Rehabilitation on Sunnaas Hospital
Week 6 at Sunnaas: Learning to fly (again)
This week the focus has been on sleep, relatives and social interaction.
Getting a good night's sleep is often a problem after a brain injury, so we've learned about these challenges, how important a good night's sleep is so that the brain can recover at night, and how a lack of good night's sleep affects the ability to to function in everyday life, and learnd what I can do to get a good night's sleep back.
Set sleeping routines, avoid TV and screen use in the bedroom, and ensure a good and tidy environment in the bedroom as well, so basicly everything we try to teach our children and young people throughout their lives😁, in addition we learn about meditation, mindfulness, breathing techniques and some other relaxation techniques you can try to get a better night's sleep.
We have also talked about how the closest relatives, family and friends are affected when you have a brain injury, and how they experience it.
Brain damage is a family matter
And that Sunnaas offers help to relatives so that they can talk about how they feel and experience that their loved one has a brain injury
I disappeared from the social arena after my accidents, unproven I withdrew. Now I have learned that this is not unusual after a brain injury, that many people disappear a little from the social arena is a known challenge after a brain injury, and that one losing one's self-esteem, feeling useless, getting social anxiety, is not abnormal, an injury to the brain often causes one to become hypersensitive to sounds, light, noise, unrest, so that when there are people around you, a lot of talking, one quickly becomes very tired, the brain overflows and you can't concentrate.
Those things meant that I no longer functioned in a social situation, and when I didn't understand why, I kept to myself and shut the world out.
Someone told me a while back that I pushed people away, and yes I probably did, but not because I wanted to..., I was tired and I didn't understand, I needed people who could understand and luckily few did that, I am so grateful to the few who did and continued to keep in touch with me, they helped me moving forward.
I have learned that it is normal to experience that one's social life changes after a brain injury, that participating in a social life challenges many cognitive functions, such as attention, concentration, memory, communication skills, regulatory function (being able to adapt to situations )
Dealing with several things at the same time, many people talking, lots of noise, requires a lot of energy, so when one's capacity is greatly reduced it becomes a challenge.
And that in order to get a social life back, you have to be open and talk about the challenges you have, say that you would like to be social but that I would rather choose a little, than everything and nothing,
Rehabilitation at Sunnaas hospital Week 7, Going into the last full week:
The week has been good, I notice that the understanding increases and there by the acceptance of my situation it makes it easier to see what I have to do to get back a meaningful life again.
This week I have had "training tasks" which have been linked to everyday tasks when I get home, my skills are increasing and I am well on my way, learning to fly again.
I am approaching the last periode of my stay here at Sunnaas, less than two weeks to go, I am still positive and motivated for the stay.