Recovery
- Thread starter ovverbruv
- Start date
No, because I worked for Headway and saw plenty of real people behind adult head injury stories. A battered bus driver, a fall from a work's ladder, a hit-and-run... personality changes for the worse, family life ruined, partners driven to despair by the loss of income and the loss of the 'person' they married. Lives dependent on a battery of drugs, carers, respite, tribunals proving disability for allowances, with the fear that the condition may worsen or lead to stroke and further disablement, or death. Guilt, frustration, pain, vulnerability, pity, anger, resentment, incomprehension, exhaustion. There are thousands of adults head-injured every year whose lives, and the lives of their families, are changed forever. There are very few 'happy' outcomes.
Well, that is what the review in the Radio Times promised, Grey, so it doesn't seem to have been just hype. Do you think that people prefer to see actors acting out cancer patients, the head-injured, Alzheimer's Disease sufferers, and the panoply of human medical conditions, rather than watch documentaries or medical series which deal with them, Grey?
I've often wondered whether dramas based on certain conditions, like 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest', 'Rain Man', 'The Man With the Golden Arm', and a host of others, aren't memorable for the performances, rather than the conditions they attempt to portray? Do dramas really sharpen up perceptions of the problems caused by the condition portrayed, or are they always 'So-and-so's memorable/Oscar-winning performance'?
I've often wondered whether dramas based on certain conditions, like 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest', 'Rain Man', 'The Man With the Golden Arm', and a host of others, aren't memorable for the performances, rather than the conditions they attempt to portray? Do dramas really sharpen up perceptions of the problems caused by the condition portrayed, or are they always 'So-and-so's memorable/Oscar-winning performance'?
I think the central figure in last night's play was in fact the wife, who finds that she has to come to terms with a new and very difficult person who is rather far removed from the person she fell in love with and married.
Documentaries are obviously better at getting facts across while sensitively written drama is better at communicating what the people caught up in such situations have to go through.
Documentaries are obviously better at getting facts across while sensitively written drama is better at communicating what the people caught up in such situations have to go through.
uncle goober
At the Start
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- Oct 10, 2005
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Auntie K, as Kate Winslet ( playing herself) pointed out during her part in Ricky Gervais' series Extras, she is unlikely to win an Oscar until she ' plays a mental '
Colin Phillips
At the Start
Uncle, are you suggesting that Dame Helen Mirren "played a mental"?
uncle goober
At the Start
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:laughing: No I wasnt Colin.... were any of the five nominations playing mentals ?
Ahh, and very sensitively expressed by Ms Winslet, too!
About the nominees - and the winners - I guess Forrest Whitaker came close to GOING mental, from the sound of it! Seems he went for the full-on Method system and became slightly unhinged in the process. Although I think he drew the line at eating anyone's heart or liver... even with some fava beans and a well-chilled Chianti.
About the nominees - and the winners - I guess Forrest Whitaker came close to GOING mental, from the sound of it! Seems he went for the full-on Method system and became slightly unhinged in the process. Although I think he drew the line at eating anyone's heart or liver... even with some fava beans and a well-chilled Chianti.
jinnyj
Senior Jockey
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I thought Recovery was excellent. And I was pleased that they didn't tie it all up with a nice happy ending of him recovering totally and everyone living happily ever after. I thought the way they showed the eldest sons change in attitude towards him was very good.
Some years ago a friend of mine suffered a bad injury after being kicked in the head by a horse - 9 fractures of her skull. She was in a coma for a while and she too emerged with a changed personality - up one minute and very down the next. Sadly the couple she stayed with had no idea what was happening and they fell out over her mood changes. She has now recovered well enough to run her own business and incredibly in a totally tragic but ironic way, the husband of the couple went and succumbed to a brain tumour a couple of years later.
Some years ago a friend of mine suffered a bad injury after being kicked in the head by a horse - 9 fractures of her skull. She was in a coma for a while and she too emerged with a changed personality - up one minute and very down the next. Sadly the couple she stayed with had no idea what was happening and they fell out over her mood changes. She has now recovered well enough to run her own business and incredibly in a totally tragic but ironic way, the husband of the couple went and succumbed to a brain tumour a couple of years later.
