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HEADW A Y  G A U T E N G

Dedicated to assisting people with brain injury and their families

SEPTEMBER 2007
Dear Members                             
Our guest speaker in August was Ann Nott, who is an Occupational Therapist and has previously worked at Headway before going into private practice.  Ann brought Chine to tell her story. In 2005 Chine had everything going for her, she loved life and was living it to the full, but she suffered from headaches which the doctors were unable to diagnose. One doctor thought she had Epilepsy and gave her medication for this condition; unfortunately she was allergic to this medication which resulted in her lapsing into a coma which lasted for 9 weeks, during which time she ‘died’ 7 times and had to be resuscitated, suffered from bed sores on her ears and back, her hair fell out and she had to have a tracheotomy. She was sent to Olivedale Clinic and then NetcareRehabilitationHospital when she recovered from the coma. She had very little memory, (in fact she could not even remember her name) and suffered from mood swings and took medication morning and evening to allow to her function. She was released from the rehabilitation hospital, went home, and was first cared for by caregivers and then her gran who came up from Durban to help her family cope.
She was referred to Ann, who initially did home visits, then sessions in her rooms, thereafter in the community- ice skating at a mall and then she was referred on to group therapy.
Ann told us that Occupational Therapy is one of the Allied Medical Professions, it looks at activities in daily life to maximize personal abilities in one’s personal, social life, work/study/volunteer and recreational life.
When Ann first saw Chine she was very distressed about her memory problems so Anne taught compensatory techniques such as colour-coding, repetition, chunking, visual and auditory memory,  keeping a diary – Chine now has three - she keeps one in her handbag, one at home and another she keeps in her car. 
The most important step was to make therapy client centered, whereby Chine would make her own goals and a reward system was implemented as motivation.  In the beginning if she concentrated for 10 minutes she could have the slice of banana bread she wanted, thereafter the rewards were bigger as the goals were graded i.e. a CD, going ice-skating, ice -skating boots and the tasks were more challenging such as controlling angry outbursts, following a weekly timetable, doing household chores etc.
Practical joint problem solving sessions were held to look at how to cope with daily problems e.g. anger and impulsivity ; Chine found taking deep breaths  would recompose her, walking away from the person she was angry with, hitting a pillow or playing her music would to help calm her down.
Following a routine always allays anxiety and gives a person purpose, determination and structure which leads to control.  However, this routine incorporated rest periods, sleep time and exercise to improve physical fitness and reduce Brain Fatigue.
As Budgeting was a problem for Chine, a meeting was held with her parents on a budget allowance. Starting with a 2 day budget, then a weekly budget followed re a monthly budget allowance Chine gained more control of her finances.
Chine then went to Headway as well as Rose Crouch’s groups and learnt to follow a weekly time table that would be similar to a study/work week. Here she learnt social skills within a group as well as developed confidence in learning hobbies etc.
Ann also talked to Chine about self awareness, goals purpose in life. Chine is teaching piano now, is studying drama at WITSUniversity and leading a full life again.

