This page aims to provide useful information to help understand Holly's condition and the type of treatment she needs. My time is limited but I will expand on this information as soon as I am able.
Holly's injury, caused by a kick to the head by a horse, includes a displaced fracture of the right side of her skull with associated damage to the right parieto-temporal cerebral hemisphere. The fragment of skull has been removed and will be replaced with a ceramic implant some time in the future. Holly has also had a tracheotomy performed to reduce infection risk and increase comfort when she was on a respirator.
Holly lost consciousness at the time of the accident and was put into an induced coma for about the first week of her treatment. She was then taken off the drugs that were keeping her in a coma and has since progressed beyond this stage. A general idea of Holly's current state can be given by ranking her on the Rancho Los Amigos Cognitive Scale. Holly is currently at Level 3 on this scale.
Here is a useful document outlining the Rancho Los Amigos Cognitive Scale:
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Family Guide to The Rancho
Levels of Cognitive Functioning -
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The critical period for rehabilitation from this type of injury is the first 6 months after the accident, and there is much reccomendation in medical literature to proceed with early-intervention rehabilitation as soon as this can be safely done.
In Germany Holly made rapid progress in response to her rehabilitation, much of which involved process work techniques
developed by Amy and Arny Mindell. A book that came highly recommended by one of Holly's therapists in Germany is
Coma: A healing journey (See details here: Coma: A Healing Journey
Visit Amy and Arny Mindell's website
Please check this page regularly as I will be adding more information as soon as possible. In the meantime a useful source of information on brain injury in Australia is the Brain Injury Australia website.