Getting dressed following an Acquired Brain Injury
As you all know, Charlotte was left with extensive brain
damage following her stroke which is known as an ‘Acquired Brain Injury’ or a
‘brain insult’.
I wanted to write today about one of the things I found most
difficult both practically and emotionally which most people wouldn’t have
thought of or understood without explanation. If you are a parent or family
member going through a similar experience, you may relate to this and I hope,
that by relating to it, it gives you a little peace of mind and confidence that
what you’re feeling and going through WILL get easier. I won’t tell you to
accept it or that any of it is normal but I really hope you can take some
comfort in the fact that you’re not alone in what you’re going through.
Getting Charlotte dressed was possibly one of the top 5 most
harrowing things to go through during our stay in hospital. For the first
couple of weeks she had an EVD (a drain consisting of a tube which was inserted
into her skull and stitched at her scalp coming down into a bag on a stand
which stood by the bed collecting fluid from inside the head unable to drain
itself), a catheter (a tube inserted into the bladder to collect urine in a bag
next to the bed) and various lines to keep veins open for fluids, medication,
blood gas analysis etc) All of these needed to be contended with and thought
about while dressing her. You may think well why dress her then? Originally I
thought I would just leave her with a nappy on around where the catheter was
inserted but then I had to think about how Charlotte must be feeling. She would
hate having a nappy on and certainly wouldn’t want anyone to see it, as
Charlotte used to say “I’m a big, growed up 7 year old!” so that was out of the
question. She couldn’t have any of her PJs on as the trousers wouldn’t go over
the lines coming out of her foot or the catheter tube so I asked for some
nightdresses to be brought in. This was tricky in itself as the nightdress had
to be passed up and over the drain that was coming out of her head. Of her
head! There’s a tube in my child’s head that’s ridiculously long and I can’t
just put a nightie on her to keep her warm because of it!
The real difficulties came however, when Charlotte was
recovering and starting to learn to get dressed again, or being dressed by me.
Things which she and I had found easy and were second nature were suddenly
seemingly impossible and so confusing for her. She suddenly had no idea what a
sleeve, sock or shoe was. She even had no idea what an arm or foot to put in
the sleeve, sock or shoe was let alone how to organise herself to actually move
her arm or foot to do anything with it!
I think that was the most frustrating part but bless her she
just kept getting the giggles and looking at everything as if it was the first
time she’d seen it, which I suppose to her, it was! I had to giggle along with
her and she never knew that really I just wanted to smash the entire city up in
frustration on her behalf.
It does come though with practise, encouragement and
patience. The best piece of advice I can give is to break things down. Instead
of ‘put your sock on’, try ‘Let’s get this sock on’ while showing the sock and
ask, ‘lift your foot’ whilst gently prompting the foot up slightly and gently
so that they understand what ‘lift’ and ‘foot’ is. Explain every single stage
of what you are doing and eventually the brain will recognise it.
Charlotte still needs a lot of help but there are some days
when she will not only dress herself but will have picked out her outfit
herself too! Not bad for a kid that couldn’t blink eh?
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