on the FUTURE, too.
Lisa
One more thing. In my recovery, I did not even speak a word for about 4-5 months. So your boyfriend is doing 10 times better that I was after the fifth week!
Now, I might be just a blabber mouth, and no one can shut me up!!
Lisa
Thanks for your reply Lisa, I asked him if he remembers being in the hospital and he said no. I know a lot about amnesia. My mom has had it for over 20 years after viral encephalitis. She has a memory span of about 5 min. Then everything is forgotten. I know that trauma can cause a memory deficit around the time of the trauma then it it restored. Unfortunately for my mom the attack was too severe.
I am seeing improvement with my boyfriend speech every day. Flash cards are getting easier and so is his ability to repeat words I say and he is even saying short sentences with difficulty but at least he is trying.
Glad to hear you are a blabber mouth now. That is great news to me.
Deb
Hi again Deb and I apologize if I have shared this story with you prior to now. After my burst in May of 2011, I was hospitalized for 9 weeks. The first 5 weeks were in the I.C.U. of one hospital and I have absolutely no memory of this time even though I was told my husband came every day from morning until night, my children visited me, plus I had other visitors. The final 4 weeks were in rehab at another location and my memory of this time was as if I was a visitor and not a patient! Per my concern, my husband assured me that I was polite, however, I am still stunned about my distorted memory of 9 weeks of my life! So, yes I can substantiate your statement about trauma. Deb, I love the picture of your boyfriend and you and I continue to pray for your strength.
Hi Susan, I just recently asked my boyfriend if he remembers being in the hospital and he said no, it’s a blur. He still struggles to come up with words so getting that answer took a while. I am looking forward to the day that he can better explain what he remembers. I showed him a video of him walking for the first time at rehab and asked him if he remembered that he said no. But then I asked him if he remembers getting shots in the stomach and he said yes. The shots were for blood thinning so he wouldn’t clot while in bed so much. I hated to watch him get those. Thank you for your continued support and replies of your story. I am glad you are well now.
Deb
Wait. Sorry to be barging in here, but they really did give him shots in the stomach?? I remembered those and kept telling my parents about them, but they just said I was confabulating…
Heparin are the "stomach shots". One of my daughter's least favorite memories of her stay in the hospital. You weren't confabulating.
No confabulation there. That’s what they did. I watched them do it. So you are right if that’s what you remember. I can see why your parents would think that. I never knew or heard of such a thing. My boyfriend is pretty tough and he just cringed every time they did it. Now you can say I told you so!
Deb
EXACTLY, DEB!
Thank God he has someone like YOU, who is right by his side who has strength from within HERSELF, too!!
Lisa