By Ian Hebeisen
During my junior year of high schoolmy dad picked me up after I finished play rehearsal. These car rides home became commonplaceexcept for one day in particular. I hopped into my dad’s vanand he started our usual car-ride conversation with the phrase“Nowdon’t worry too much….“
Obviouslythis worried me. My dad explained mom was in a car accident that afternoon. It didn’t seem that bad – she was rear-ended by a young man who was texting and driving. Mom stopped at a red lightandwhen the left turn arrow changed to greenthe driver behind her – still focused on his phone – saw the cars next to him moving and drove forward. When mom saw the car behind her wasn’t slowing downshe instinctively locked her arms and braced for impact.
The accident seemed minor at the time. Both parties walked away believing they were fine. “I don’t really remember much of the aftermath,” mom said. She came home from the site of collision feeling lost in a fog. “It wasn’t until after we took care of the post-accident formalities I felt something was wrong.”
In the following daysmom started experiencing strange headaches located at the base of her skull. “Usuallymy headaches were at the front of my head or from my sinuses. It took a long time to even figure out I was having headaches,” mom said.
Three weeks after the initial impactwe started seeing other symptoms unfold. Mom became rather orneryand my dad commented on how easily she started to cry. Her emotions were heightened at the beginningpossibly from being in pain without fully realizing it or understanding why. She experienced lingering nerve pain in her arms and back. Tremorsspasmsand other movement disorders developed during this timeand debilitated her everyday life.
Her job grew more difficult for her as well — she worked as an early-childhood educatorand the fluorescent lights became overwhelming. When working with young childrenvocal outbursts arose without warning. Too much noise triggered migraine-like headaches and increased tremoring. The job she used to love doing became an unbearable burdenand she struggled to pull through even a four-hour shift.
My two brothers and I thought the accident resulted only in a damaged bumper and repeated lectures on the dangers of texting while driving. Despite some obvious changes in our mother’s behavior and abilitieswe thought they would be temporaryand we’d have our mom back to normal in no time.
Eventuallymom went in for a cervical MRI. This scan revealed a couple herniated discs in her spine. Upon discovering this diagnosisshe began treatment targeting these herniated discs. We all breathed a sigh of relief — we wanted an explanation for the changes we were noticingand we finally had one. We figured once the discs realigned and healedher problems would disappear.
Howeveras time went onthe damage showed little sign of letting up. She continued feeling pain and wincing at bright lights and sporadic sounds. It looked like this would become the new normal for usuntil our family chiropractor noticed mom struggled to differentiate her left and right. The chiropractorDr. Andrew Luing of Dynamic Family Chiropracticrecently underwent training for identifying concussionsand recognized some of the warning signs in mom.
Dr. Luing referred mom to another doctor at Hennepin Health Carewhere she learned she suffered a traumatic brain injury from the accident. By locking her arms to brace herselfshe ended up not only herniating the discs in her spinebut rattling her brain in her skull.
She underwent another MRI at Hennepin Health Care (HHC) which revealed no physical damage to the brain. Her doctors were not surprised. “They told me any shearing of the brain for traumatic brain injuries can be so fineit doesn’t register on the MRI,” mom said.
This news came as a shock. Nobody in our family had any prior experience with TBIs. Some of my friends sustained concussions in the pastbut they never seemed to have a catastrophic effect — they would be out of commission for about a weekbut then they’d be back in action. Seeing first-hand how serious the effects of a concussion could be caused quite a paradigm shift.
Mom started new treatments following the confirmation of a concussion. HHC wanted to put her on various medicationsbut she declined due to a history of allergic reactions to medicines. Chiropractic care proved beneficial at relieving headaches and reducing pain. In additionDr. Luing started other treatments including deep tissue laser therapy and decompression.
The TBI clinic instructed mom that she needed to quit working to focus on treatment for her condition. She began occupational therapy with a focus on speech and vision therapies to help retrain her memoryprocessingand cognitionas well as ease her sudden stuttering. The family’s involvement intensified at this point. We assisted with her visual exercises and physical therapy at homewhether that involved holding up a sheet of paper with various numbers and letters or helping with stretches.
Unable to workmom found herself a bit stir-crazy at home. She attempted to do choresbut with such a fresh injuryit didn’t take long for her to become overwhelmed and in need of a rest. We all adapted the way we approached chores to keep mom functioning as much as possible. For examplemom could load the dishwasherbut emptying proved difficult. “When loadingeverything goes into one areawhile with emptyingthere’s a lot of cognitive processing to determine where dishes need to be put away,” mom said.
In timethey sent mom to a neuro-optometrist. In addition to her light sensitivityshe received five other diagnosesincluding double vision and midline shifta condition where pressure and swelling build up enough to push the brain off center.
The neuro-optometrist prescribed mom her first pair of glassesand our family faced another side-effect of mom’s condition: wounded pride. The glasses contained prisms to correct the double visionas well as blue tinted lenses to remedy the light sensitivity. At firstmom felt embarrassed by the glasses – to herthe colored glass accentuated her vision problems and hinderances. “It was bad enough I was moving and contractingand now I had these blue glasses to draw unwanted attention from others,” said mom.
