New Toy

We just bought a new camera and are having fun learning about it and taking pictures. We have a lot to learn,  but it is fun. I am thinking of trying a weekly photo challenge, but have not started yet. I will let you all know when/if I do. For now, enjoy the pictures!

 

I wear my sunglass at night

Talk to the hand

Look! I have a hand too!

This is a little bit scary

Henry says he is crazy!

Franny says "I'm crazy, so much"

The Kids

These kids are great, and cute also!

 

We are back from Kansas City now and we have a day to relax before normal life sets in.  Well, maybe not. Henry has his first Hockey practice and today is Frances' birthday.  I guess life doesn't really slow down. I hear it speeds up, so I better hold on.

 

I am close to normal, but not quite there. I'm not sure if really I will ever reach that milestone, but that is okay, really it is. I have been very very lucky, and some lack of energy, headaches and hearing loss are minor issues. I can handle it.

 

I've Become Busy

My life is getting back to normal. I still get headaches and have more fatigue than normal, but I FEEL more myself. That is a good thing. Sometimes I think back and say to myself "did that really happen" but then I see the huge scar on my head and I know it did. It did happen. I even try to remember how scared I was, but I don't get scared anymore. I want to remember what I cared about in that time and what I feared, so I can face it and live accordingly.

The truth is that the most important thing was my family.  I thought about Frances and Henry a lot. I was sad that maybe I would not be there to grow up, but I also didn't want to traumatize them with my illness. Luckily I am not going down that road.

Instead, I get to write this while Christmas music is streaming, my husband is putting up the tree, my son is reading quietly and my daughter is munching on a graham cracker.  Yes, I am fortunate.

I was able to have three whole days of Thanksgiving, and it was wonderful. It started out with a Turkey Trot. Henry and Frances ran an indoor race.  It was Frances' first time in a race and she absolutely loved it. It was hard for her to wait until they said go. She had a couple of false starts and she might have gotten a little head start when she finally did go.  More races are definitely in her future. Henry did good too. He was very serious about the whole event, but I know he liked it. Aaron ran a really good race and placed 17th in his age group. This is really good for him.

As for me, I did pretty good. I have only ran twice since the injury and it was on the treadmill.  I wasn't sure how the race would go.  I had the plan of running until I warmed up and then walk/run the rest. That is exactly what I did and I ended up only walking three times. When I started, I noticed the world was bobbing a little more than I was used to, but it was okay. Then about half way through I really had to use the bathroom and that took up all my concentration. Looking back, it was probably a good distraction. When I crossed the finish line, I felt great! I didn't feel exhausted nor did I have a headache.  I quickly found a bathroom and then found Aaron.

After the race we went to my parents house and the celebration commenced. It ended yesterday and was a fun time. After all the excitement of the holidays, I ended up taking a 2 hour nap and then going to bed at the normal time. I guess I'm not quite normal, but close.

Back at Work

Today I went back to work. I only worked four hours and only saw 3 patients, but hey, it is progress.

Of course, when I finally go back to work, Henry had to be a little sick. 2 days ago he had bilateral pink eye and stayed home for that, then that night he had a croupy cough but was breathing okay, and last night had a fever What a boy! He is doing pretty good now and has liked his mini vacation from school even if it means a little coughing.  It just made it harder for me to leave him.

Frances has been very clingy to me since I came back from the hospital. I figure right now I have a 50% chance of using the restroom alone.  I was a little worried she wouldn't take the transition well, but she did fine today.

Two days ago I went to the nurse practioner for a check up and she was happy with the progress my wound had made.  Aaron still needs to dress it two times a day, but now only needs to do so for a week. She also said it was fine for me to go back to work. I am starting part time because I might not be able to multitask well and I will be more tired than normal. Today I really didn't have the opportunity to multitask, but I can admit to being a little more tired than normal. I went home and rested a little, and then I was fine.

It feels good to be acting a little more normal.

Halloween

This blog isn't just about my illness. Here are my wonderful kids. I am happy to say, I made their costumes again this year. I made Frances' before I had surgery and Henry's after. They turned out pretty good. May I present a purple princess and Shadow Link.

Update

It has been about a week since I posted. With Halloween/Henry's birthday, things got busy.  That is probably a good thing. I am feeling okay. The headaches now are usually mild and not to disabling. I usually take Tylenol once a day, and I take coffee in the morning. These two things usually keep the headache at bay.

Henry's school had a costume parade that was heavily attended and I got to go to this.  Theoretically it should have been great. Practically, it was a lot of looking left then right and my head didn't like it. After I saw Henry, I went home and rested because my head was pounding. At Henry's birthday party I also noticed my head was a little wonky watching nine kids play their heart out. It shows me that my body is still not perfect and maybe being home with the lack of multiple stimulations it not necessarily a good thing.  The more my body heals, the better, but it might need the opportunity. Work can do that for me, and I plan on going to work next week if the nurse practioner lets me.

My wound is healing slowly, but it is healing. Aaron is doing a great job of dressing it two times a day. I might need to wear a hair band to work, but that is okay. I am wearing one 24-7 anyway, so it is not much off a change.  I just would really like to be healed completely before I start work, but I think that might be too much to ask for.

So, that is where I am right now. I guess pretty good.

Better News

Today I met with both the nurse practioner and the neurosurgeon. They looked at my wound and then the neurosurgeon looked at my phone pictures of my wound. They determined that I do NOT need surgery to close it up.  This is a huge relief to me. I was trying to be positive, but the possibility of another surgery was really bumming me out. Now, I can be my normal optimistic self again.

Instead of surgery, I have to clean the wound and pack it twice a day. Now when I say "I," it will actually be Aaron instead of me. It is a little hard for me to do it myself since I would have to look into a mirror and do everything backwards. It shouldn't be too tough for Aaron and throughout this, he hasn't seemed grossed out yet. I suppose this will be the real test. I'm not sure how long this will be, but the wound has to heal up before Aaron is done. It could be one week or more....

The neurosurgeon hasn't seen me since I left the hospital. He asked me how my energy was (good) and specifically if I had been reading or not (no). I told him I was going to force myself to read but I accidently got the book in Spanish.  He said I shouldn't force it. I told him that force was a bad word. I would obviously stop if I had a headache or it became too hard, but I wanted to start getting acclimated to reading because I would have to do a lot of it at work. He seemed to understand and was okay with my explanation. Before he left, he commented on how good my facial muscles were doing. I agreed with him.  It is nice to know he is happy with the result.

I was dreading this visit today, but it turned out okay.  I have more work to do regarding my wound, but it is okay, because I don't need surgery!