A close family member of mine, a high school student, was traumatically brain injured – the videos of Terri rip at my heart as I see the same face as someone I hold dear. My “child” was in a vegetative state, had a feeding tube for months. Coma is not like the movies – a person emerges by fractions of bits over a looooonnnnng period of time. It takes constant attention and the work of the family as well as an army of trained professionals to see an inch of progress. Unless you have lived the nightmare of TBI (something I’d never wish on my worst enemy) – you cannot grasp what the healing process is.
Just swallowing, to remove the tube many swallow tests had to be done – it takes so much just to learn how to swallow without aspirating food/liquid into the lungs – food has to be worked by texture and thickness (take my word for it, a cup of thickened water or tea is not an appetizing thing) – it takes weeks, sometimes months or years to work your way out of a feeding tube. It is NOT force-feeding just to keep a hollow body alive. It is a way to keep someone nourished while they HEAL.
After severe TBI, you might not find my “child” aware to your liking. His speech to the untrained ear sounds like grunts and moans – yet he and I can sit and discuss books and music, he can beat you every time at tic-tac-toe, and he still wrestles my son. Yep, he drools – but, he can wipe his chin when it happens now, he cannot walk – but, his face lights up when I walk into the room.
I pray for Terri every day. Without the support of her husband, she is living a true hell on earth.