Originally Posted by heyfred4481

Dear Myredhead

My son had met with a bicycle accident on 13.07.2010. He was diagnosed as DAI when he was admitted into Hospital in Hyderabad. He was there for 20 days. He was not even operated. In Coma with ventilators. for breathing trichiostomy was done. No eye movement Stiff body. This was upto 02.08.2010 till discharge. He was brought home and everyday physiotherapy was done. He got seizures in October 2010 and so admitted into the same Hospital. This time he was operated to remove pus in the brain. Later some eye movement. Next 15 days discharged. He uttered two words on 12.11.2010. By December He was able to talk some more words. Later sentences depending our talk. But it was clear he had no memory. Thus, except a grammatical English (and Telugu, Hindi also) on our making him to answer some questions. Still the same position. He could not identify any friend or relative. Every day he faulters in identifying his parents. Lot of physiotherapy was done. Now he can sit on the bed with effort. For urine condom catheter and for motion diaper are still used. His left limbs paralysed. He cannot sit in wheel chair even for a few minutes, though we can make him sit for a few hours for which he makes a lot of crying and abusing. Already 2 years 2 months 6 days have passed. We don't know what to do. Dr. Shiva Reddy, Neuro surgeon, Care Hospitals, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad treats him.

But I hope, your son will definitely improve.

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My son too has a diffuse axonal injury. While everything that you read on the internet tells you that this is the worst brain injury you can have (which it probably is) don't believe that your friend can't get better. My son was also in a car accident, mid july 2011 (he had just turned 17). He was dead at the scene and they were not able to get to him due to the severity of the crash. He had a seizure which brought him back to life... although I know that the Lord was in control. He was in a coma for almost a month and in ICU for 49 days. He was then transfered to a Pediatric Rehabilitation Hospital, where he spent 6 months as an inpatient. He too breathed over his ventilator and they didn't remove the trach until he was in the rehab hospital (not long after he was there). He was not able to move anything on his right side, including he could not look with his eyes to the right side. When he went to the Rehab Hospital, it took 3 people to move him into a wheelchair. He couldn't follow any commands, he couldn't even open his mouth. He made no response to us at all. He was on a feeding tube, etc... We asked the doctors about his recovery and they told us he could go anywhere from 0-100% recovery.
It's now been 9 months since his accident and he's made awesome progress. He's able to walk on his own (I don't let him go completely unassisted ) He can feed himself, he helps dress himself, he too does the thumbs up/down; but he's beginning to communicate via my IPad. (He still doesn't speak, but he does make a lot of noise).
What I want you to know is that your friend can recover. No the doctor's have no idea how much brain damage there is... yes there is brain damage (each of those axons is destroyed and will not repair itself), but there is so much about the brain that the doctors don't know and it's a miraculous organ.
My son has an awesome rehabilitation team. It's all about him!!! They think outside the box for all his therapies (PT, OT & Speech).
Talk to your friend, let them know what happened, tell them what is going on around them, show them lots of photos, etc...
He will go through a stage of agitation that you have no idea why, but remember it's temorary. It's actually a good thing, it means that they are beginning to realize more and more and are frustrated that they can't change the circumstance.
This is going to be a long road, but remember with lots of love & support they can get better. Maybe not to the exact place they were before the accident, but much better than where they are currently.