That's a very tragic story, jinnyj. We had so many sad scenarios at the Headway day centre. The bus driver I mentioned was one of the newer 'cases' we took in. He'd been cracked over the head with an iron bar by a couple of savage youths off a late-night bus, and beaten into unconsciousness, his skull fractured badly. The eventual emergence was of a sometimes physically violent, unsmiling, deeply unhappy man who had to lose any form of job. He, too, suffered horrible mood swings and his wife and young family found it very hard to cope with him.
The hit-and-run was a lovely chap (sadly now dead) called Brian, who, after finishing decorating his lounge, told his wife he was off for a bike run before tea. He was found by a passer-by, crumpled at the foot of a telephone pole, his bike had been hit by a car and smashed, and he'd been punted headfirst into the pole. He hadn't worn a crash helmet (bikers, please note).
By the time the ambulance crew reached him, he'd begun to have a series of strokes which left him with paralysis from the waist down, a paralysed right hand, no speech, and no sight in one eye. He still had the function of recognition, and his previous sense of humour was always present. He could make sounds which gradually his wife came to understand. He had previously played the piano beautifully and sung with a choir. He re-learned to play very well with just his left hand, a helluva feat. He was a delightful person in whose presence you suddenly realised that, although you hadn't heard a 'word' out of him, you'd still enjoyed a conversation, and had a good laugh to boot. But the toll of looking after a husband who had to be washed, toileted, lifted regularly, was too much for his ageing and slight wife, even with home nursing help, and the day was coming when Brian would have to be placed in full-time care, something she dreaded and became very depressed about.
No two outcomes ever seemed exactly the same. Some people had full or partial physical mobility, but poor mental skills, and vice versa. Families reacted differently to coping, largely depending on their own health, finance, and whether they had any young kids to keep going as well as a newly-dependent adult.
While the Stroke Association provides information for stroke victims and their families, Alzheimer's Association provides the same, and usually local outings and respite for carers, Headway is a relative newcomer to 'head work' and was set up specifically for adults who'd suffered debilitating head trauma. They have some funding provided through the NHS, because they provide day centres, outings, and were working on respite care when I left them to relocate.
If anyone knows of any family struggling with a head-injured person, I do recommend them to Headway for any legal advice, assistance and support in attending allowance tribunals, form-filling, knowing what you're entitled to, getting a respite break, and finding the nearest Headway day centre for the injured person, where there are a variety of activities in a social atmosphere, overseen by qualified staff and volunteers.
The hit-and-run was a lovely chap (sadly now dead) called Brian, who, after finishing decorating his lounge, told his wife he was off for a bike run before tea. He was found by a passer-by, crumpled at the foot of a telephone pole, his bike had been hit by a car and smashed, and he'd been punted headfirst into the pole. He hadn't worn a crash helmet (bikers, please note).
By the time the ambulance crew reached him, he'd begun to have a series of strokes which left him with paralysis from the waist down, a paralysed right hand, no speech, and no sight in one eye. He still had the function of recognition, and his previous sense of humour was always present. He could make sounds which gradually his wife came to understand. He had previously played the piano beautifully and sung with a choir. He re-learned to play very well with just his left hand, a helluva feat. He was a delightful person in whose presence you suddenly realised that, although you hadn't heard a 'word' out of him, you'd still enjoyed a conversation, and had a good laugh to boot. But the toll of looking after a husband who had to be washed, toileted, lifted regularly, was too much for his ageing and slight wife, even with home nursing help, and the day was coming when Brian would have to be placed in full-time care, something she dreaded and became very depressed about.
No two outcomes ever seemed exactly the same. Some people had full or partial physical mobility, but poor mental skills, and vice versa. Families reacted differently to coping, largely depending on their own health, finance, and whether they had any young kids to keep going as well as a newly-dependent adult.
While the Stroke Association provides information for stroke victims and their families, Alzheimer's Association provides the same, and usually local outings and respite for carers, Headway is a relative newcomer to 'head work' and was set up specifically for adults who'd suffered debilitating head trauma. They have some funding provided through the NHS, because they provide day centres, outings, and were working on respite care when I left them to relocate.
If anyone knows of any family struggling with a head-injured person, I do recommend them to Headway for any legal advice, assistance and support in attending allowance tribunals, form-filling, knowing what you're entitled to, getting a respite break, and finding the nearest Headway day centre for the injured person, where there are a variety of activities in a social atmosphere, overseen by qualified staff and volunteers.
