Wake up

 Guest blogger:  Claire Fastner

"I will now invite Claire to tell us, hopefully, how she got me out of the coma." While I do remind Declan of my contribution daily, I would not go as far as to suggest that I can make people wake up from comas.

Fairly early on, I made the decision that I want to do everything right. Partially, for purely selfish reasons. I did not want to have a single regret. Once the critical first 72 hours were over, my focus shifted from researching survival rates to finding out more about coma and TBI.

How do you define coma? " Coma is a state of unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened; fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound; lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle; and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as being comatose." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coma)

How can you help someone recover from a coma? Since a comatose person does not respond to stimuli, the answer is input and more input.

Talk, talk, talk -  A paper, published in Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair, suggests that coma patients who hear familiar stories, recorded by loved-ones, played to them continuously, recover consciousness faster. It's only logical: stimulation helps patients to become more aware of their environment (sorry doc, for this simplified conclusion).

Tips: Talk, read a book to the person, and play music to them.

Stimulate the sense - The principle of stimulation includes stimulation of all the senses. To stimulate Declan's taste buds, I brought some fruit. Oranges, dates, lemon and pineapple juice touched his lips, while Declan also smelled sweet life.

Touch: kiss, hug, cuddle!

Once Declan's eyes were 15 % open, I showed him pictures and videos on my phone. I bought him a cat calendar, a Malta calendar, and National Geographic, which included a visual feature on gorillas. When Declan's eyes began following a video that showed him jump off a cliff, I rejoiced.

Was he still in a coma at that point? That's subject to definition. I will write about the waking up process in a separate blog post.

Provide the comatose person with simple instructions - chances are a comatose person will not easily obey commands, as is part of the Glasgow Coma Scale (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_Coma_Scale) given by nurses or doctors. Obeying commands is a common and important step in the waking up process. It shows the person understands and reacts appropriately.

Tip: Make it fun. Declan is sporty. I brought in a small ball to throw. His throwing has come a long way since he rolled it in my direction "on command" some 7,5 months ago.

Put simply: don't just sit there. You are wasting your time.

Of course, some unfortunates' brain damage is so bad that it's beyond stimulation, but if the doctors indicate that there is hope, I believe that actions can make a difference.