Randy met with a Vocational counselor today at Harborview. The counselor,Dave,told Randy that he is early in his recovery and the optimal timeframe to return to work is 18 months and 6 months post injury, while not impossible, is not likely. We met a man in our support group who was told the same 18 month timeframe and he successfully returned to work at 10 months, but we fully understand that every injury is different and therefore every recovery process is different.

Dave encouraged Randy to apply for SSI benefits, of which I had already began the process. Randy is getting ready to move from short term disability benefits to long-term disability benefits and the application for the SSI is required to receive those. I had actually began the application over a month ago, but was given the false impression that Randy had to be off work for a year before we could apply, so I had stopped filling out the application.

Randy had expressed fear about returning to work, that he would go back and do something wrong and have it stick with him or be permanently viewed as someone who can no longer meet expectations. What's funny is that Dave used the analogy of getting on a bike ~ you won't know if you can ride the bike until you try. It's funny because Randy hadn't told him the bicycle story.

Dave stressed to Randy that he needs to make sure he sets himself up to succeed when it is time for him to return for work. The example that Randy gave to me tonight as we were discussing this was the following: Randy is aware that he has issues now with what I refer to as his navigational skills. Before the accident, Randy was great with direction, having a good sense of where he was at and could easily find where he wanted to go. That isn't the case right now. So, if he were to use pre-injury way of life, he might have chosen to become a tour guide. Post-accident, that wouldn't be such a good idea. He might instead (let me remind you this was his example), become a race car driver because the chances of him getting lost on the race track is very slim. The idea is that he needs to first become aware of what has changed about him and allow himself to accept those changes so that he can then find things that fit better for him now. A great example of that would be his organizational tools. Pre-accident, Randy used notebooks to keep track of everything in ~ his meeting notes, action items, etc. He tried using notebooks in the same manner post-accident and they ended up very disorganized and he kept losing track of things. He now uses the PDA. Pre-accident, Randy wouldn't come near a PDA, he loved his notebooks. I am thankful that Randy has the ability to be aware of what his changes are because I have read so many stories of those with head injuries that have no clue what their deficits are ~ for example, they don't realize their memory isn't working.

One thing of note ~ Dave stated that Randy was a 5 on the Glasgow coma scale at the scene of the accident. For those who are not aware of what the Glasgow scale is, they test whether or not the eyes open, verbal response, an motor response and come up with a score. A score of 12 or more means minor injury. A score of 9 to 12 is an injury of moderate severity. A score of 8 or less means severe head injury. 90% of those who score less than 8 are in a coma and from those who are at 8 or less at 6 hours post injury, 50% die.

Randy said Dave was impressed that, with a Glasgow score of 5 at the beginning, Randy is doing as well as he is now. I think Randy is doing amazing.