Hi Mariam...welcome to the boards.

What a terrible accident you had...geez. I think counseling should always be offered after any trauma. It's hard enough to be in a hospital for such a long time and there are so many emotional issues that come from that in itself. It is so invasive and all your autonomy is taken from you in such an abrupt way. How are you doing now? Have you been able to adjust to your new circumstances? How do you think counseling helped you?

I have not had that particular kind of trauma (being hit by a train is pretty extreme.) I have had several invasive surgical traumas and my T has been concerned about how I deal with them. Even though I came close to dying a couple of times, I guess I felt that they paled in comparison to some of my childhood traumas...so I tend to minimize them.
I was in a coma for about 10 days in 2006, complications following a surgical procedure. I bled out and went through 30 units of blood before they took me back in to surgery to look for the leak. They could not find the leak...so oversewed everything. It did work and once I was out of the coma I made rapid improvement...and was discharged within 2 weeks. It took me a long time to recover and I could not drive or get in to see my T for a couple of months. It was difficult for me and I have avoided any other procedures until 2 months ago....and now...I am recovering from an open colecystectomy. In another 6 months or so...I have another adjunct procedure coming up. hmm...not fun
I have chronic liver disease that has me on the road towards a transplant, which I probably will not get...and probably do not deserve. But THAT is another issue.

Anyway...thanks for starting this thread...it is certainly valid. My T has been onboard for my procedures but she has very firm boundaries and I am afraid of hitting them....so I endure the procedures and talk to her about it when I recover. I do have telephone availability to her at all times but I don't use it much, I usually split my emotional self away from my physical body....that is how I cope...and it is a problem. It does take considerable time to reconnect myself...and reconnect with my T when it's over. I wish it were not this way....and on the other hand...I'm not sure I want her to watch me die. Seriously ambivalent. hmmmm...

I have never been offered counseling after any of my hospital traumas...even though I was warned that I may experience post traumatic stress after such extreme surgical trauma. I do think therapy should be offered by the case manager...but it rarely happens that way. JMO

SD

Hi Soulfuldaze

Thank you for replying! I am doing amazingly well now thank you. I only had counselling for a short amount of time whilst in hospital, but it really helped me come to terms with the changes, in particular talking about my friend and the changes my body was going through. Luckily I also have a strong support network, and that really played a vital part in my recovery

I am now training to be a counsellor and am months away from qualifying (eeek) and hope to specialize in trauma counselling... I am just so interested in this area, and it makes me so sad that little money is spent funding this area... although it is becoming more recognised.

It sounds like you are having a rough ordeal, and I am really sorry to hear that you have had so many invasive surgeries... I can certainly relate to that... but I am so touched that a) you replied and b) that you are going through so much on a day-to-day basis.... I seriously hope that you WILL be successful in getting a transplant, no matter whether you think you 'deserve' it or not.

Good luck with your upcoming procedures and try not give yourself a hard time. We all make mistakes in our lives and do things that we are not proud of, but we all have the opportunity to reflect on that and use those experiences to better ourselves and make the most of what we have learned. If you can do that, then whatever is in your past has served a worthwhile purpose.

Take good care of yourself,
Love
Mariam