Rehabilitation on Sunnaas Hospital
Week 7 at Sunnaas: I'm not who I was, but I'm still me.
My last full week here at Sunnaas hospital, a week where the focus has been on repetition, summarising and how to cope with everyday life when I'm back home.
Summary of the stay, information and help with treatment offers for me in the period up to the follow-up stay in about 6 months
The course this week is mostly a repetition of the courses I had at the start of my stay.
Going through how the brain works and how different types of brain damage affect the cognitive functions again, has been a very good rehearsal at the end of the stay for me, I now understand this much better than at the start of the stay, and I can now relate the challenges I have learn that I struggling with, to the things we talk about and better understand what I can do to compensate for them.
So for me it is very valuable to have these courses both at the start and at the end of my stay.
We had a course on how brain damage can affect memory function, that it is often the short-term memory (working memory) that is most affected after a brain injury, and what lies in the long-term memory is often less affected, learned that it is important to have good order and structure for to relieve the brain and reduce the risk of brain fatigue.
I have to say that for my part I believe that I have "trained" that I would get a brain injury🤔, I had good structure and order in most things at home and around me, things had fixed places in my house, I had lists, shopping lists, weekly meal plan, to-do lists, have used a calendar on my mobile for both personal and work appointments for many years, used my smartphone to support my memory, created my food blog with recipes and ingredient list +++, so yes, maybe I knew that all this will one day be of invaluable help after my accident😳.
When I now learn about the challenges I have had after my injury, brain fatigue, reduced brain capacity, poor short-term memory, I now know that without the structures, lists and routines I had created, my life would have been incredibly much more difficult and more demanding after the accident.
Rehabilitation at Sunnaas hospital Week 7, The last phase, what do I take home with me:
Last whole week here at Sunnaas Hospital, a strange feeling, in a way good to be able to see the end, but also sad and a little scary to have to leave the safe and good everyday life here, both in terms of the professional arrangement, but also the nice and good social environment that is here.
Sunnaas has done a fantastic job of preparing me for going home, so yes I am positive about the future, but I am also prepared for that there may be a downturn when I get home, but I think I am dressed to fight my way up and move on towards a better and more meaningful life in the future.
I have learned a lot about myself and who the new me is, that I am not the same, but that I am still me, and I am in the process of puzzling myself back together again.
Sunnaas Hospital has given me knowledge about my injury, learning about strategies that I can use for and living with brain damage, understanding of my own situation, and how I can use what they have taught me to have a better everyday life.
Next week will be short and focus will be summarising my stay, saying goodbye to the amazing staff at Sunnaas and to my fellow patients here.
I will wright my closing notes and a summarising of the stay and post here by the end of next week.