Excerpt from "Roller Coaster Ride With Brain Injury (For Loved Ones)"

Two Steps Forward and One Step Back

The ICBC therapist called to see how things were going with Larry. "He's doing quite well," I told her, "and the party went very well. He didn't drink anything and he seemed to be okay with it. Uh, I know its two steps forward and one step back but do you think there will be any more steps back?"

Laughing she said, "I wish I had a crystal ball but I don't. Things will probably go along well for a while and then he'll probably get bored with the exercises or something. Or his lack of independence may hit him again. It's difficult to know what bump will set him off but there are very likely going to be more bumps along the way."

That wasn't what I wanted to hear. "He will probably also go through a grieving process about not being able to do what he once was able to do," she continued.

Life Goes On

"Larry began his physiotherapy program. He would be going three hours a day, five days a week. He was not very happy when he came home after the first session. It was harder than he imagined it was going to be and his body was sore. He got electrical therapy on his knee; he used the bicycle and treadmill machine and other weight machines as well as doing exercises on his own. I hoped it was not going to be another 'bump' in the road."

.......

"Larry was still smoking in the bedroom/ensuite. I hesitated for some time mentioning it to him again in case it would affect his mood. I didn't want another unpleasant episode. Finally, I decided to take the risk and brought the subject up, reminding him of how I felt about smoking. I also asked him if he remembered he had been told smoking wasn't good for the healing process of his brain.

Looking me straight in the face, he again denied that he had been smoking."