Tracie's Story, last chapter and TBI, Advocacy, and Drinking

Tracie's Story, last chapter, September 2016
Tracie went away on vacation. When she returned, she was busy getting ready for her teaching job. She called me with her news: 

          The medication the last neurologist prescribed did not help her, and Tracie had to take ibuprofen on top of the meds to manage her headaches. Still, she is better now, and is hopeful that her neurological troubles will not come back.

We plan to get together  to talk, not about her troubles, but about all the other parts of our lives.
                  See below for Installments 1,2, and 3 of Tracie's Story

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TBI, Advocacy, and Drinking, September 3, 2016
​A note reached me a few days ago from a woman whose brother suffered traumatic brain injury two years ago. She brought up a cautionary point about patient advocacy that I had not considered. She wrote:

 
. . . . my brother, who lives in [New England], had a motorcycle accident and had a TBI. Unfortunately, he was above the legal blood alcohol limit when he was brought in the Trauma Unit . . . . He has children, but no wife, so I went out there . . . to be the family member helping his not so adult children with this task.
 
. . . . I stayed in [New England] . . . until [he] went to [the rehab hospital]. He is better all the time but he’s still confused about many things. . . .

If I could tell you what I learned, aside from don’t drink and drive . . . I learned don’t leave your children, even in their 20’s, in charge of things should anything happen to you. They are not really capable at that age of determining what is best. And they are used to listening to their father, so when he wanted to leave [the rehab hospital] sooner than he should have, [his daughter] could not say no . . . .  

The woman also noted the irony inherent in her brother not being tested for alcohol.

. . . he doesn’t remember the accident, doesn’t remember how many drinks he had before the accident or anything else about the accident . . . .  
It seems he was barely breathing so they did not do a breathalyzer test. A blessing and a curse. His lesson was not learned. 
I think he snapped out of it enough to want to start drinking again . . . . my brother is not the same guy he once was. He has that look of confusion on his face and he is not quick thinking like he once was.

I am grateful to the woman for allowing me to share her experiences and wisdom.