Volume 1, Issue 3 - March 2001
Here We Go…
By Vinny Distefano
This month we begin shooting the documentary on Angie and Traumatic Brain Injury. We'll visit the Complete Wellness Center Winter Park , FL
Where We Stand
Bringing It All Together
In past issues, we have touched briefly on a number of different topics. With this issue, I will attempt to bring it all together. All of this brings me back to the accident in August of 1999. Not a day goes bye that I don’t think of how, in the blink of an eye, so many lives were changed forever. I have tried to block out that day and concentrate on Angie’s recovery. But I will never forget getting the call in our office from her Mom, that Angie was hurt. I could hear immediately in her voice that something was terribly wrong. When I asked if Angie was OK, she said “No…”. Over the passage of time though, it is quite clear, that the original diagnosis, “…if she lives, she won’t be able to do anything…”, was just a textbook answer. I completely understand the statistics that would bring a doctor to this conclusion…”The vast majority of people with this kind of and injury…”, yada, yada, yada. It is so clear that another Force is handling Angie’s recovery now.
Just a Visit
Now You Don’t See It, Now You Do
It is hard for someone seeing Angie for the first time to get excited. At first you’ll see a pretty young woman. You may try to talk to her, but you won’t see her respond to you. You’ll see a tube going somewhere. It is for food and medications and it’s going directly into her stomach. You’ll see a family taking care of their little girl as if she were a child and not 26 years old. You will see the love and dedication to do what ever it takes to help Angie get back to us. You won’t see anyone giving up on her. You won’t see that Angie does have a way to communicate with us. You won’t see that she is holding her head up or “controlling” her head more. Only a slight change, but it is a change! Explaining things to her, like where she is or if she is wearing her wrist/knee braces, calms her down. We’re sure that it is hard for her to concentrate on one thought even for short periods of time. So it’s clear that her mind drifts. You might be talking to her and it appears she is right there with you. Then, she’ll lose focus, perhaps seeing or hearing things differently and she might become agitated or afraid. All we have to do, most times, is just talk to her and remind her to “Come back to your room, Angie”, or tell her that she is safe. Sometimes she just wants to be moved a bit, and arm or a leg, to be repositioned then she’ll change gears again and return. In the past, when she woke up from a nap, she would open her eyes and almost immediately, become frightened out of her wits. This look of total panic in her eyes would drive chills up my spine and pain in my heart. I’ve seen her happy and sad, disappointed and angry. I’ve seen her emotions emerge on her face and in her eyes. I knew if I was “in for it” even before she would say a word to me. It’s funny, but I used to tell her that she has mood eyes. They change color with her emotions. Well, she not afraid nearly as much as before the treatments. Her eyes will tell us that. We’ve been told that it’s not the treatments, that perhaps, she is just at a stage where she would have done all of this anyway. I prefer to believe we’ve been Led here. I’ll never know why this had to happen to her, but I do know I will go wherever it takes me to see her recover.
Upon leaving, you may thank God it’s not you in there and you may wonder how would you be able to do it. The initial pain of your child being hurt…the countless “professionals” telling you to pack it in and go on with your life…friends telling you to take some time for yourself …having to trust others to care for your daughter, knowing that when you leave, they may or may not be there for her like you would…and on and on. I’ll tell you this. Love and support and faith help to focus us. The “why” question(s) begin take a back seat to the “how” question(s). How can I help…? That’s all that matters now. How can we make it easier for Angie to emerge?
Is HBOT real? Yes!
The Eyes Have It
We all believe that Angie’s mind is trying to re-map itself. We’ve all heard stories of the unbelievable things the mind can accomplish. I recall a scientist, working on mapping the areas of the brains saying, “The brain will be able to understand everything in the known universe, except for itself.” No one can tell us that Angie will never come out of this. It is out of their hands, now. We believe, as a result of her HBOT treatments, cells that were not damaged in the accident, but became dormant as a result, are being “turned on”. You would have had to have been there in the beginning to see all of the changes. Machines can show the changes in the brain by highlighting the areas that were previously inactive. Tests can show reflexes that had stopped responding, now returning. We believe she is aware of the changes in her body and mind, she just can’t yet get her mind to communicate with her body. It’s as if, and I’ve told her this on many occasions, as she gets closer to beating this, she’ll be getting a Sign that it’s now time. She may be comprehending her surroundings better as well. It appears she knows when she is at the nursing home and when she is home with her family. She acts differently at home. She wants to be where the action is. It is uplifting and encouraging. We always knew her recovery would take time. As we begin shooting the documentary, we’ll be able to show how far Angie has come. Physically, she has healed. She looks like herself, though the lack of physical therapy has added to the hurdles she must overcome. Deep down in her mind, that’s where the HBOT can reach to light the fire again. There are wonderful miracles being spoken about with respect to this kind of treatment and some of them involve TBI. The June conference of doctors from all over the world, will gather the data from far and wide and should show the benefits of oxygen therapy for a whole list of injuries and ailments. We’ll take you into a day in Angie’s life, the day-to-day regiment of things that are being done to help her and the things that are not. We’ll bring you to “A Dive” and Joe Ford, the Director of Hyperbaric Therapy will show us how it works and ask Dr. Rhodes why it works. There’s a lot to cover and we hope to make some of it available to view on the web as well.
So, we’ll keep searching for the answers and keeping you informed. As always, keep praying for Angie and her family. I know she’ll want to thank everyone herself right here in the future. I’ve told her that we’re still a team, we still work together and I will always need her help. She had asked me a couple of years ago not to leave her behind if I ever left the job. I promised her I wouldn’t.
Pass it on and tell a friend to stop by. Thanx
