Imagine's Journal

Here is some news about my good friend Allan who had an accident, causing brain injury. His brother David sent this update.

Hello,
I wanted to send out an update regarding Allan’s progress and plans for the future. Allan continues to do well, improving in his skills in managing in the world and becoming more independent. He spends more time out at stores, restaurants and long walks in parks. He is getting used to shopping for himself, making some of his meals, doing laundry etc. His attitude continues to be quite positive and his mood is nearly always upbeat and friendly and with a good sense of humor. He is still at the residential program in Easton; however last week we visited a program in he will likely move to when an opening becomes available. Allan’s treatment team feels that he is currently ready to move to a program with less professional staff and in which the residents function more independently. The program in Weymouth is run by the same company that runs the Easton program. In Easton there are medical staff on site and therapies such as OT, PT speech therapy etc. performed on site. In Weymouth such therapies are provided elsewhere and there is no on-site medical staffing. Most of the people who live at the Weymouth program go out during the day to vocational program or some sort of employment. The program serves seven men who have suffered brain injury. The men at the program exhibit a fairly wide range of functioning, some functioning at a higher level than Allan and some lower. There is 24 hour staffing and the level of staff support varies according to individual needs. The facility was very nice, with large, open space and a lot of room. One of the men started a vegetable garden in the back yard last year. Allan, my father, Bruce and I visited the program last Wednesday and the staff and residents we met were all quite friendly. At this point we are waiting for one of the residents to move to open a bed, with an expected time frame of a month or two.
 We are also in the process of planning a day structure for Allan. Currently he attends therapies during the day but the treatment team feels that he is at the point that engaging in more normal activities, out in the world, would be more beneficial for him. The program had arranged to send a vocational specialist with Allan for a visit to Forest Floors to evaluate Allan’s ability to do some part time or volunteer work there.
Medically Allan has remained quite stable. Since he has been in the Easton program he has been weaned off all of his regular medications except folic acid (a vitamin B supplement.) The program does plan to start a trial of a new medication to see if it will help with some occasional dizziness that Allan experiences when exercising or looking up or down. Allan continues to have some challenges with his balance but is able to walk well over distances and somewhat uneven terrain.
Allan recently had follow-up neuropsychological testing at Braintree Hospital. On a standard measure of intellectual functions Allan scored overall in the low average range. This score was brought down by deficits in psychomotor speed (how fast one performs tasks involving thinking and manipulating things), working memory (the ability to hold something in memory while performing other cognitive tasks, (e.g. Say the months of the year backwards) and attention. On other measures of intellectual functioning Allan scored in the average range of functioning. Generally speaking, Allan has some ongoing deficits in specific cognitive areas, such as processing (thinking) speed, motor coordination, memory and attention. Most of the higher level intellectual skills are at least at the average range with some significantly better than average. These scores show some improvement from the testing completed six months ago.
Finally, Allan spent last Saturday with Bruce, Hannah, and Matt canoeing on the Nemaskett River. I was only there to help with getting started, but Bruce reported that Allan paddled well throughout the afternoon and did well portaging and carrying equipment up the riverbanks. I’m sure he had a great time.
If anyone would like more information or details about any of the above, please feel free to get in touch.
 
                                                                                                                                         Love,
                                                                                                                                         David


There isn't a whole lot to add to that, except to remind the reader that before the accident, Allan was a very brilliant man. Not that it matters really. From what I can tell, the 'who he is' is still there. I did fine reading this right up until I got to the 'love David'. I never even knew David very well, and that closing was not directed at me anyways as this was forwarded to me from yet another of the many St. James brothers. It just. I dunno. It just lifted the whole memo up an emotional level. Go find your wife or your husband or your children. Hug them. That is all.
 

 

   I admit it. There are some times when I get so monumentally self-involved that I can’t even figure out what is really important anymore. Then, out of the blue, something will happen to slap the ‘petty’ right out of me; a reality check as it were. This evening I was all in a lather; fraught with selfish concerns and not-so-righteous indignation. Then my brother called. He spoke about his adventures with the Press in Iowa (wow) and in New Hampshire (last minute racism, he felt). He told me about his family’s trip to Germany over Christmas. Then there was a tentative pause. I could feel him gathering himself to tell me News. And when he spoke, he told me about the condition of our friend (whom I have known since I was ten – or could be twelve or possibly eleven, but you get the idea). Our friend Allan is able to walk again. He can talk and *does* recognize people. He can joke and read and email. He goes to therapy classes during the day.

 

   I pulled my head abruptly out of my hind end and gave this turn of events some thought. MY GOD I can’t believe I was all overwrought about my perceived problems. I *have* no problems that are not of my own making. Now, Allan. He has some problems. I mean he basically – not to put too fine a point on it – had his brains bashed in. Evidently, at one point when my brother was being a little weepy and a bit overly sympathetic during the visit, Allan exclaimed, “Hey, I’m not dead, you know!” And of course, he sure isn’t. He is also not the same man that he was prior to his injury. As a matter of interest, Allan was the fellow who taught me how to ski. He showed me how to properly paddle a canoe and how to safely exit a kayak (yeah, I know, you don’t get much more American than that). So. Anyways. My brother is going to pass Allan’s email address on to me so that he and I can exchange pictures of our kids, you know, and talk. Stuff like that. It is a wonder to me that, here I am at forty-six years old and I’m still capable of being so immature as to make myself blush. I’ll have one final cup of tea, I think, and then to bed.

 

Note to self;

1)      Prepare Allan a nice email note with some recent shots of the grumpy adolescent. And a joke or two. . .

 

2)      Count blessings.