Traumatic Brain Injury

[livingwith]

My 17 yr old grandson fell backwards on a cement floor last Sunday 2/10/08, he was med flighted to the hospital where they removed part of his skull to relieve the brain swelling. They now say it has affected his brain stem also. Today Wednesday they done the light in eyes test ear/water, arm drop and whatever with no response. They indicate there’s no hope, but we have seen movement from him squeeing someones hand two or three times, moved his head trying to get away from the nurse brus...Read the full article

[sebastian]

02/19/08


I am so sorry to hear about your Grandson. On July 15, 2006 my two sons along with 2 friends were involved in a serious MVA outside of Tucson, AZ. My younger son was the driver, older front seat passenger. They were 21 and 18 at the time. Anyway, a car ran them off the road onto the median,they overcorrected and came back onto highway broadside, the car started to flip, continuing to roll 5 times. Backseat passenger(wasn't wearing seat belt) was ejected after first roll. The car landed on outside median. No one was injured too severly except my older son. My younger son was stunned and jumped out of car to look for his friend who was ejected I believe (not good at distance) 40 feet. Miraculously, he was conscious and was able to walk. Meanwhile, other passenger was try to hold my sons' head together. My younger son injured his shoulder trying to get his brother out of the car. Eventually, emergency response used the jaws of life. He coded at the scene, in the medevac, and was aggressively resusitaded in the ER Dept. My husband and I had to drive 4 hrs. to get there ( we live in NM) It was absolutely horrible!! We were told he probably wouldn't survive the night and was given the last rites(we're Catholic). Okay, I won't go into too much more detail, but, My son was admitted into the trauma unit and was placed on life support. We experienced the most terrifying night of our lives not knowing if he was going to survive. Thank god he did. He remained in a coma for 14 days. During that time he also showed the same signs as your grandson and we were also told the same things they are telling you. Do not give up!! We spent our days and night with him (literally) sometimes, some of the nurses would tell us to take a break but, no way were we going to leave his side. we constantly talked to him, massaged his legs, arms, his entire body. We played his favorite music,movies. We read to him and sang to him. We constantly prayed for him and over him. During this time he got a terrible infection which is common with TBI's. We were told he might have spinal meningitis, then, tests were negative they could not locate infection. For 3 days he had incredibly high fevers and were told this was a good sign the body is fighting off infection. After his fever broke they told us he wasn't going to come out of coma and were going to replace his NG tube with a more permanent feeding tube(PEG tube) and move him to another dept. I lost it and screamed no he responds to us our voices! But, they said that he was not passing their tests. When they left the room my husband got very close to his ear and asked do you hear what they just said? He shouted YOU NEED TO OPEN YOUR EYES AND WAKE UP!! WE KNOW YOU CAN HEAR US!! DO YOU WANT THEM TO DO THIS? he shook his head no!! Wecontinued to question him and he responded! We screamed for the nurse and she continued talking to him. Finally, he opened his eyes. We were elated, he continued to improve and was transferred to a step-down unit. We remained in Tucson for 22 days until he was moved via ambulance to a rehab. back in NM. So, Grandma please relay this info. to his parents. NEVER EVER give up hope! Have faith in god. My prayers are with you and your family.

[sebastian]

2-19-08

I'm the one that contacted you in re: to my son in Tucson. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help. I know how extremely difficult it can be to go through what you're going through. If you would like to contact me my e-mail is [moderator note: e-mail address has been removed] my name is Celeste. People consider me very knowledgeable in regards to Traumatic Brain Injuries.

[nannypapa]

Hello, I'm the nanny that wrote this message, I'm not sure how to submit an update. Today my grandson passed away. He was taken off the vent, first it was turned down last night thru this morning and he was breathing on his own the Dr. said, so it was removed but he only lasted about an hour. He was a great person, loved by everybody his life touched. There were many,many prayers for him from friends and school mates. If he had survived God would have had many young believers. I pray for any family that has to go thru something like this. I believe there should be a law where Drs and family must wait aleast 2 weeks before a person can be taken off life support to give the patients body time to heal some. Thanks for your prayers & replies.

[sebastian]

2/20/08


Dear Nanny,

Please except my most sincere condolences. My heart goes out ot you. I agree whole heartedly with you re: life support. Please pass on my regards to your daughter and son-in-law they must be beside themselves. Again, feel free to contact me thru my e-mail. Ever since my son sustained a TBI I have made it a point to educate myself as much as possible about brain injuries. I just want you to know I've read many testimonials and never felt the need to involve myself but, for some reason your letter pulled at my heart strings. Peace be with you and your family. C