What is a "Coma"?

Movies like While You Were Sleeping skew the way people think about comas. I wish beyond anything that it was like the movies and Clare would just “wake up.” However, she cannot wakeup because she is not sleeping. Her brain is damaged, and we just have to wait while it reconnects and heals itself.

We have learned from experience that this is a very slow process. No one just “wakes up” all at once. Like Clare, they may do one “trick” a day and progressively build up their skills (ie: moving a body part, opening their eyes, yawning, etc). Some people progress slower and some faster. We’ve been told that each brain injury has its own personality, and there is no predicting when or what will happen.

These past few days have been encouraging as Clare has been opening her eyes, and with everyone’s excitement there have been many people who have thought she is now awake. She’s not what we would call “awake,” so to clarify I decided to explain how consciousness is measured.

The Glascow Coma Scale (GCS) measures consciousness. It has 3 sections which are each scored then added together to get a GCS number.  Here is the scale:

GCS  ≤ 8 are considered to be in a coma, or have severe brain injury

GCS 9 – 12 have moderate brain injury

GCS ≥ 13 have no brain injury or mild (Most of us have a GCS of 15)

Clare’s score today:

Eyes: Spontaneously opening (4)
Verbal: None (1) (everyone with a tracheostomy is given a 1)
Motor: Flexion to pain (3)
Total GCS: 8

When Clare came in to the ER originally, she was a 3. Until she started spontaneously opening her eyes this past weekend, she has been anywhere from 4-6. So while we are ecstatic about her progress, she still has a ways to go. 

Right now Clare is back at Utah Valley Hospital getting another CT Scan. Once a doctor reads it and clears her, she'll be transferred back to the LTAC she is staying in. I think I'm starting to get this routine down...