Reflection on Acquired Brain Injuries
In order to enhance my learning on acquired brain injuries, I decided to read about a man named Tyson who got a TBI (traumatic brain injury) in a boating accident. The article was titled "I got hit by a boat and I want to share my story". This was written by a 22 year old man who was in college at the time of the accident. He was an avid fisher and on one of his breaks from school he and his dad had taken the boat out to go fishing. In the story he describes what happened from his mom's point of view, as he does not remember the accident or the time immediately following the accident because he was in a coma. He sustained many injuries from the accident, one of them being a TBI.
I choose to read this story because this type of accident could happen to anyone. Tyson was just a normal college kid going fishing with his dad when the unexpected happened. In his story, he describes the shock that his mother was in. Nobody thinks about these types of accidents happening to someone they know. I go to the lake very often and get on a boat just as often. This just as easily could have been me. I was interested in this story because it happened to someone my age. When most people think of acquired brain injuries, they do not think of them happening to normal people who have so much life to live.
While reading I found it interesting that the therapist did therapy on him while he was still in a coma. In class we have learned about coma's and how little can be done by a therapist but the work that is done is still an essential part of recovery. Even though he was unresponsive, the therapist still did their jobs and did not give up on him. In his story he even stated that he "owes them the world", talking about the therapist, because they did not give up on him.
In his story, Tyson also talked about out-patient therapy and how it felt like school to him. He was in therapy from 8-3 with breaks in between working on all different sorts of things to improve his function. He talks about how he was involved in physical, occupational, speech, recreational, and psychological therapies. When you are involved in an accident where you obtain a TBI, a lot of the time you will not only be working with an occupational therapist, but you will also be working with other types of therapists. His story shows that many therapists are involved in the recovery process. As a therapist, regardless of the type, it is important to understand the effectiveness of collaboration when working with a client.
I definitely recommend this resource as part of others' learning process. Tyson talks about his personal experience but also his mothers experience with his acquired brain injury. When treating clients, it is important to include the family in the therapy process because they are also involved in the recovery of the individual. This resource gave me insight to what it would be like to have an injury ;but also to what it would be like if one of my family members had a brain injury. This source went into great detail about the experience including how it made him feel and how it made his family feel. These are important things to consider when treating a client with a TBI and I think this source will be an excellent resource for people who are interested in learning about TBI's from a client's perspective.
Here is the link to the source if you feel like checking it out!
https://igothitbyaboat.yourwebsitespace.com/
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