My dad gets the credit for selling mom on the new glasses. To boost her confidencehe printed a collage of celebrities who wore blue tinted glasses – Elton JohnRobert Downey Jr.and so on – with the phrase “Now you’re one of the cool people!” and taped the pictures to mom’s closet. The role of caretaker involves so much more than opening doors and helping with chores. Finding ways to encourage mom and make her smile in times of trial proved beneficial to her journey.
We continued to gradually adapt to the changes in mom’s condition. Her symptoms fluctuatedand we altered the way we helped her in those moments. For examplemom always had minor allergies to preservatives like sodium benzoatebut after the accidentshe developed additional food allergies – another side effect of her TBI that blindsided us. We began to read food labels more diligentlyand modified our family meals to accommodate these changes in her diet.
When going on family tripsI usually try to linger at the end of the group in case mom’s movement disorder flares up and she requires an arm for support. My brothers tend to monitor the media mom takes in – if a song contains too much dissonance or a certain pitch that’ll send mom into contractionsthey’ll take note and skip over it. With movies and TVwe alert mom if an upcoming sequence will overstimulate her with lots of flashing colors or fast-paced visuals.
We chauffer her around town. Driving requires a lot of focus on multiple moving partsand can drain mom quickly. If she needs to visit a store or run errandswe drive her to help reduce her fatigue and relieve some of the chaos. When on longer road tripswe need to plan for days of rest accordingly to help mom regain composure and remedy some of her exhaustion.
One such trip involved a drive down to the Mind-Eye Institute in NorthbrookIllinois. Mom learned about the institute from the book The Ghost in My Brain by Dr. Clark Elliotand reached out for help. At the instituteshe went through a plethora of tests designed to analyze the way her eyes took in lightand how her brain reacted to visual stimuli. The Mind-Eye Institute prescribed a new set of eyeglasseswhich they refer to as Brainwear™ . These glassesno longer tintedwere designed to emphasize peripheral awarenessnot just improve central eyesight.
In factmy mother’s glasses actually don’t give her 20/20 eyesight at all. After her first appointment at the Mind-Eye Institutemom explained their current paradigm. Basicallywhen mom’s systems get overwhelmedher muscles contract because the central nervous system is trying to process too much information and attempts to pawn off some of the stress to the nerves in her arms. “The optometrists said I don’t need to see at 20/20,” said mom. “By decreasing my central eyesightI’m subconsciously shifting to use peripheral eyesightmy brain doesn’t get overloaded so easilyand my muscles don’t stiffen as much.”
The Brainwear™ glasses help to rebuild neuralpathwaysreducing sporadic movements and contractions. The improvement is gradualbut we’ve noticed fewer spasms and less stuttering. All of these symptoms still remain as obstacles that mom continues to battlebut the individualized glasses do help. Every few monthsshe needs an update to her prescription as she adapts to the changes. “I used to have tinnitusbut that unexpectedly went away with the peripheral eyesight glasses™,” said mom.
We continue to monitor mom’s reactions to incoming sensory stimuli. We’ll recommend she take breaks as we work on projects at homeand adjust tasks like chopping vegetables if it proves to be too taxing on her mind and body. All of our aid doesn’t entirely solve her issues by any meansbut it makes her injuries more manageable. “It makes life livable,” said mom.
Despite all mom’s improvementshe still struggles with her conditionespecially when doing something out of her regular routine. “My world has become very small and comfortableand if I step outside that comfort zonethat’s when my symptoms flare up. I’m managing because I keep my activities very smallbut if I push beyond that it flares up.”
For examplemom went out on a friend’s boat this past summerand ended up feeling miserable. The light reflecting off of the shifting water overstimulated her braincausing spasms and offsetting her balance. “I don’t realize how much I’m managing until something triggers it and the brain injury rears its ugly head. Or something overstimulates me and I start stuttering.” When she returned homeshe went straight to bed even though it was still early in the day as an attempt to recuperate.
As much as mom has improvedshe has a long way to go. During one conversationshe explained that a doctor declared that “he couldn’t cure mebut he could help me manage my symptoms”. It’s a frustrating process to partake inbut without our assistancemom’s struggles would grow exponentially and become more taxing. Challenging as it may bewe’ve got to stick together as a family.
Some things to keep in mind as you assist your loved one with a TBI: chances are pretty good that some of their symptoms will linger for a long time. Stop trying to get them back to the person they werestart loving the person they areand support them on their journey towards the person they can be with their treatments.
Little things can go a long wayand keeping an eye out for small acts of service to ease their symptoms can make their day much more livable. Remember to exercise patience – healing is a long and arduous processand progress can recede as time goes on. Keep pushing forwardand things will start looking up. The ways you help your loved one mean more than you can realize.
Ian Hebeisen graduated from Saint Mary’s University in May 2020earning a degree in Literature with a Writing Emphasis. Now living in the Twin CitiesIan writes comicsgraphic novelsand poetry. In his spare timehe enjoys playing board games with his family.
