For my last Neuro note I watched "The Crash Reel," which is an HBO documentary about a popular snowboarder named Kevin Pearce. Kevin was training for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver when he had a traumatic brain injury. Before his injury, Kevin was an up-and-coming snowboarder who had just signed with Nike and was Shaun White's biggest rival. Kevin was shaking and unconscious after his injury; he was out for 30 minutes and had blown his left pupil, which is a sign of massive head trauma. Kevin spent 26 days in neuro critical care before he was moved to neuro acute care. He started to make a lot of progress once he was moved to acute care. He wasn't able to speak, but you could tell he understood when his family was talking to him. You could really see how much Kevin's family hurt and struggled after his injury. Kevin's mom said she wanted to hear all the things that would be good, and not have anyone feel sorry for them. As OT's, it is important that we are also there for our client's family to educate and help support them. Kevin's biggest goal was to get back to snowboarding, even though his family and doctors protested. At his 1 year evaluation, the neurologist said that his brain was healing, but there was only so much force it could handle. Any concussion could cause a fatal brain bleed at that point. Kevin still had a lot of trouble with memory, confusion, and fatigue. He said he felt impulsive and that there could be a sensory overload at times. Kevin had nystagmus, so he had surgery to fix both of his eyes. After that surgery, he broke down and said he felt like his situation was never going to get better. At 2 and a half years, Kevin still felt like he couldn't get past his TBI. His memory was only at 4%. All his friends and family tell him that he said inappropriate things and could be irritable, so he hated the way he came across. His double-vision was also still bad, so he had trouble with running into things. At the end of the documentary, Kevin realized that he shouldn't go back to competitive snowboarding after visiting a former snowboarder who had two TBI's. He now speaks about traumatic brain injury and how to prevent it.
This documentary was eye-opening to what not only a client with a TBI can go through, but their family as well. In learning about TBI in class, I could see the role of OT in many of the challenges that Kevin was facing. An OT would work with him on balance, improving strength and endurance, and addressing social-emotional and behavioral changes. OT would also have helped Kevin with his cognitive functioning, perception of self, and interpersonal relationships. After watching this documentary, I feel I will be able to better sympathize with clients who have a TBI. I would highly recommend watching this documentary.
Link to documentary: https://vid.me/x2HU/the-crash-reel
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