Isinglass
At the Start
Krizon,
I watched the program and also thought it was extremely well done. But I agree with you that it is kind of sad that most people cannot take in bad news unless it is dressed up so documentaries are often not appreciated as much as they ought to be.
I do think though that well done programs like this one educate the public, especially as said earlier here, it did not have a 'perfect' ending.
I also wanted to say that you seem to have had several lives (are you a cat?)
- and are a deep and meaningful person, and I am not taking the *****.
Your posts have a lot of insight.
I watched the program and also thought it was extremely well done. But I agree with you that it is kind of sad that most people cannot take in bad news unless it is dressed up so documentaries are often not appreciated as much as they ought to be.
I do think though that well done programs like this one educate the public, especially as said earlier here, it did not have a 'perfect' ending.
I also wanted to say that you seem to have had several lives (are you a cat?)
- and are a deep and meaningful person, and I am not taking the *****.
Your posts have a lot of insight.
Isinglass
At the Start
ah oh, does this **** mean that I have been bad? :shy:
Muttley
At the Start
Rain Man did few favours for people with autism. It left many people who saw it with the impression that autism goes hand-in-hand with some exceptional talent or another. This is true in only a small minority of cases.
Afraid you're right, Muttley. It seemed to imply that every autistic kid was a potential 'idiot savant' - but I see the very latest research is pointing to a gene that's out of whack, so there may be hope at the end of the tunnel that some genetic modifications might be possible one day, and that kids who'd suffer this condition may be spared it.
Isinglass - crikey! I don't think there's much that's deep or meaningful about me or my posts, although there's £50 on its way to you to keep saying it!
I suppose some people get to late middle-age (or early old age!) without having moved around a bit and tried their hand at different things, but having had parents who shifted about quite a lot when I was young, it probably set a pattern of being inquisitive about what's over the fence, in terms of places to live and jobs to do. There's always something to find out about, even though I'm a slow learner, not quick on the uptake. But it's always interesting to give things a go, even if they don't always suit or work out. Experience is never a loss.
Isinglass - crikey! I don't think there's much that's deep or meaningful about me or my posts, although there's £50 on its way to you to keep saying it!
I suppose some people get to late middle-age (or early old age!) without having moved around a bit and tried their hand at different things, but having had parents who shifted about quite a lot when I was young, it probably set a pattern of being inquisitive about what's over the fence, in terms of places to live and jobs to do. There's always something to find out about, even though I'm a slow learner, not quick on the uptake. But it's always interesting to give things a go, even if they don't always suit or work out. Experience is never a loss.
Isinglass
At the Start
Muttley
Agree with you too. It is a fine line about portraying things as they are in real life, and making it into a fairy tale. It was a moving film, but not a true portrayal.
I can only hope that maybe some people feel moved enough to find out the truth about these afflictions and be more understanding of those who suffer.
Krizon - gee thanks for the money - promise to put it on a decent horse, if I can find one!
Experience is precious, but so is knowing what to do with it. And plenty of people don't know.
I once worked in a drug centre in California for kids who had taken something and did not want to report to their parents. I was just a volunteer, we had doctors on hand. What I learned was that serious drug users are not glamourous looking like in the films which show rock stars and models blttzed out of their minds with clothes perfectly arranged and make up smart. No drooling like in reality!
Agree with you too. It is a fine line about portraying things as they are in real life, and making it into a fairy tale. It was a moving film, but not a true portrayal.
I can only hope that maybe some people feel moved enough to find out the truth about these afflictions and be more understanding of those who suffer.
Krizon - gee thanks for the money - promise to put it on a decent horse, if I can find one!
Experience is precious, but so is knowing what to do with it. And plenty of people don't know.
I once worked in a drug centre in California for kids who had taken something and did not want to report to their parents. I was just a volunteer, we had doctors on hand. What I learned was that serious drug users are not glamourous looking like in the films which show rock stars and models blttzed out of their minds with clothes perfectly arranged and make up smart. No drooling like in reality!
What's been very interesting about being part of this august forum, Isinglass, is finding out - usually over a period of time, it's true - the different, non-horsey/non-racing areas of expertise, knowledge and experience its members have to offer! We have IT geniuses (genii?), professional gardeners, finance gurus, property experts, route planners, voluntary and social sector people - all sorts. It makes for a really good mix of ideas at times.
Diamond Geezer
Gone But Not Forgotten
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- May 2, 2003
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I think Sarah Parish is one of our best TV drama actresses too