I Have a What? A Guide for Coping with Moderate-to-Severe TBI

RRTC ON COMMUNITY INTEGRATION OF PERSONS WITH TBIskull, other injuries can happen. The brain is made of thousands of nerve cells.Each nerve cell has long and thin fibers. These fibers are very small andcannot be seen by the human eye. Some ofthese nerve fibers can be stretched or brokenwhen the brain is shaken. If many of thesefibers are damaged, the injury can sometimesbe seen with special tests, like a CT scan orMRI scan. A CT scan or MRI scan gives thedoctor a picture of the brain.Bleeding: The brain has many blood vessels in it. These are called arteries andveins. If the head is hit hard, the blood vessels can tear and bleed. Bleeding willshow up on tests, like a CT scan or MRI scan.If there is only a little bleeding, it will usuallystop on its own. The blood vessels will heal,just like any cut on your body heals. If thebleeding is really bad, the doctors recommendtreatment, like surgery, to remove the blood.Swelling: Sometimes extra fluid will build up near the hurt part of the brain.This causes swelling. Think of what happens when you hit your arm onsomething. You may see bruising and swelling in the injured area. This isbecause the body sends extra fluid to the hurt body part. This is to protect itand help with healing. This same thing can happen to the hurt part of thebrain.Open TBI happens when something goes through the skull and hurts the brain.Things like a gunshot wound to the head, a stab wound, or a severe skull fracturecan cause an open TBI.In an open TBI, most of the damage happens to the part of the brain that wascut or bruised by the object going into the skull.Bruising, bleeding, or swelling can hurt other parts of the brain too.Page 3