 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 | ||
 
   
|  Back From The Brink … Webster Man Recovers From Life-Altering Brain Injury By MARY HERMAN-CAPPOLI Last fall, Leon Vachon lived in a world of which nightmares are made. Aware of his surroundings but not knowing where he was … recognizing familiar faces but unable to recall his own age or address . . . the 51 year-old Webster resident spent nearly two months struggling to understand what was real and what was not. Leon's nightmare began on August 2nd. While helping his wife move items from her parents' home, he lost his balance, fell to the driveway, and hit his head. Unconscious, he was rushed to Hubbard Regional Hospital and then life-flighted to UMass Memorial Medical Center where he was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury. Unable to breathe on his own, Leon was placed on a ventilator and underwent surgery to alleviate pressure in his brain. Five weeks later, medically stable but extremely disoriented and unable to carry out everyday tasks, he was admitted to Fairlawn Rehabilitation Hospital in Worcester. Profoundly Impaired
Leon's injury also affected his language skills. "Often, when he would speak, the wrong word would come out. He would call things by the wrong name. Sometimes, they were real words. Sometimes they were made-up words," said Larson. Throughout his first month at Fairlawn, Leon was also haunted by his inability to distinguish between past and the present. "When I first started coming out of it, I was convinced it was 1969 and insisted I had tickets to a Led Zepplin concert," recalled Leon in a recent interview. "That same night I told my sister I needed to call my father, but both our parents had been dead for a long time. When she tried to explain that to me, I just couldn't believe it". Leon also had difficulty believing what had happened to him. "People kept telling me about my injury and where I was, but I just couldn't grasp it. What was real wasn't real to me," he said. "I knew what I was thinking was wrong, but something in my mind kept telling me I was right. It was like a nightmare I couldn't wake up from." While physical therapists helped Leon to improve his balance, gait, and coordination, his early speech therapy focused on reorienting him to time and place. "Every day we would go over how old he was, where he lived, where he was, and why he was here," explained Larson, adding that Leon's injury had also impaired his ability to concentrate. "Along with being distracted by things around him, Leon had internal distractions. We would be working on a simple task in a quiet room, and he would become distracted by thoughts of going home, where his car was, or who was taking care of his dog. Therefore, we also worked on having him keep his attention on what he was doing right in front of him for even just a few minutes at a time." Improvement
According to Leon's treatment team, several factors — including healing from the injury, participating in the rehabilitation process, and new medication — contributed to his dramatic turnaround. As Leon insight improved, he began to understand what he needed to do to reach his goals. "Although I didn't like hearing that I couldn't jump right back into life, I decided I would do what my therapists said I had to do — work really hard," he recalled. From that point on, Leon vigilantly used a memory book in which he would record all the details of his day. "He would write down what the date was, who his therapists were, and what he had worked on during therapy. He now had a tool to prompt him to remember what he needed to know," explained Larson. Leon also worked hard in occupational therapy. "I practiced writing out checks and doing kitchen activities. Later on, I worked on following directions and reading maps, something I would have to do if I went back to my job," said Leon, who worked as a truck driver prior to his injury. On November 1st, Leon Vachon returned to his Webster home, something he and Larson once thought might never happen. "There was a time when I thought Leon would end up in a nursing home," said Larson, who was thrilled to see the progress her former patient had made when he visited her in early February, just days before returning to his job. "For him to be going back to work is just wonderful. It is proof of how hard he worked here, at home, and in outpatient therapy." Leon agrees. "For a long time I thought I would never get back to normal. Now I'm really looking forward to going back to work," he said, adding that he has also resumed playing guitar, something he now does as well as he did before his injury. These days Leon Vachon also has a renewed appreciation for all life has to offer. "I always knew you couldn't take things for granted. Everybody knows that. But this really brought it to the forefront," he said. "I always tried to appreciate little things. Everybody does that. But when something like this happens, it's a life-altering experience to say the least." | ||||||||||
