 |
Life before my brain injury was very full on. We owned a metal fabrication business in Townsville and employed several people. Most times we operated 7 days a week with two 12 hour shifts per day at the mine sites. Before this I had built our dream house from the ground up. Australian Rules Football was my life. I had played 100 plus senior games, coached back to back premierships, won the best and fairest for the competition but I had reached semi-retirement due to work commitments. Things changed and the work was no longer there, so it was time to move on.
Leanne's mother was diagnosed with cancer and didn't have long to live. They owned two chicken farms and one farm was put on the market, so we went down to Brisbane and checked it out briefly. We arrived in Redland Bay and bought the farm. I didn't know what the hell I was doing but Leanne had a bit of an idea and that's all we needed. How wrong was I. The previous manager employed had been very lazy and run the farm down and I put myself under a lot of stress trying to get the farm up to standard. Then the storm came, it blacked out the whole area. We had chickens in at the time so I attempted to go down to check on them and than I had my brain haemorrhage. I told Leanne to call the Ambulance as I had the worst pain in my head (which some of you will relate to) and the pain behind my eyes was something else. I stayed awake until the Ambulance came (5 minutes) and then went into a coma, 500 meters down the road. The coma lasted for three weeks. I had a Grade 5 Brain Haemorrhage with my blood pressure over 300. Doctors described recovery as Steps 0 - 100 with 0 = dead and 100 = yourself before. After waking from my coma the next couple of weeks I stayed on Steps 3 + 4.
After six weeks Leanne remembers the Physio strapping me on a bed which was raised to vertical to practise standing. The first day they only managed to reach 45 degrees before I was throwing up green stomach bile, my head was floppy and I had no response to the Physio. The following day they attempted the same thing and they got me to the standing position (strapped in) and when they explained that I needed the straps on, I mimed the words "Why?" It was the first time I was aware of people around me, smiled at other patients and raised my hands above my head on request for the first time.
After that day I progressed extremely quickly at a rate that amazed hospital staff and family. Although I found it extremely difficult to understand why I was in hospital. (Thought I was in a very bad hotel and wanted to check out). I became extremely agitated about all the tubes and had to be strapped in bed when no visitors were around. I became a much calmer patient after the Tracheotomy came out.
The surgery was booked in for March 2001 and the outcome was uncertain so the hospital let my wife take me home most weekends to spend quality time with the children. Fortunately the procedure was a success thanks to my very good surgeon and I had rehab at BIUR at P.A. Hospital. Final discharge was six months after the brain haemorrhage, a little early for the hospital staffs' liking, but I had had enough and continued with Physio and OT at the local hospital.
I now go to the Gym three days a week, help with the U14 AFL local Club and hope to compete in Triathlons and other sporting events within my capabilities.
John
Other languages