My girlfriend does not speak with her normal tone of voice and it's difficult to hear her. It's been 19 days since the concussion. What were your experience with this and did it slowly return to your pre-concussed voice?

Has she had a complete neurological work-up, including MMSE and speech assessment ?

It would be worthwhile.

I had aphasia and word finding difficulties noted about four weeks after my injury, these did clear over time. Is she seeing a physiatrist or other doctor for her injury? I would ask about a referral to a speech-language pathologist.

Lightrail, how did you get better after only 6 months? Seems like you're accident was quite traumatic.

Hi, thanks and good question. All I can tell you is what my recovery plan was; the rest I credit to prayers and the grace of a Power greater then myself.

After a month in the ICU (of which I have little to no memory) I was transferred to the neuro-rehab unit at Barrow’s Neurological Center in Phoenix. I had daily therapies (usually twice daily) of occupational, speech and physical therapies as prescribed by the physiatrist in consultation with the clinical neuropsychologist.

In addition, I had family and friends bring in newspapers and magazines. Even though my retention and reading comprehension was poor at the time I kept after it and started to retain a bit more each time. My wife brought a netbook computer to the hospital, and checking my email helped me connect with others outside the hospital. I do believe all that helped with the memory and cognitive deficits.

After four weeks of in-patient rehab I went home, and continued with some out-patient therapies, continued reading (adding books), and my wife worked with me using math flash cards.

So it was a combination of therapy, time, effort, and as I mentioned, prayer. I’m profoundly grateful to be able to say that the neuropsychological assessment about five months after the injury contained the words:

"On examination, the patient demonstrated intact cognition in all domains assessed including learning and memory, attention, processing speed, language skills and executive functions. He has shown an excellent recovery from his severe injury only five months ago. From a cognitive standpoint there are no concerns with respect to the patient returning to work full time or returning to driving"

Unfortunately insurance is still an issue, so she has not seen anyone after the two ER visits in the beginning. I am working on getting her on a plan through healthcare.gov because the other options are taking too long.

One other area to explore could be the Brain Injury Associaiton in your area.

http://www.biausa.org/state-affiliates.htm