Breakdown of Recovery after TBI and craniotomy

She sat there with emotion thick in her head. She always tried her hardest, and for some things it just wasn’t good enough. She didn’t understand what she had done wrong;she did everything as she was asked to do it. Maybe it wasn’t perfect, but what is?

She felt the sadness building up inside of her, and the tears fell. Along with the sadness though, there was anger, but ultimately there was sadness. Confusion was the only thing she felt.

Shoving the sadness aside, she stood up and walked over to the window. As she looked out the window, she had a thought that made her smile.

They’d told her that she was getting closer and closer to being able to go home to her mom and dad’s house. She’d live with her husband and daughter there until they could move out into their own place.

She thought about where she was, right now, and didn’t understand what had happened. However, she still didn’t know who she was, or if the feelings inside her were normal.

She’d been told that she was in a hospital when she’d asked where she was a week or two ago. Her name was Laura, and she was a 19 year old young woman with a husband of almost a year, and a little girl that was getting ready to turn 3.

She’d known when she woke up that morning that she was somewhere different. She’d felt like waking up that morning was like coming into a different reality than when she’d gone to sleep, and she needed to understand what was going on; she needed to understand her reality.

So she asked her name while sitting at breakfast that morning, and she asked where she was. She’d woken up somewhere that wasn’t anything like it was when she’d fallen asleep…she couldn’t even remember when she’d gone to bed, so her being confused was an understatement.

She looked at a lady that morning, a nurse, and she’d asked while sitting there in utter confusion where she was. She’d also had to ask who she was, as she had no clue what her name was, and didn’t know much about the backstory that was her life that wasn’t the here and now. Which she’d also had to ask.

“Where am I?” I proceeded to ask that morning. The nurse has to get the doctors who all sat me down and gave me an explanation of what had happened.

“You were sent here from UC hospital in Cincinnati to help you recover from a severe traumatic brain injury. You do have a piece of your skull out, which is why you have the helmet on your head to prevent injury if you fall. Your name is Laura, or your mom told us you also are known as Rena (pronounced Renee), and may know that one better. We’ve called your family, and notified them that you woke up, and that you’re more with it today. They’re already on their way up to see you. This is your nurse for the morning, and if you have any questions you can ask them or have them ask us.”

Fast forward to family arriving not much later in the morning-husband, mom & dad

After I ate breakfast and did my morning therapy, I was sitting in my room at the facility. The door opened, and three people walked in. I recognized one of them almost immediately as my mom, and then almost immediately after, I recognized my dad also, but the third person? I had no clue who this third person was.

He appeared to be in his early twenties, and was so happy to see me. However, I had to look at him and have him explain who he was, and I imagine now that at that moment how much of the happiness drained from his eyes for a split second.

They all looked at me, and were completely puzzled about me not knowing who he was. My mom said “that’s Rusty, you guys got married not long before the accident happened, but you’ve been together since you were teenagers.

Imagine the Pikachu shocked face at this one. After he came over to me and hugged me, and I smelled his cologne and felt the emotion, I knew that I loved this man with all of my heart. Memories of us started to come back, and I just had him lay with me and hold me and talk about memories, talk about everything. This man was & still is my life.

It took a long time for my memory to get back to as “normal” as possible. Seeing my family and remembering them made me push that much harder to get out of the Rehabilitation Hospital of Indianapolis (otherwise known as RHI).

Being as awesome as they were, I was in RHI on the Easter holiday. My family was so amazing that On that day, my sister had made a lot of the food (& wasn’t able to make it but had mom bring it) & my mom made the rest. In actuality, it was one of the best Easter Dinners in my life. The thought that everyone out behind it and made sure I got it showed me how much my family loved and cared for me.

I worked extra hard to get out of RHI (one of the best in the country at that time). I met someone in there (a couple of people actually) that were amazing people that I did my therapies with and ate with and stuff-one was named Pam, and the other was named Tony Hendricks. Toby’s family was amazing, and upon leaving his mom had made a blanket for me-that I do still have.

I’m thankful for the team at RHI for pushing me as hard as they did (it was necessary) to help me be lucky enough to have memories that were potentially Life cha going for me in regards to my head trauma. I want to say thank you to everyone I dealt with there that helped me recover so much early on. It’ll be a fight for the rest of my life, but without my family and the amazing team that helped me there, I was doing a lot better upon my release from that hospital than I ever would’ve been had I not had to go the extra help with recovering. I’m thankful for my family, nurses, doctors, and the rehab center for helping get my life back on track.