Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Acquired Brain Injury Day 26

Another setback today, it has been about 25 days since the Brain Aneurysm happened and I am tired, frustrated but was still full of hope. However, when I came in today I was told that Colleen had been very sick to her stomach throwing up at night and she also had diarrhea the night before and was still sick. The nurses were working with her and monitoring her water intake as well as her medication. 

She spent most of the day sleeping and so it was a quiet day. My hope is that they will figure out what is going on with the infection as they took more blood and had sent it off to get more tests done.  Colleen had not eaten well for a couple of days and they were concerned about this aspect of her health and recovery. Because she was not eating so they had kept the tube through her nose to feed her at night, so she would get the proper amount of nutrition. 


I stayed with her for the day and read while she slept. I also got a chance to observe the other patients. There was one lady who thought I was the devil and appeared to going through a whole range of emotions from being very depressed to being giddy all within an hour.

A young man probably in his 20's was allowed out only with a male nurse with him at all times, another man in his 40's who appeared to be frustrated with his lack of freedom, he wanted to go home. His short term memory was not good as every time he saw Colleen, he asked who she was. 

I thought we had made some progress but it felt like two steps forward and three step back. I realized that she would not make any progress until the infection was cleared up. I hoped for Colleen's sake that would be soon. 

I was finding it hard to deal with for what I saw were more steps back then more steps forward. I was fortunate that I had people hat I could talk to both here in Australia and back home. 


Having a support group is important for caregivers. With the ability to take a small break (going out to dinner with friends, watching a Cricket game, or just relaxing) from the tension has allowed me to keep my sanity and to take care of myself, so I can be there for Colleen.

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