UNITY — June is brain injury awareness month. Anyone, anywhere, anytime is what 2013 represented for three Unity residents.
In the winter of that year, three Unity residents incurred brain injuries through accidents, and all have different stories on their injury, their treatment, their recovery and their life today.
What began as an ordinary day for Elaine Ireland became something else when a slip on ice while skating with her grandson sent her by ambulance to Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon to treat her for a head injury.
Ireland spent weeks at RUH recovering from a brain bleed resulting from her head trauma. While she does not remember all of what happened in the early days of her injury, she knows she was unconscious from some time.Following surgery at RUH to relieve pressure on the brain and assessing if other injury occurred, Ireland remained at RUH until Dec. 30, 2013, at which time she was moved to Saskatoon City Hospital for rehabilitation.
She spent four weeks undergoing rehab. Ireland chuckled when recounting that one of her tasks in rehab including cooking and the first task was poaching eggs.
Doctors and therapists were satisfied enough with her rehab work that when they released her they did not feel she would need further physio or rehab work once she returned home. There were some follow up appointments to ensure she was recovering from her injury.
“I would say everything since this accident, life has returned to normal for me however I know that I am more cautious,” Ireland remarks. “For one I have not been on ice since this happened. I have been to the rink but not on the ice and I am definitely more careful around ice now.
“My family was more protective than ever once I got home.”
Her advice to other people who incur a brain injury, “Be patient with recovery as the brain does recover, but it takes time. Be thankful when small things can happen again, things no one thinks about and takes for granted. Its exciting when you can do it again.”
A fall off a ladder
Ed Schwab was doing something hundreds of other people do each year in December. He was putting up his annual Christmas lights display and fell off his ladder in 2013. His wife Nancy was on the other side of the house helping with a ground display and came to check on him and found him at the bottom of the ladder.Ed’s injuries included a cracked skull all the way around to his jaw and his brain swelled. He was rushed to RUH in Saskatoon and spent more than six weeks recovering, which included several days in a coma. Ed later learned that when STARS transported him to the city, they were unsure he would survive.At one time, the Schwabs say, Ed and Elaine were in the same observation room, a unique occurrence having two members from the same community recovering from brain injuries.What helped the Schwabs through this trauma? Nancy replies instantly, “Prayer and support from family and friends.”Schwab said he did not recognize his own wife for many weeks but remembers vividly, Jan. 1, 2014 as it was the first time, he recognized her. “To me it was like she was an angel. I remember the feeling of love and excitement realizing she was there with me and I knew who she was.”
Nancy never left Ed’s side, staying at the lodge across the street at night and never leaving his bedside during the day during his hospital stay.
Schwab went through months of therapy. When he came home, he did not know what a cup was. He chuckled when recounting that in rehabilitation they taught him to cook, and he thought it was funny as he had never done that before and wondered why he would now.Schwab was also moved to City Hospital for a more intensive rehab program once doctors deemed he was able to participate in this activity. He was involved in speech therapy and movement therapy. He remembers sitting with a dictionary helping him relearn words and reading again.Nancy could see his progress but Ed himself was frustrated with the therapy programs, although he admits he persevered because he had never been a quitter. Six months of physiotherapy ensued, and the couple say it was a lot of work. He continued going to North Battleford for physio work after he was released from Saskatoon.He was without a driver’s licence for over a year until doctors deemed it was safe to have one again. Schwab says he still struggles with words sometimes and he drops stuff at times, which he finds frustrating.
Ed’s advice to other people recovering from a brain injury, “Well the best therapy is coming home. Physio takes a lot of work but take advantage of all the advice, follow the program and accept the help and support of family and friends. Prayer works, too.”
Schwab knows that he will need lifelong support. He continues with checkups, massage and physio work. It has been suggested he use a cane for steadiness as he knows his balance is still not good and he does everything in his power to avoid slips and falls.Schwab credits so many people for his recovery, including Dr. Kelley, the best neurosurgeon in Canada. Audrey Hartter, speech therapist out of North Battleford was also a blessing for Ed as he said with her encouragement, he knew he could do anything. To this day, he continues doing word searches as she recommended and finds this immensely helpful. He also affirms that the Bourassa rehab team were all amazing.In an unfortunate turn of events, a third Unity resident ended up in RUH with a brain injury.
A lingering headache after a fall
John Gilbert worked at the Delta Co-op in 2013 and said when he walked around the back of one of the trucks, he slipped on ice and hit his head on the bumper. He went back to work thinking he just had a headache from the fall and continued to work and go about his life for three weeks.
His wife, Lois, who had experience in brain injuries as she had both a brother and a sister who had been through different circumstances with their brain injuries, so she started to recognize that John’s lingering headache had to have been something more.
A doctor’s appointment resulted in a CAT scan revealing that his brain was being pushed aside with a pooling blood sack as a result from a brain bleed. He was sent to RUH immediately.
Upon arrival Gilbert was kept under surveillance for three days with hopes the bleeding would dissolve. It was decided to operate to relieve the pressure and Gilbert describes it simply as, “They drilled two holes in my head, drained the excess blood and put in two steel plates, which will be there forever.”
Gilbert spent up to 10 days in hospital and was not required to have physio or any rehab work once he was released. His only order now is to not take any Aspirin as it is a blood thinner.
He returned to work three days a week once returning home. He said he never experienced any adverse effects such as memory loss, mobility or other common after effects.
His advice to others, “When you fall and hit your head, get it checked out.”
Through the interview, he said he knows he was incredibly lucky having left his injury for so long going unchecked. His wife said people nowadays are so conscious about taking up a doctor’s time unnecessarily. They also said to be aware of your pain threshold and realize when what you are experiencing is beyond what you would normally endure and should be checked out.
With Lois’s experience through her family’s history with brain bleeds and aneurisms, she has found so much has changed from then to now as well as in brain injury training and even sports concussion protocols.
She is a big advocate for the Acquired Brain Injury Association for information, guidance, and education. She said because of advances made, her brother was able to live on his own for 20 years.
A fall on the ice, a fall off a ladder and a fall that resulted in hitting head on a truck bumper all became recovery stories for three Unity residents in 2013 who can now tell stories about their experience with brain injuries.
June is designated as Brain Injury Awareness Month in Canada. Campaigns increase awareness about the prevalence of brain injury, the obstacles that exist for those with brain injury and the need for more services and support at all stages of recovery. It is often referred to as in invisible illness/injury/disability. The condition affects over 1.5 million people in Canada.
