There Are Many Ways to Watch Progress

Hi, I'm Olivia, a stroke survivor and member of BIND.

And hi, I'm Carrie, a stroke survivor and also a member of BIND. And today we're being joined by one of our newest members, Chris P. His journey and his resilience is nothing short of amazing. His mother is also, Marilyn is also joining us today too, so welcome Chris and Marilyn.

Thank you, thank you for having us.

Thank you. I'm glad to be here.

Great, well first Chris, just tell us a little bit about yourself. Just in general, who you are.

Yes, first of all, I was born blind and attended a public school in college. Also, worked in Austin with Apple. Doing. doing. Customer Service and Apple Care.

Cool, that's awesome.

Awesome, I don't think I knew that. Yeah.

Yes, and um, Then also, AppAid did a Windows 3. 7 and it Kidney problem and I did dialysis for five years, but then after that I had a fall in October of 2020.

So you had a fall in 2020?

Yes. Okay. And, uh, I was in the hospital there, there, um, I basically, I did not have a lot of consciousness. That, uh, the first month and a half.

Oh, wow. What kind of fall did you have? I mean, was it a fluke thing? You trip on something?

I'm not sure. Oh, okay.

He doesn't know. He doesn't remember, um, what happened.

I mean, I just, you know, y'all do know That falls are the number one, cause to brain injury

it, he fell on a tile.

Oh, okay.

And then, um, When he didn't call me that day, I called the. Manager's office. And she said, well, I can't go in. Why don't you call the sheriff? So I called the sheriff and they went in and found him in his bed. He had made his way from the, where he fell into his bed. But he was nonverbal and barely responsive at the time. And I lived here in. Plano. And he lived in Dallas by himself. Wow.

In Austin.

I'm sorry. And I'll stand. Um, so they rushed him to the hospital and. Um, And my husband and I went down and. We weren't able to see him except for like a couple minutes just before his surgery. There it was during COVID. Um, so we had. Not much communication, you know, and he was in the hospital for, you know, a couple of weeks. So, um, It was very difficult.

It wasn't until the end of, September sent nurses up of. Of, um, what. Of, um, things.

The end of September, you were went into rehabilitation.

Okay. I was going to ask you, if you did all your rehab in Austin,

he did two weeks in Austin and then he was transferred to Encompass hospital. In Plano. For two weeks, two more weeks for two more weeks. And then after that he had home health come in and do speech therapy. And physical therapy. And after that was over. Um, He went to UT Southwestern for physical therapy and occupational therapy. And that was the end of his therapy.

And how long was that?

It lasted, uh, six to eight weeks. I'm not quite sure. Sure. Until Medicare ran out. Right.

Right. That is the problem with insurance.

Yes. Yes. Yes. But now he's back in speech therapy. So that's going very well.

Yeah. How has it going for you, Chris?

Uh, good. Um, let's see. And, um, Two months of. speech therapy, and uh, I should. Do at least. One more month,

one more month.

Great. Okay.

So. The speech is very important to him. Yeah.

Yeah, of course.

And Chris, I was a little curious or we were a little curious, um, because you're so unique being born blind. Do you think being blind helped you process the brain injury easier or like made it, I mean, I don't know. I just, maybe not, but, you know, cause you were already used to a disability to begin with. So you weren't automatically brand new, thrown into it. I guess it's totally different. I'm looking at Marilyn. Looking at me like no, it's totally different.

This was totally different. Yeah. When he was in a rehabilitation, I remember. Thinking to myself, he's had. Um, Several. Tough times in several. Um, challenges. And I thought to myself, this is going to be his toughest challenge.

Oh, I was born blind. So. It wasn't really a challenge for me. This one is.

Yeah.

Okay. When did h- and I guess. What I'm hearing from you. the speech is your biggest challenge right now.

Yes. The speech, speech, and use of his right hand.

Okay, so you do still have some weakness on one side.

Right hand and leg.

And his right leg. Yeah.

And so how did you hear about BIND?

Uh, I think through mom.

Well, my husband, actually, he goes to, uh, Different. Uh, chamber of commerce meetings and he met Valerie, I believe was the founder of BIND. He met her. And then when this happened, um, and he was out of rehab and everything, you know, Where do we turn? So I had heard about it and, um, I called and it was again during COVID. And there was no answer. So I figured BIND was closed. So then I kind of forgot about it for a while.

And how long has that been about nine, nine months or

no, not that long. Not that long. Four.

Four months.

Sorry. Time time is. As a whole other, you know, Plain. Yeah.

Well, and so Chris, since you found BIND, um, would you say BIND has helped you.

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. It is, um, I ,when I, before I lived in my apartment, right. And watched movies

by himself.

by myself.

So now he's getting out,

getting out. That's always, that's always the hard thing right after brain injury is getting back out and getting back to being social and taking care of those things. But Marilyn, I would like to ask you, um, because again, I know it's not the same, but as a caregiver, Do you have any advice or tips to other people who have had to learn how to kind of let go and let their loved one regain that independence? An injury

that's the toughest part is letting them. Gain their independence again and letting go. Um, as one of Chris's doctors told me, he, she says, I think you're a helicopter mother, which I was, and I admit it. And I tend to do a lot for him and I still do when I have to catch myself. You know, let him do it, let him do it. So that has been the hardest thing for me to.

Yeah. I know when I had to move back home with my parents, that was, we had to sit down and I had to make new boundaries because. I was 38, but my parents were treating me like I was 16 again, and I was like no, nuh-uh..

I have to stop and think, uh, you're treating him like a child he is not your baby anymore.

Right. So, yeah, I know we had to sit down and have a boundaries talk, you know? Um, Do you have any other advice just in general that you would like survivors or caregivers to know?

Um, yes, one of the, um, I'm so grateful for BIND and I'm so grateful for the support groups. Um, I've learned a lot. Um, there were things when, when Chris was first out of rehab and living with us for awhile. I didn't know where to turn. And after watching some of your podcasts and listening to the professionals, I think, oh, why didn't I know that back then. Um, so I would encourage caregivers to. Reach out. You know, too. Whatever, whoever they can to get some support. And

I think that's perfect. And learn as much as you can, as early as you can.

Like when they're still in rehab, you know? Talk to people there and nobody at rehab told me much of anything?

No.

No. Where do you go? From here. Nobody told me that.

No.

So we were kind of floundering. Yeah. Yeah,

I think it's hard. Um, yeah, I mean, from, I think from, from all perspectives, right? Because you were kind of, um, struck with this. This, this new, you know, Kind of situation and, um, and it is, it is challenging. It is really challenging to navigate that. So, um, having, yeah, having support groups has been, um, number one for me too.

Okay, well, Chris and Marilyn would like to thank you very much for joining us today and being brave enough to come share your story with us. And we know it's difficult, but we appreciate you. And we hope. Our listeners appreciate you and take your advice into consideration.

Well, thank you and thanks for having us.

So much. Yeah. Thank you for joining us. Um, and, and

I'm glad to do it.

Yeah. It's been wonderful. Yes.

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Until next time.