Two years ago, I heard you encourage a caller to show her emotion to her terminally ill husband, and allow him to comfort her. At around the same time, my husband suffered a severe traumatic brain injury from a motorcycle accident. Before the accident, he was big, strong, and masculine. I had never met anyone who made me feel so safe.
He is now completely non-verbal, and with the brain damage, is often confused and disoriented. Even though the roles are reversed, I have several times awkwardly leaned over his bed and put my head on his chest. Prior to the accident, he lovingly referred to this as “Amy’s parking spot,” and it got me through many a bad day. When I do this now, despite only limited use of one side of his body and a severe tremor, he manages to put his arm around me and rub my back. Like the caller I heard two years ago, I tried to stay strong around him and keep my emotions in check, but the first time I lost my composure and he noticed me crying, he reached out to wipe my tears.
It was then and there that I knew he was still “my John.” This was and is the man I married, for better or worse, and these tender moments now between us are completely win/win and tremendously healing. I get to feel as loved by him as I did before, and he gets to have a moment of feeling like my man and protector again.
Thank you for getting me through some very dark times.
Amy
My Severely Injured Husband is Still My Protector