CAROL’S VOICE:
Carol is the wife of Steve Pape who was badly injured in an accident and is the author of ‘Stepped Off’. This story is a follow on of a very inspirational story and the book is in our library‘One moment that will stay with me forever is hearing Carol’s (My wife of only four months) voice for the first time. Carol had been told that there might be a possibility that I wouldn’t remember who she was. Thankfully, as soon as I heard Carol’s voice I knew I was safe, and I can’t say how pleased Carol was to be recognized.
Something terrible must have happened for me to be in hospital. I was on motor biking holiday in Scotland and while riding around a left hand bend travelling at about 85mph when I lost control and crashed. I had ‘died’ on the roadside as a result of my injuries; luckily for me, I was in a group of about thirty other riders, some of whom were off duty policemen and in the first car to happen upon the crash was a nurse on her way to work. When the ambulance arrived and I was stabilized, I was taken to the nearest hospital specializing in neurological injuries; which was Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.
As time went by, I was becoming more aware of my surroundings and how I had spent the last few weeks in a coma. I had only broken my ankle on the initial impact and the rest of my injuries were related to being thrown around like a rag doll. My helmet was shattered like an eggshell and this gave the doctors their biggest worry, it was obvious that I had sustained a head injury. My accident and coma had taken me back to zero; I was like a newborn baby in an adult’s body.
Physically, my recovery was progressing in leaps and bounds and all my body needed was time to heal itself. There was no stopping Carol and I once I had gained some strength in my arms and legs. People think I’m joking when I tell them how badly damaged I was, but because there are no bandages or disabilities people assumed I was fully recovered.
Unfortunately, as I improved physically I slowly deteriorated mentally.
Mentally, my recovery wasn’t going so well. Carol and I hadn’t been prepared for the effects of a head injury, we had to learn fast or there would be problems ahead. In hospital the doctors and nurses knew how to deal with a head injury sufferer, but out in the big wide world it was a different story. This is when my frustration started to grow and I noticed that my ‘anger threshold’ was virtually non-existent. In the early stages of my recovery I had no self-control and no inhibitions and I could only deal with the easy, simple and small decisions and whenever I did do something, it had to be done right first time with no exception, thinking in black and white, right or wrong. This was the easy way out and required no thought at all, I wasn't concerned with the 'what if', the 'what if ' required thinking, and if it went wrong I would get annoyed with myself and anyone else who was near me. With the frustration, came the depression and I started to wear black all the time because it was easy to pick out something to wear, because black went with everything. I tried to make life as easy as possible by eliminating all the small decisions that weren’t important, like what to wear. I felt like I was on train tracks heading in one direction and I couldn’t get off, I was so focused on my decision whether it was right or wrong.
I was the same person on the inside but on the outside, I came across as an angry, arrogant and difficult person. The behaviour of some family and friends towards me had changed and I was starting to be treated like an old age pensioner who couldn’t take care of himself, regardless of what I said some people wouldn’t take any notice of what I was telling them and only did what they thought was best; best for whom was my question, best that they were seen helping. I was starting to be treated like an object and not a person. There were many times I just wanted to scream at people because they just weren’t listening to me and the less they listened, the more frustrated and angry I became. I had lost my motorbike (which was one of my passions), and people in general were treating me like an idiot. A lot of the time I did need help, but help on my terms and help that I wanted, not help that people thought I needed. I did need support and guidance, but more importantly I needed to do things for myself. I needed to learn the ‘How’s and Why’s’ and I couldn’t learn with people trying to help me all the time. Over a period of time had I lost my confidence and I was starting to feel like a worthless human being and no good to anyone. My frustration and anger was growing everyday and if I didn’t take action to tackle it I would be in trouble.
One night Carol and I sat down and we talked about the problems I was having, I had so many I didn’t know which problem to tackle first. The first major problem I needed to solve was to change my working environment. At work, some of my work colleagues were taking advantage of my condition and the only decisive way to change this was to seek out new employment. This was one of the hardest decisions I had to make because I had worked for the same company for the last five years. I had worked hard and was promoted from being a worker on a production bench to a studio manager, so I was very angry at having to make this decision.
To make forward progress with my recovery, I needed to leave my past behind and find new employment. Two years had passed and I was starting my new job. I felt like I’d just climbed Mt Everest. I was so excited and I just couldn’t believe what I had achieved. Both Carol and I had worked hard to get me into this position and I knew that it was all up to me now to make it work.
To show myself that I was a decent person and that I was making progress with my recovery, I sat down with a pen and paper and I wrote down everything that I had accomplished since my crash. Every little step I made was listed, starting from surviving the crash and waking up from my coma in August 2000 to starting a new job and changing my working environment in September 2002. This helped with several problems; it showed me just how much I had accomplished in the first two years after the crash. I found lots of information from various websites on the Internet relating to anger management and how to control my temper when dealing with obnoxious people. Reading my accomplishment list helped with my frustration and anger but my brain was still racing ahead at full speed, my mind was like a torture device that had been programmed to destroy me.
Eventually, I found what I needed to slow my mind down: Physical exercise. The more physically exhausted I became the clearer my mind became and if I kept on exercising my mind just emptied, this was what I called memory clearance. It was bliss, for the first time in months I had nothing on my mind.
This was the turning point in my recovery. My confidence was increasing and my frustration and anger were becoming a thing of the past.
I now accept that things can go wrong and that I'm not perfect. It does take more effort to think about the 'what if' and thinking in black and white, right or wrong takes no effort at all.
I started to realize that I had been my own worst enemy.
There tends to be a misconception that life after a brain injury is all doom and gloom. I must admit that the first year after the accident was really difficult although we received a lot of support from the various therapists at the rehab unit and from Headway, the organisation supporting brain injury sufferers and their families. I also wrote ‘Stepped Off’ - a book about my journey back to health, accompanied with a website (http://www.steppedoff.co.uk). The aim is to help others going through a similar experience, although no two accidents and no two-brain injuries are the same.

