I recall meeting a young lady, in fact moved into her room in a flat after
she went into a long coma of the alcohol and barbituate OD kind. This
deleted her memory to a certain level where she could still talk and do
normal human function stuff but completely lost memory of herself and family
(who were from another part of NZ) and friends and flat mates. Kinda like
Identity Fraud to the max. Ashburn Hall staff set about recreating her in
the multiple images of friends family etc. Not many warning labels warn the
young of that sort of thing, just one party away from who knows where.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Wesley Parish" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2007 11:14 PM
Subject: Re: Clug poster in Coma
On Thursday 10 May 2007 15:57, John Carter wrote:
On Thu, 10 May 2007, Robert Fisher wrote:
> On Thursday 10 May 2007 10:49 am, John Carter wrote:
>> If anyone has contact with him and his family, keep us posted as to
>> how things are going.
>
> Ben's brother Isaac is also a CLUG member who has been to several
> meetings.
>
> My son is a friend of Isaac's and has contacted him via text messaging
> but I suspect answering list posts is low on their priority at the
> moment.
True. Very low to vanishing.
Unfortunately long coma tends to equal long recovery needing lots of
community support over months, sometimes years.
Fortunately he is young, which really really does improve the
statistics, but statistics are lousy when its someone you care about.
ie. He doesn't need us now. Not at all.
But in a month or two, or in a year, I'm afraid he will need the
support when the community has forgotten.
That's when the contacts will be needed.
FWIW, I've been through this sort of thing myself. A major part of my
surviving I credit to finding a book called "The Man Who Mistook His Wife
for
a Hat", by Oliver Sacks. It gave me some perspective on the whole issue
of
brain injury, which is what a coma is. It's not anywhere near as bad as a
traumatic brain injury, which is what I lived through, but the whole thing
is
I suspect, scary for anyone who's never been through it before. (A coma's
not life-threatening, as far as I know, but if you don't know what's
happening, it can scare you.)
A major part of recovery - for the family - is getting enough information
on
the situation so that they're ready for anything that may develop out of
it.
And for the person in the coma, when they wake, the last thing they'll
need is
to be cossetted. While at the same time they can't be pushed, either. (I
can tell you though, that in the early stages, getting up can sometimes be
tiring enough an activity for an entire day. Catch the wave, don't let it
dump you. ;)
There was a Head Injury group in Christchurch that I was aware of in the
late
nineties - I don't know if they're still around, but if they are, Ben's
family should be able to get quality information from them.
Best of luck, Ben and family! It's not going to be easy!
Wesley Parish
John Carter Phone : (64)(3) 358 6639
Tait Electronics Fax : (64)(3) 359 4632
PO Box 1645 Christchurch Email : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
New Zealand
--
Clinersterton beademung, with all of love - RIP James Blish
-----
Gaul is quartered into three halves. Things which are
impossible are equal to each other. Guerrilla
warfare means up to their monkey tricks.
Extracts from "Schoolboy Howlers" - the collective wisdom
of the foolish.
-----
Mau e ki, he aha te mea nui?
You ask, what is the most important thing?
Maku e ki, he tangata, he tangata, he tangata.
I reply, it is people, it is people, it is people.
