The pt I was assisting with was a 5 year old boy who had a pretty bad strain of the flu, required ventilation and as a result of complications etc ended up with hypoxic brain injury. He is now VERY weak, has just regained sitting balance, requires 2 people to stand him and is cortically blind.
This blog isn’t really one about what should I do or how I do it. As we all know, the prognosis for this isn’t particularly great. Sure he is a child so chances of recovery might be pretty good, but for instance if I had gone through this situation at his age – the list of things I would have missed out on between the ages 5 and 21 is quite large. When I thought about his situation and how it might affect his life to come, I was quite saddened by it all.
However, the thing that struck me and made me feel better (and when I think about it, all of the children I’ve treated or been a part of treating) is how happy and upbeat he was despite the fact that he now has major physical limitations compared to his pre-morbid state. When comparing it to adults – it is quite a different outlook on life – the kids just want to get out there and get on it.
This and other children I’ve had dealings with in this prac definitely made me reflect on the varied outlook that children and adults have. I think everyone could take a lesson from these children as they don’t seem to be pre-occupied with their disability, they are more pre-occupied with life. As a result it is obviously important for us to focus on what they can do during our time rehabilitating them to maintain this outlook. I know Id definitely like to be as upbeat as these children if something terrible happens to me.
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