It’s late Saturday night. You’ve just finished watching the hockey game with your wife and it’s getting late. Your teenage son took out the car to go to a party with some friends. He’s a responsible young man with a bright future ahead of him. You cozy up to your spouse and turn off the lights. Just as you’re about to doze off, the phone rings. It’s the police. Your son was involved in a bad accident. He has to be airlifted to hospital. The police won’t tell you exactly what’s wrong, but they’re urging you to get to the hospital as soon as possible. You and your wife rush out of bed in a complete panic and make it to the hospital in no time flat. Nurses won’t tell you what’s wrong with your son. All they tell you is that he’s alive, and that he will be alright. You’re told to stay calm, but how can you at a moment like this. After 5 hours of waiting and panicking, a neurosurgeon comes out of a pair of swinging doors to speak with you. He tells you that your son has sustained an intracerebral hemorrhage and an epidural hematoma and that he’s lucky to be alive. This doesn’t sound good at all. You look at the doctor and ask him to explain what exactly intracerebral hemorrhage and epidural hematoma means and how it will affect your son. All he says is that your son has sustained a traumatic brain injury. His pager then sounds and he darts off through the pair of swinging doors from which he entered. All of the blood from your face drains and you feel faint. A million and one questions are left unanswered. What happens next? Where do you start?
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