A Loved One With a TBI
Response to podcast: "Terrible, Thanks for Asking" - "Help Me Remember"
Living with a traumatic brain injury is a hard thing to do but like many diseases, sometimes it can take an even worse toll of the caregivers and loved ones. During this podcast, both sides were shown from Dawn who was living with a TBI and her husband, who had to take care of her. It was interesting to see how open he was to speak about his feelings and problems he faced because of her injury, all while she was in the room. One reason for this was because she specifically asked for honesty, but I think another explanation is because he knew she probably would not remember his very hard hitting thoughts and feelings. He stated that if he would have known she would be how she was today, he would not remarry her. Living with someone who has a TBI is difficult because you never know what they are aware of. It is almost like living with a person who changes every day. On top of the instability, another problem the caregiver faces is the worry of their safety. He had to write notes for her every single day to call him as soon as she got to work so he knew that she made it there okay. Though it was not stated, it is pretty easy to assume there must have been days when she did not call and he must have felt a great deal of worry and concern. While she lives with the stress of the injury, he lives with the reality of it. She forgets what happened, all the details of the bad days, and the hard hitting facts of what a TBI actually does. Her husband knows everything that has happened that day, experiences during her time and is aware of what will probably happen in the future. This is difficult for both of them, but I feel as though the husband might have had a harder time with her disability. It takes a very strong person to stay and continue to care for a loved one who has a disability like a TBI.
Living with a traumatic brain injury is a hard thing to do but like many diseases, sometimes it can take an even worse toll of the caregivers and loved ones. During this podcast, both sides were shown from Dawn who was living with a TBI and her husband, who had to take care of her. It was interesting to see how open he was to speak about his feelings and problems he faced because of her injury, all while she was in the room. One reason for this was because she specifically asked for honesty, but I think another explanation is because he knew she probably would not remember his very hard hitting thoughts and feelings. He stated that if he would have known she would be how she was today, he would not remarry her. Living with someone who has a TBI is difficult because you never know what they are aware of. It is almost like living with a person who changes every day. On top of the instability, another problem the caregiver faces is the worry of their safety. He had to write notes for her every single day to call him as soon as she got to work so he knew that she made it there okay. Though it was not stated, it is pretty easy to assume there must have been days when she did not call and he must have felt a great deal of worry and concern. While she lives with the stress of the injury, he lives with the reality of it. She forgets what happened, all the details of the bad days, and the hard hitting facts of what a TBI actually does. Her husband knows everything that has happened that day, experiences during her time and is aware of what will probably happen in the future. This is difficult for both of them, but I feel as though the husband might have had a harder time with her disability. It takes a very strong person to stay and continue to care for a loved one who has a disability like a TBI.
Hey Macy, I think you need to change a setting to make the entry above readable. It looks like the text is highlighted in white and that's making it appear as solid white horizontal lines.
ReplyDeleteThank you for pointing that out! I am not sure what happened here and cannot seem to make the white highlights disappear.. I have changed the text color and it appear to be more readable. Please let me know if you still cannot read it!
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