Brother suffering from TBI. Need hope.
Two months ago, my brother had a keyhole craniotomy to remove a tumour from his brain stem. He is 21. The tumour was terminal, and he was prepared to die in the surgery at a chance to live.
We didn’t anticipate what would actually happen. The surgery did successfully remove his tumour, and he briefly was conscious and speaking just days after the surgery, but still could not move most of his body, open his eyes, eat or swallow properly. He went into a coma after that.
Two months later and his GCS is an 8, he has started moving parts of his body again, communicating with us through thumbs up/down. Mentally, he seems entirely conscious and aware of what’s happening around him, remembers details from before and after the surgery, but his body physically fails him.
He still can’t speak or open his eyelids without help, and doesn’t have the mobility yet to type or write to us. The fact he has improved so much in 2 months feels like a miracle to us, and we know he may never get back to normal. He was prepared to die in surgery but we never considered this was an option.
Reading lots of your stories gives me some hope. I know every TBI is unique and can affect people in so many different ways. One thing my brother told us when he could speak is that he wouldn’t want to live if he didn’t have a quality of life worth living. He’s most upset he can’t speak right now.
Did you lose the ability to speak, did you get it back? How long did it take? What helped, what didn’t?
I’d love to know.
Thank you so much.