You can go straight to UPDATES to read journals of whats going on now in our daily life.
You can go to PAGE 4 to learn about what lead Tyler to this life altering decision and how drugs affected his life. Updates dated July 7, 2005 (tylers 2 yr sobriety date) and Dec 5, 2004 (one yr ago today) also reflect on tylers prior life.
For those that come here because you have a loved one who has suffered brain injury, I hope something here will help you. They say all injurys are different, but I've also seen many things that are similar. The main thing is to have faith and hope and dont give up even when doctors are telling you differently. HERES TYLERS STORY.........My son age 15 attempted to take his life by hanging on Dec 5,2003. He was only out of our site for 15 min, so we feel his oxygen deprivation was only 5-10 min. But that was long enough to leave him in a coma with extensive brain damage. Same story.....no hope given, vegatative state, he'll never function, uncontroled brain activity, ventilator, trach, etc..but God had another plan for him and that was many years ago. God is the main doctor and the master of all hope, comfort, support, joy and peace. Keys to success: we were 9 wks at the childrens rehab center for Baylor hosp in dallas, tx
there he was given respiratory treatment 4 times a day until he was taken off his trach and it was removed from his neck. (the hole heals up immediately) he had very aggressive posturing, arms held tightly up to his body with his back arched high. this is due to the spine continuing to send off signals and his brain no longer having the cells to contol them. Baclafen, zanaflex and now dantrium are the relaxants that have relaxed his tone. He is now only using Dantrium for the spastisity (involuntary muscle contrations) IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO BE THE RESISTANCE TO ANY MUSCLES THAT ARE TIGHTENING UP. KEEP THEM MOVING/BENDING. CONSTANTLY WORK THEIR JOINTS AND MUSCLES WITH RANGE OF MOTION, REFLEXOLOGY(FOOT AND HAND MASSAGES) insist they get them out of bed for showers and therapy. They had to inject Botox into his arms to get the muscles to relax enough to pull them down to 90 degrees and they put a cast on them. After several days they took off that cast and kept pulling his arms down and recasting. Finally they made them into splints that he could wear 4 hrs on/4 hrs off. He also had boots to keep his feet pointing up and not down to the bed(ballerina toes)He had cast/splints that he wore on his elbows, his hands and his ankles.They turned him side to side every 2 hours and he was on a air mattress and never had one single bed sore.
It took 2 months to get his body from being stiff and flexed tight, but once he started being put in a wheelchair to sit up and taken to a gym for therapy his recovery progressed faster. THE SOONER YOU START THE FASTER THEY'LL HEAL.
he passed the 6 weeks normally given to coma patients and because he was making advancements, they kept him 9. My friend who has a daughter who survived a gun shot wound right through the back of the head and the bullet came out the front (thats a whole other God Story coz 2 yrs later she is was well enought to live on her own) she told me Do Not Take Him Home..Get as much continual therapy as you can.
God put before us Texas NeuroRehab Center in Austin Tx and they take all levels of coma. He got 2 sessions of Physical Therapy, 2 sessions of occupation therapy and 2 sessions of speech therapy EACH DAY. This has made a big difference! He has always been very responsive with his eyes. he knows everyone that comes to see him, he follows(tracks) them , he understands all we say to him. His neck is sometimes strong enough to hold up his head but he still needs the headpc on his wheelchair. He was answering yes and no by staring at word cards, but yrs later doesnt seem to do it consistently anymore. We're working on thumbs up and down which he does very slowly, but now his hands have crippled up (atrophy) and he has no movement in them at all. (I have read that people can will or visualize body parts to move by hard concentration).He moves his arms in and out when he trys to do something. He was stimulated with lemon swabs under his tongue to stir his saliva glands and the back of his throat to stimulate swallowing and he makes noises and I always think he is on the verge of talking. His swallow never got strong enought to allow him to eat and later studys showed the muscles had weakened from lack of use. He continues to be fed thru a feeding tube in his stomach. Tyler and I came back home after living in hospitals for 6 months on June 1, 2004. 4 of them I slept in his room with him in a chair bed. The Lord continued to bless us with 15 to 20 hrs of therapy per week. Rehab without Walls is a team of therapist specialized specifically in brain injury and Neuro recovery. They were with Tyler until Aug. 20, 2004. After that he got therapy here and there, but you have to ask for it. It is a ongoing process which cant be let up on until he is again walking and talking.
In the meantime, we have explored alternative therapies such as hyperbaric oxygen treatment. It forces good pure oxygenated blood into all areas of his body. It has relaxed his muscles and opened up his nerve ending so that he is feeling more. He got more movement in his body and seemed to benefit from it. We did 40 sessions but had health issues that kept him from going back for the second group and now his leg is stuck in bent up position and he wont fit in the tube. In 2005 he had a pump implanted in his stomach that gives medicine to his spine and baclefen is the main muscle relaxer. 2008 He has recently started taking provigil (a stimulant) and it seems to make him more alert. He has started smileing at friends and laughing at funny stuff.
I have no doubt God won't keep him in this "locked in" state forever, but that is based on my faith alone and the miracles I have already seen God perform.
The following pages keep friends/family updated, friends leave inspirating messages, there are photos of Tyler, links to other websites, and pages of information and inspiration. I pray for each of you and God bless you in your journeys. Seek out Gods purpose from your trials and always look for the positive.
Tyler also has information along with pictures of him in therapies on a website called Anoxicinjury.com. If you have a loved one with brain injury this has become a good source of information as you read through the stories of others with brain injuries. It helps to share questions and give support to others and know what others have tried and what they are going through. ***Go now up to Tylers "UPDATES" link to follow Tylers progress and the miracles that God grants us everyday!