After Thanksgiving

My throat is killing me now.  It seems like I would not get sick for a while after going through all this.  I think my dad brought it home from work.  When you teach you pick up everything your first year.  I know I said I would blog everyday but this blog is going to be for the last 3 days.  I have been busy with Thanksgiving.  I love the Holidays.  I love this time of year.  I love how it gets chilly for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I really enjoyed seeing my family.  It was so good to see them outside of the hospital.  Last time I saw most of them I was still in the hospital.  I love all of the Thanksgiving food.  I am so glad I am out of the hospital to enjoy this time of the year.  I have really been enjoying spending time with my cats.  I love how they can tell when you do not feel good and love on you.  Polka Dot has started sleeping in my bed now.  Salem took up with my dad while I was in the hospital so he abandoned me.  Felix sleeps with me every night.  I had a lot to be thankful for this year.

My Saturday with the Family and Nick

I woke up at 3pm this afternoon. I'm watching movies today.  Nick and I are going to see a movie and dinner today.  He is going to take me to get my nails filled in today.  I have not been in 3 weeks, so its time.  He said he would pay for it since I got him  Xbox 360 yesterday.  I had to stand in line for an hour to get him a Xbox 360. I'm watching P.S. I love You with my family.  I love this movie.  Of course my mom has already boohooed.  She cries in every movie.  We are going to watch The Time Travelers Wife and Bride Wars.  I may not be able to watch all these movies before the movie and dinner.  But I will watch P.S. I Love You and The Time Traveler's Wife.  I love those movies.  My mom got them for a dollar or two Black Friday.  Nick is still asleep.  My nails look horribly.  I took the color off the night before and messed them up.  So my mom had to redo them.  Needless to say they look horrible now.  So I can not wait to get them done today.  We got Felix fixed yesterday.  He was starting to hump the other cats.  He especially liked Polka Dot.  He would Hump him all the time.  He has been sleeping since he had surgery.  The poor baby looked so pitiful when we picked him up.  He missed us a lot.  He has already gotten sweeter since the surgery.

Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday

I am combining the past two days because they fit together.  I loved being with my family Thanksgiving.  I loved eating all the food.  It was nice eating turkey.  I only eat turkey once a year on Thanksgiving.  The fried okra was awesome! I love fried okra.  I do not like fried stuff I only like fried okra and fried Oreo's.  I made a turkey cake for thanksgiving.  It turned out pretty good.  My mom had to finish making it Thanksgiving morning.  I only had one crying fit over making the turkey cake.  I usually have more than that.  My emotions have been messed up since I had my accident.  I love being able to see all my family.  I had not seen my family since I was in the hospital.  It was nice to be able to see my family while not being in the hospital.  My Grannie was really happy that all the family was there.  My uncle could not come because he had to fix a fence so his horse would not run away.  I do not blame him I would have fixed it too.  I love animals so I would have done the same thing.  I came home that night and slept for a hour and then went to Walmart to go shopping.  They started their Black Friday sale at midnight on things that were not electronics.  I got two Cricket cartridges for $20 a piece.  That was really cheap for the Cricket cartilages.  They normally cost $60 to $80 a piece.  Then I came back home to sleep till 6am.  We left the house at 3:30 to get to JCPenny at 4am.  Their sale started at 4am.  They had pretty good sales.  Then we left JCPenny and went to Sam's club.  They were giving away breakfast. We met my Aunt Joyce and Uncle Tony at Sam's club.  We did not buy anything from there.  After we picked up my Aunt Joyce and ate breakfast we went to Belk and Target.  I found some things at Target.  My aunt  went to Belk but did not find anything.  Then we went to the mall at Southlake.  We went to Victoria Secret's and Macy's.  I got two shirts from Victoria Secret's.  I went to Best Buy and Gamestop before coming home.  I came home after being awake all night and did not sleep till Friday night.  I hung out with Nick for a while on Friday.  I went to sleep fast that night.  I slept good.  I did not wake up till 3pm on Saturday.  I went to bed before midnight on Friday.  I have not been to bed that early in a while.

