Sam has said au revoir to something that has been a pretty big part of his life for the past two years and 10 months...our good old friendly brain stim, Amantadine. He was originally started on this medicine when he entered rehab, and it played a part in bringing him out of the sweet oblivion that he'd been stuck in for three long months. But now their relationship has ended. While Sam and Amantadine were sad to say goodbye, there were several reasons that their time together had ended:
1. Sam is no longer in a coma or min. conscious state.
2. Sam is pretty much awake.
3. His brain can stimulate itself just fine, thank you very much.
4. He was having some pretty nasty side effects from this drug, you know, the one that he no longer needed.
Side effects, you say? Yes. Amantadine seemed to have many unfortunate side effects, many that reminded his oldest sister of her great-grandmother or some unfortunate soul from the 1980s. Like the following:
1. Sam had a tight grandma mouth much of the time. I am only stating this fact in this manner because Sam is well aware of how I felt about his mouth before ending Amantadine. My brother will not cry when he reads my interpretation of his mouth. He looked like my great-grandmother, Alice. A very tight-mouthed, disapproving version of her.
2. Sam because an enthusiastic participant in an activity called "pill rolling". Once again, when he would do this, he would put me in mind of my great-grandmother.
3. His hair got very tall and curly. This one I cannot link directly to the medicine, but since it put me in mind of my mother's perm from the 80s, I will still list it as a possible side effect.
4. He also stopped progressing in the area of speech and swallow. This was really weird since in every other area he continued to make great gains. Again, perhaps I can connect this to my great-grandmother by saying that when she got older, she wasn't likely to swallow certain kinds of food really quickly. Like bacon cheeseburgers or hot dogs. And she definately talked a little slower. But she did only have four front teeth at the time.
So...now that he has stopped the brain stimulant, I have noticed a reversal in many of the following side effects.
1. Like his hair is much better. It is now short and much more appropriate for a 21 year old guy. And his tight mouth is gone. It is now relaxed and smiley. I don't feel like Sam is disappointed in my behavior every time he looks my way.
2. Speech and swallow, too. He can drink regular liquids, like Mountain Dew (his fav pre-accident). Also--although I haven't seen it, I bet he could really wolf down a bacon cheeseburger or a hot dog. Perhaps several if he put his mind to it.
3. Cognitively he seems different, too, but in a good way. While on the Amantadine he talked very, well, in an overblown manner. Lots of large, complicated words were stuffed into a simple conversation about what he wanted for breakfast. Great vocabulary, but not necessarily appropraite for the topic at hand, and definately NOT how he talked before the accident. Now, after stopping the med, he talks more like himself. It's hard to explain unless you knew him before and after AND you've spent a lot of time with him since (which I have). Before stopping the Amantadine--superfulous speech. After stopping the Amantadine--dry, sardonic wit. That's the best way to describe the change. I really can't connect this side effect to a grandmother OR to a bad perm (at least I can't without really offending people). So I will leave this one open to your own interpretation.
Overall, Sam is doing really well. The only inital downside to stopping Amantadine was Sam's speech went a little bit downhill (though its definately improving again). He was so used to having that tight, grandmother mouth that when the medicine stopped and it loosen up, he talked like he didn't have any teeth...or a tongue. And this obviously made him a little difficult to understand. In fact, right after ending the medication, my response to almost everything Sam said to me was, "What?". It has gotten much better since then.
So there is your update. Less medicine, more improvements, and a brother that transforms himself from an 85 year old woman back into a 21 year old Mountain Dew chugging, bacon cheeseburger eating guy. Baby steps, but we are moving closer to lovely, miraculous recovery all the time.
Bec
P.S. As far as references to grandmothers and 80's hairstyles, please do not be offended. The writer of this entry had her own great-grandmother (and, actually, her own mother's 1980's perm) in mind when drawing comparisions. If you are still offended after reading this disclaimer, I guess you just want to be upset about something and there isn't a lot I can do about that.