Sorry for the delay, yesterday was a little bit of an emotional roller-coaster for me.

 

 

 

Josiah is in a very confused/agitated state right now and is currently on a legal 72. Hr. hold (meaning he cannot leave the hospital).  He is very fixated on leaving the hospital.  I was on my way to see him yesterday afternoon when I received a call from his Nurse requesting that I do not visit today (yesterday).  The nurse had to call security a few times before I arrived because Josiah was attempting to leave the premises.  He does not remember the accident and he doesn’t believe it occurred.  I had a very informative conversation with the psychologist Dr. Young who is working with Josiah. Dr. Young confirmed, that this is a normal response to people who have had a TBI.  Josiah’s short term memory is not working right now so as soon as your done explaining why he needs to be where he is, he has already forgotten and repeats himself which is feeding into his agitation. His long term memories are surfacing which is expected so he may call friends/family and ask  you to pick him up or tell you the doctors have cleared him to leave.  This is not the case.  The best response to Josiah would be to be very honest, keep your answers short (he cannot follow long sentences) and try to redirect him.  For example, “Josiah you have had a traumatic brain injury and you have not recovered yet. Your brain is still healing which is why you need to stay with the nurses and doctors at Regions.  Did you watch the Viking game this past weekend”  You will probably need to repeat yourself several times over your conversation. The first three months is the most critical time for healing.  This is the time where most of the progress will happen, the healing will continue up to a year & beyond but the most impactful occurs within the first 3 months.  It is imperative that Josiah does not consume any alcohol for at least a year. 

The reason being is that alcohol is full of “energy” and when consumed, passes into the brain matter from the blood stream.  The injured part of the brain needs energy to heal so the alcohol will goes directly to the injured area, the problem is that while the alcohol is full energy the other components of it stop the healing process.  Once the healing process is stopped it will not restart.

 

If anyone is wanting to go and see him, please call and speak to his nurse first so they can give an assessment of his emotional state. Currently, other than having to call security they have not had to resort to any other methods of restraint.  They do not want to have to drug or physically restrain him which is why they would appreciate a call before anyone shows up to visit him.  They may recommend that you do not visit (which was my case yesterday) and instead do a phone call conversation.  Josiah’s discharge date is still set for 11/12 however if he continues to be in this phase of recovery the date of discharge may change.