My brain works slower than it used to

I hate the way my brain works slower now.  It takes me longer to think of stuff now.  I put my foot in my mouth a lot more now.  I tend to so whatever comes to mind on accident.  I find myself apologizing more now.  I feel like a retard now.  I try to act normal but I know that I am not.  I just hope I am normal again.  I feel like i will have breathing and brain problems for now on.  I hate the way I can not do the things I used to.  For example, I am making a turkey cake for Thanksgiving and of course I can not do it myself.  I have to get my mother to help me ice the cake.  But I never could Ice a cake before.  I want to open a bakery one day but that probably won't happen because I suck at making cakes.  I know that I am being negative today I'm just tired of not being able to do the things I used to.  I'm fine with no contact sports and no amusement parks.  I never did those things before so its not a big deal.  I just hate not being able to go on long trips anymore with my family.  I really want to go to Washington D.C. this year for the snow.  But if the plate is in I can go. But I don't expect the plate to be put in for a while.  I not expecting anything anytime soon because I know it will be a while.  I know I should be used to being treated like a fragile flower because that  is how it was when I was in the hospital.  But it really sucks now that I am home.  When I was in the hospital I did not mind it.   I knew that how thy have to treat all their patients.  I just hate being treated like something that might break if everyone does not walk on eggshells.  I miss being an actual adult.  I having a job.  I miss going to school.  I fell as if I was kidnapped out of my life. 

The Many Doctor appointments

     I had 3 doctor appointments yesterday.  First, I had to go for my yearly check up.  Then, I had to get a Mammogram.  It hurt really bad.  I get Mammograms because my biological mother was diagnosed with Breast Cancer at age 28 so  I have to get mammograms once a year.  It hurts so bad I hate going to those appointments.  I had to explain everything about the accident.  I dread going to the doctor now because I have to explain the accident all over again. It gets tiring explaining what happened to me.  I had a appointment with the breathing doctor.  I was told he could not do surgery on my throat.  He doesn't do surgery.  I have to go to a chest doctor that will take a scope down my throat to see if I have scar tissue.  If there is scar tissue they will cut it will a laser.  So I have that appointment next week.  I hope they can do it soon. My surgery on my skull is put back now.  So the surgery won't be until March or April. I hope sooner.  I hate they cannot do the surgery sooner.  My whole life had been put on hold because of this.  I cannot do anything until they put it in.  Oh and now they want to call my putting the plate in my head and elective.  I guess its normal for someone to go around with a piece of skull missing.  I don't know if I trust these Doctors anymore.   It seems like all they want is more money.

My Dreams while I was in the Coma

I had crazy dreams while I was in the Coma.  First, I dreamed I went to a wedding in Thailand with Nick.  I dreamed Nick's family was from Thailand. I was at a wedding for his Cousins in Thailand. Then, we went to Mexico.  While we were in Mexico I caught Malaria.  Then I was life flighted to New York City.  Then I woke up on a Military Ship in the hospital.  Then I dreamed I was having the Devil's Babies.  I gave birth to the babies then I had to pour Holy water on the babies to kill them.  I had crazy dreams while I was out.  Then, I dreamed I was in my old house in South Carolina and my biological mother was there. She looked different.  She was smiling at me then she did that Zombie thing and came at me.  I had to shoot her in the head.  Then Zombies came running from everywhere.  I had to kill all the zombies because the zombie apocalypse had started.  I probably had more crazy dreams but I don't remember them.  I go to my Pulmonologist appointment tomorrow.  I hope they can figure out why I can't breath.  I think they are going to put a scope down my throat to see why I can't breath.  They still cannot give me a date for surgery because they can not put me to sleep while I am having trouble breathing. 

