Chapter 1 – Trepidation
"Hello Sonja."
"Hello, do I know you?"
"Yes, I knew you a few years back. How are you doing today?"
"They tell me that I'm doing okay but I'm still tired. Actually I guess I was asleep for a long time. Any way that's what the doctor told me."
"So, how do I know you? What's your name?"
"My name is Chris. Christopher LaSalle. We use to work together in place called New Orleans."
"I've heard of that place before. The counselor was in here the other day and showed me some pictures of that place. Wait a minute. You were in one of those pictures. It made me laugh. You had a red dress on. We were in a big blue car in one. Then we were walking down the street. I didn't know the other people though."
"So do you see a lot of pictures here? Did you ever see one of a little girl with curly hair?"
"Hey, yeah I did. How did you know that? She was cute. She had on this red sweat shirt that had Alabama on it. She was sitting on a guy's lap with reddish kind of hair. I think the counselor said his name was Cade. The little girl was uh, uh, Catherine. She had blue eyes like her daddy."
"How would you know that?"
"That's what the counselor told me."
"Excuse Mr. LaSalle" the nurse says. "I need to draw some blood real quick and take her vitals. You can come back in when I leave."
"So Chris, how did it go?"
"She has no idea who I really am. I guess they showed her some pictures of us in the Red Dress Run and she remembered seeing me in the photos. She has no inkling that I am her husband or that Catherine is our daughter."
"I don't know Merrie. I don't know if I can do this. I love her so much. I can't bear to see that vibrant woman just sitting around. Catherine has missed her considerably. She'll be three next month. I left all our photos out. She will look at them and ask about her mommy. I try to talk with joy in my voice but I know that she sees right through me."
"Did I say thank you for being here with me Merrie? You have done so much for Sonja. It's hard being all the way across the country but I am trying to keep a routine for Catherine. Thank goodness momma came to help me with her. Now that Sonja is awake, they will have to decide if she can fly to New Orleans and be treated there. She needs physical therapy to work on those muscles that she did not use for five months."
"So when will they tell her who she is?"
"They are still working on that. Fortunately now that she is awake, I can take family leave and make better use of that time being here with her. I don't have worry about a pay check since I put away some of the money from the LaSalle Oil sale but I really don't want to leave Catherine for too long of a time period. Fortunately I can visit her every night on video chat."
"Okay Mr. LaSalle" the nurse says as she passes by, "you can go back in now".
"Hello again" I say as I return.
"Hi? Chris wasn't it?"
"Yes, Sonja my name is Chris" I was wondering if I could eat lunch with you."
"Well, I guess you can but you won't like the food either"
** Retrograde amnesia is the loss of memories that formed before a traumatic head injury.
As with other cognitive-communication disorders, individualizing treatment approaches is critical to clients' success. Actively involving our TBI clients in treatment strategy decisions will provide them with the metacognitive tools to tackle situations that will arise in the future when the SLP is not present to assist the client.
Only about 20 percent of people might suffer from post-concussion syndrome, where they continue to experience symptoms after six weeks.