Coma- coma is a profound or
deep state of unconsciousness (consciousness being the awareness of the self
and the environment). People in a state of coma are alive but unable to move or
respond to their environment. Coma may occur as a complication of an underlying
illness or as a result of an injury, like a brain injury.
Characteristics
of coma include:
v No eye-opening
v Unable to follow instructions
v No speech or other forms of communication
v No purposeful movement
“I had not cried in his
room. I believed he could hear me, or at least sense what I was feeling … I
told him we would be there when he woke up. That he should rest as long as he
needed to heal. That he would be fine. Ryan would be fine because children
don’t die and because he is Ryan … My eyes looked past the tube clamped to his
mouth to keep him breathing, the hard plastic collar around his neck, the gauze
turban, the wires snaking from his arms, chest, and skull into various beeping,
blinking machines,” writes Joan Ryan about her son who sustained a brain injury
while skateboarding — without a helmet. Ryan was in a coma for several weeks.
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