My last days at Pathway's

While I was at Shepherd, they let me draw and paint in TR.  I loved being able to draw and paint.  I had not drawn or painted since I was a kid.  I always ate lunch outside.  I loved getting the fresh air everyday.  I had a group that I ate lunch with everyday.  I enjoyed talking and just being around other people who had brain injury's.  I liked the fact that every one there know matter what there background was we could all bond on the fact that we had a brain injury.  There was a lot of people there that were a lot worse than me there.  I hated that so many people were so bad off.  I felt sorry for a lot of the people there.  I wanted to do something for them but I could not do anything to help them.  They had a fall festive the last 2 weeks I was there.  I did not get to go to it though.  A lot of the workers dressed up for the Fall Festive.  I think they even had Leila the dog was there.  I asked Dr. Taubin What she dressed her up as?  She said she dressed her up as Princess Leila.  They had Activities and games at the Fall Festive.  I hated not being able to see everyone while I was in the afternoon program.  I made a lot of friends while at Shepherd and Pathway's.  I did not get to see Nick as much when I was at Pathway's.  While I was at Pathway's in the afternoon program I went to a place called Medshare.  They collected medical supplies and sent it to different countries.  We always went to eat lunch after Medshare.  I ate Thai food for the first time while in therapy.  I really like Thai food now.  For driving part of the program I had to navigate different places in Decatur.  I loved the area in Decatur.  Its a really nice city area.  I was sad when therapy was over.  I really enjoyed going to therapy everyday and twice a week.  I liked having stuff to do during the week. 

My Time at Pathways

I loved being at Pathways. The therapist were nice like they were at Shepherd.  It was nice being able to go home every day. I saw a lot of patient that were at Shepherd the same time I was there.  I made a lot of friends at Shepherd.  I really had  lot in Common with all the people at Shepherd.  It was nice being with other people who had brain injury's.  I started off with Physical therapy, Speech therapy, and Occupational therapy.  The first five weeks I did all three of those plus Therapeutic Recreation.  I really enjoy all of the therapies.  After that I did 4 weeks of Speech therapy and Occupational therapy.  I had to meet with a counselor like I did when I was there for full time therapy.  When I was doing Full time therapy I was there from 9am to2pm.  Then I was there for part time therapy from 2pm to 4:30 pm or so.  I was so sad to leave therapy in general.  I really got to know all lot of the other patients and workers.  Everyone was very nice to me.  Nobody was ever mean to me.  one of the Doctors there had a dog that she would bring on Tuesdays.  Her name was Leila.  She was a sweet dog.  I loved her so much. I hated to leave her on my last day. It was sad.  Luckily I can stay in touch with everyone through facebook.  We did outing out in the community.  We did a lot of scavenger hunts.  Those were always fun.  We went to Dick's sporting goods and Books-a-million.  I  worked on a driving simulator while I was there also.  It was hard at first using the driving simulator. But it go easier.  Everybody there probably remembers me because I talked about my cats constantly.  I was the animal activist.  But overall I really enjoyed my time at Pathway's.

My First Week at Home

I loved being home.  I loved being home with my cats.  I loved seeing my cats.  I loved being able to watch my DVR. I had missed a lot of my T.V shows.  I loved being able to play with my cat all day.  They missed me too.  They loved all on me when I was finally home.  I had to have people stay with  me to begin with.  I did not mind people staying with me I enjoyed the company.  My Aunt Joyce Stayed with me the first Wednesday I was home.  Audrey stayed with me a couple of days that week.  My mom stayed one of the days with me that first week.  I loved being home.  I loved everything about it.  I still had trouble breathing.  They me on the Medicine that was supposed to make me pay attention more.  That medicine made stay awake for hours.  I would lay in bed at night feeling like running laps around the house.  It would make me feel wired all the time.  I was so glad when they took me off the medicine. I finally could sleep again.  I did not do much the first couple days at home.  I sat around a lot and just watched T.V. and played with the cats. 

