Rehabilitation on Sunnaas Hospital
Week 4 on Sunnaas: half way through
In May 2023 I crash out of the skies, ending up with a broke wing, I try, and I try to get back in the air, I wanted to fly again, be back on the skies, together with the pack.
But how much and how hard I try, I can't fly again.
Now I am halfway through my rehabilitation stay at Sunnaas hospital, learning to fly again with a broken wing, learning to accept the broken wing, learning to understand that my wing will probably never be whole again, but that I can use it, fly again, not as fast, not as high as before, but I'm learning to fly, again, with the broken wing
In May 2023 I crash out of the skies, ending up with a broke wing, I try, and I try to get back in the air, I wanted to fly again, be back on the skies, together with the pack.
But how much and how hard I try, I can't fly again.
Now I am halfway through my rehabilitation stay at Sunnaas hospital, learning to fly again with a broken wing, learning to accept the broken wing, learning to understand that my wing will probably never be whole again, but that I can use it, fly again, not as fast, not as high as before, but I'm learning to fly, again, with the broken wing
Learning to fly (again)
By then I was about halfway through my stay here at Sunnaas Hospital
The goal is to become confident in myself, so that I can have a better everyday life with meaningful content.
In addition, gain a better understanding of what a brain injury is and its consequences. And I'm well on my way now
A year ago I was very uncertain, knowing little about what a brain injury was and how it affects the cognitive functions and there by my life, closed myself in a bit, built a bubble around me in which I felt safe.
I had little to no information about brain damage, and since the accident in May 2023, I had lived with an uncertainty about how my life would be, unsure of who I was, losing the desire to maintain my network and not being able to make contact with people, my social life, work and the life I knew disappeared, I had become useless, broken, did not know who I was anymore.
So my head was full of questions and unresolved concerns when I arrived at Sunnaas Hospital on the 26of November to begin rehabilitation in the department for cognitive rehabilitation after brain damage.
Good routines
The day starts with breakfast at 08:00 and joint morning meeting at 08:45 for the department, and then a half hour walk outside, before the individual programs start for the day.
Training, courses, conversations, group therapy and social gatherings with others who have brain damage challenges, exchanging experience. The day feels meaningful and educational, Im feeling alive again.
Seize the opportunities and build competence
Rehabilitation is not a vacation. It requires a lot of personal effort and determination to get the full benefit. And I have full responsibility by myself for following up on what I learn here when I get home. Then I also have to learn to use the opportunities I am granted during such a stay. Because the opportunities are of high quality. I am looked after by skilled and motivating people who support my own path towards understanding and getting to know my new life situation.
Well underway with week 4, my understanding and acceptance of what has happened to me grows day by day, getting tools to cope with my new everyday life, understanding that it can get better, but that time is the only thing that helps, that Im not getting a new brain or any other kind of medical prescription that can cure this, but tools that can help when time hopefully heal the brain to a certain degree.
When I came to Sunnaas about 4 weeks ago I felt that I was broken and useless, when I looked at myself in the mirror I didn't recognise myself, my reflection was broken and pieces were gone.
Here I learn that it is normal after a brain injury and here I get tools so that I can start puzzling my mirror together again, understanding that it will not be the same reflection that I saw before the accident but a new me, learning to accept the new me , learning that I have changed and that is ok, accepting that there are pieces that have been lost or are too broken to fit into the new version of me, and that I have to replace these with new pieces and that picture of me in the mirror not becomes completely the same as it was before, and it's completely normal and ok, we all change throughout our lives and adapt to those changes.
Friday December 20, 2024, Driving home for christmas...
The last days of this week, we have talked a lot about how to handle Christmas and the social gatherings that take place at Christmas and New Year, the fear we as patients here all feel a little, at when we no longer have the safe and understanding environment around us, but need to face the "normal" life outside here. A former patient was and talked about this with us and shared his experiences about it and how he meet and coped with the outside world again with the challenges that we all know from before, that he shared his experiences with us, hearing that what we fear, what we thinking, the anxiety we feel is not abnormal and if we use the knowledge and tools we have learned and received here, then it will be fine.., accepting our situation, believe in ourselves and do what is right for us, regardless of what other think, was a big help
He also talked about how important it is to be open about our challenges to those we will be with about the challenges we have, and how they affect us when we participate in social gatherings, and that it can make us not "behave as before", that we are not uninterested, inattentive, but that it is the consequence of having damage to brain.
And it is here that I have brought home tools and knowledge that I will now try to use, so when I am back for the last part of my stay at Sunnaas after New Year, we can adjust the tools based on my experiences over Christmas.
I am going to celebrate Christmas with my oldest son and his family, so luckily a place where I know that there is understanding for my situation, but with 5 children plus a few more grandparents, I know that it can quickly become a lot for me, lot of "noise", conversations around the table, people trying to get my attention, a scenario that I now know, quickly can causes me to suffer from brain fatigue, and what comes with it.
Then it will be my task to use the new tools and the knowledge I have gained during the last 4 weeks at Sunnaas, so that I prepare well before I go there, take timeouts when Im there so that it will be a good experience and that I am not completely burned out the next day.
Reflections from week 4
Har lært om hvordan en hjerneskade påvirker følelser og oppmerksomhet, noe som er viktige faktorer i det og evne å være sosial med andre mennesker.
Have learned about how a brain injury affects emotions and attention, which are important factors in the ability to be social with other people.
Learning about the different cognitive abilities you have and how the brain controls these has given me a much better acceptance and understanding of my challenges and that these are "normal" after a traumatic brain injury.
And not least that rehabilitation is not a holiday. It requires a lot of personal effort and determination to get the full benefit. And that I have full responsibility myself for following up on what I learn here when I get home.
Here are a couple of documents I have brought home, which I can show and use when I meet people in various situations, this so that I can aviod useing my strength to apologize and explain that I have an invisible handicap.
Sorry but for now these are in Norvegian
Sorry but for now these are in Norvegian
