"...my in-coma prognosis was not good--I might be an idiot IF I woke up. "


 
 

"...my in-coma prognosis was not good--- I might be an idiot IF I woke up. When I woke up--- that I would be in a nursing home the rest of my life.

I don't have much good to say about rehab: speech therapy dropped me when I knew words to say but said them in a monotone; slurry and quiet; PT didn't even try to help me walk unaided, although later I walked across a room by myself, fell and broke my bad leg & haven't walked unaided since; OT did good--- playing games got my memory in gear.

But I feel a lot of good was done by visitors MAKING me remember stuff. At first they repeated themselves endlessly, but just being friends, not relatives, their patience quickly faded. The simple phrase "I told you that yesterday" caused my memory to wake up and get active.

I think you should suggest to "waiters" not to be so quick to respond if he/she already knows, just forgot.

As regards "making it back," I have not made it back to where I was before--a working college student--but I have made it back from where I was months after the coma, even 2 years after, when I could occupy a day watching Daytime TV on a plain TV and playing Tetris in a hotel room--without being bored.

 

Anne Watters

Sometimes I yearn for the days when I was too "stupid" to be bored. I had a 186 IQ pre-wreck, 120 on release from the hospial. I fear I'm above normal even now, certainly above most who have as severe physical disabilities as me.

And I'm improving all on my own--with games. Have games improved my life? Yes. I don't need my daily electronic rolodex to tell me to take a shower, eat or take pills. I know what day it is when I wake up. And I walk better.

The brain runs the body. If the brain can play games better, it is thinking better and can thereby think to instruct the body better. Better walking through Tetris!

 

~Anne Watters

 

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