My Time at Shepherd

The day I left Macon Medical Center I was so excited. I hated being at Macon Medical Center. They made me use a potty chair thing. I hated that thing. The Food was good though.  My first day at Shepherd was new and exciting. I really liked how nice and new everything was there.  They had  me on night time feeding with my feeding tube.  I still had the feeding tube in me when I went to Shepherd.  They took the Trach out when I left Macon Medical Center.  So I could breath on my own when I was at Shepherd.  I had Physical therapy, Speech therapy, and Occupational therapy. I liked all my therapist. They were all very nice and helpful.  My Speech therapy was my favorite. But I really liked all my therapist.  I had Therapeutic Recreation also.  I went Bowling one day with a bunch of the other Brain Injury patients.  I also got to start playing the Piano again.  I had started playing the Piano right before the accident but I got to play a lot in my TR.  I was woken up at 5:30 every morning.  They woke me up at 5:30 in the morning to take my Vital signs.  Then I had to take a shower and get dressed at 6 in the morning.  The Nurse had to sit in the bathroom while I took a shower.  I did not like that at first but I got used to it.  Now Nudity is no problem when I go to the Doctor.  I got used to it while I was in the Hospital.  The food was really good. I really like the chicken Fingers.  I did not mind going to all the therapies while I was in the Hospital.  It felt like being at Summer camp while I was at Shepherd.  I really liked being at Shepherd.  It was a great place and still is.  I would recommend Shepherd to anyone.  I loved it when I could finally go home.  I got to go see my cats one Saturday at Shepherd.  I had missed them so much.  I missed them all so much.  When I could finally go home I was so happy.  I loved being able to sleep in my own bed and just being home in general.

The beginning of my journey

     My car accident was on July 24, 2010.  I was in the hospital for two and a half weeks before I woke up from a coma. I was in the ICU at Macon Medical Center for three weeks.  Afterward, I was moved to a regular hospital room for a week.  I hated being in a hospital. The food was good, though.  They had a trach and feeding tube in me.  While I was in the coma they put me on a ventilator.  They had to sew the trach in my throat because I kept trying to pull it out.  I had a feeding tube in my nose to begin with but had to switch to a feeding tube in my stomach.  I was told I kept throwing my covers off while I was in the ICU.  They only had a hospital gown on me so everyone kept trying to keep my blanket down.  I couldn't underwear till I was in a regular room. I had a catheter in me so I could not put underwear on.  The catheter hurt like the worst pain of my life.  It was the most painful thing I have ever experienced, it was even worse when they took it out.
     When I first woke up I thought I had Malaria. When someone asked why I was in the hospital I told them I had Malaria.  It  took a week and half to convince me that I had a car wreck and a brain injury.  The doctor even had to talk to me a couple of times so I would believe I had a brain injury. I just did not want to believe it.  My parents stayed in Macon the whole three weeks I was in Macon Medical Center.  My family and friends were there the whole time.  Nick was also there the whole time.  He was there for ten days straight until my parents made him go to work.  We were all afraid he was going to lose his job.  Luckily, his work was understanding through all of it.  My aunts, uncles, and cousins were there nonstop.  Everyone was so afraid I was not going to make it.  I had a lot of prayers going up for me.  I never knew so many people cared.  I am so thankful for everyone that was there for me.
     I did some physical therapy at Macon Medical Center.  Their whole goal was to get me to walking again since I was in a hospital bed for so long my muscles were very weak.  They took my trach out before I left Macon Medical Center.  All I could talk about was my cats while I was in the hospital.  I started off writing to everyone because I could not talk.  I could not write fast enough to say all that I wanted to say.  Once I could talk again I talked for 24 hours straight.  I was so happy about seeing everyone and was just glad to be alive.  My mom stayed with me while I was in the regular room at Macon Medical Center.  The day they said I could leave was so exciting.  At first I was disappointed because I wanted to see my cats.  But I liked Shepherd!  They sent me to Shepherd Spinal Center when they released me.