TBI links 2003 Traumatic Brain Injury

I've built this page to provide help to my tbi brothers and sisters. I'm Chris Cleveland (Night Nomad) TBI since June 3rd 1997. For a long time now Intrathecal baclofen pumps have been offered to spinal injury and multiple sclerosis patients. Now traumatically brain injuried individuals can also recieve one. As a tbi survior myself I know the pain of waking up at night with muscles cramping so tight it cause you to scream! I know the frustration of not being able to usefully use body limbs. Previously Baclofen has been perscribed to TBI suffers to be taken orallly which has been largely ineffective for us. Now ITB therapy may provide a end to the suffering! The costs involved are substatial $25,000 but if after a trial test it is proven recieveing a pump would prove benefical to the patient governmental programs will cover the costs. I have undergone the minor surgery to have the pump installed in my abdomen and sleep peacefully now. I'm much more able to use my effected limbs. You too can recieve the pump if you ask your doctor about the possibility of recieveing a Intrathecal baclofen pump. It is called ITB therapy.(7-27-99update) Good News!!! A new tbi waver now exists. What is a tbi waver? It is a new law under section 1915(c) of the Social Security Act that provides recovering tbi patients with some services that were previously unavailable to tbi patients including:
* Day programs outside the patients home
* Services designed to assist individuals to reside in their own home or a home they can lease
* Home delivered meals
* Transportation to gain access to the community in which they reside
* Home remodeling for safety and independence
* Special equipment to improve independence
* Devices to link with emergency systems
All of this can now be accquired through medicare and medicaid with the tbi waver.
(update) 6-29-200 I've been real busy over the last year or so forming a "TBI survivor peer support group" basically this is group of *us* survivors who have organized and come together to help each other. *We* survivors all have different strengths and areas that we are deficent in. The group helps itself by helping others in the group do things they can't do alone. Most importantly we fight the loneliness and seclusion *we* feel. Unless someone knows someone who has survived a TBI they have no people in their lives who truly understand what it's like. Our group brings together people who do know what it's like because they themselves are survivors. With TBI being the largest growing disability in the nation I hope similar groups form throughout the nation, it helps greatly!
(update_01-18-01)
Recently I've come to the realization that even with the TBI waiver there isn't enough money made available to TBI survivors for theraputic recovery, especially severe TBI survivors such as I. You see, all TBI's are lumped into one governmental catergory. Yet as survivors know the brain heals very very slowly and the money dries up! Now most TBI's are inncorectly defined as what is called a mild traumatic brain injury(tbi). Which is the damage caused to the brain by bouncing around inside the cranium(skull). "I" a survivor call this bouncing around in the cranium(skull) which causes damage to the outer layers of the brain *BrainShock*. This brainshock with proper therapy generally heals within 2 years after TBI. But for those of us who damage the brain much more deeply it takes anywhere from 4-8 years for the brain to heal more completely. <--And there is the rub the money from programs such as Medicare and MedicAid usaully runs out before the survivors of a severe traumatic brain injury brain has time enough grow and reconnect damaged synapses and nerves. If uncle sam wants to turn the rocks(severe TBI survivors) into gold coins he needs to invest more money into our recovery. That's my two cents anyway (my bitch).(UPDATE10-10-01) After the events of september 11th I think we as Americans need to do everything in our power to stamp out evil in the world. I may be brain injured but my blood is still good and I am more than willing to give it. It is healthy for each of us to do something to battle back and become part of the good that WILL overcome this new terrible evil. Stand by our president. Republican or Democrat it don't matter now we have to be as one.