HEADWAY DVD:
Headway embarked on an exciting new project in July which is now complete.  We decided to produce a DVD about Headway that could be used for educational and promotional purposes.  Life Rehabilitation very kindly agreed to sponsor this project and Adam Thal from Star Productions offered us an extremely generous package to film, edit and produce the DVD.  Thanks to these special people the project began and after months of planning and coordinating, the filming at both HOPA and Hyde Park is complete, everyone has had a moment of fame and we are thrilled with the final product!  We would like to thank all those involved in the sponsorship, filming and production as well as all the staff, therapists and attendees who helped to make the DVD a true representation of all that Headway stands for.  Copies will be available to those that wish to purchase the DVD and it will be advertised with a price in the next newsletter.  In the meantime, feel free to come in and view it at Headway or be there for its debut screening at the AGM on 20th September.

LADIES LUNCH:
Our very popular ladies’ lunch will take place on Saturday 13th October 2007 at KPMG, cnr Jan Smuts and Empire Roads at 12:00 for 12:30 pm.  Last year this got booked out quickly towards the end and some ladies were disappointed as they were unable to get a booking.  We have lovely prizes, gifts and raffles and a well known TV personality is our guest speaker for this year.  Come on ladies this is the ideal opportunity to chill out with your girlfriends while your husband stays at home to mow the lawn or watch rugby!  If you would like to be part of the fun please contact Elaine Blanckenberg on 082 647-0957 to reserve your seat.

DONATIONS:
We would like to thank the following people:

Alison and Garth Munro for the box of paper
Cadbury’s for their gift hampers – thank you Geoff White
Bernice Funk for a donation to celebrate her daughter’s (Renay’s) birthday
Clara Cassuto for the ream of paper
The Haggie Trust
The HCI Foundation
Office National for biscuits
Margie Lockwood for biscuits
Bryanston MethodistChurch
Those members who paid amounts greater than our membership fees and Chairman’s Fund

CONDOLENCES:
Our sincere condolences go to the Desemberg, Robinson and Scholtz for their recent losses. Our deepest thoughts and prayers are with you all

ANNIVERSARIES OF INJURIES/ILLNESS:
‘Strength lies from within and if you look hard enough, you will find it. Reach out your hands to us and we will hold them tightly’.

ILLNESS/OPERATIONS:
Paul Whitehead recently had a brain scan and we are all delighted to report that all is well. Great news Paul!

END OF YEAR PARTY:
This year we have decided to combine our mid November party with our HFC party. The party will be held at Headway at 5:30 PM on Thursday 22nd November. Full information will be given in our next newsletter. PLEASE NOTE THE DATE HAS CHANGED FROM THE 29th TO THE22nd NOVEMBERd DUE TO UNFORSEEN CIRCUMSTANCES. BIRTHS:
We would like to co congratulate the Molobi family on the birth of their son, grandson and nephew.

DROPPED MEMBERS:
Some members might have paid and have had their membership terminated – please advise Eric urgently if this applies to you and you have paid. Monies have been paid without references and we have no means of tracking these payments. If you are one of these or cannot afford the annual subscription please contact Eric (011) 442 5733 urgently.

NEXT MEETING:
The next monthly meeting will be held on 20th September and will include or AGM. The meeting is held at Headway, 85 1st Road, Hyde Park at 6 pm.  The AGM is short and our regular meeting will follow. The speaker will be Sylvia Birkhead and she will be talking Health/Wellness. All members and their family and friends are welcome to attend.  A light supper will be served after the meeting.

A FEW SMILES:

Q.What do you do when a blonde throws a pin at you?
A. Run.... she’s got a hand grenade in her mouth.
One day, a man came home and was greeted by his wife dressed in a very sexy nightie. “Tie me up,” she purred, “and you can do anything you want.” So he tied her up and went golfing

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