My Little Darlin' - PT Day 72 - Home - (by Jan)

David was only sightly annoyed when he walked into the bathroom and found out that I had taken a shower and gotten dressed BY MYSELF!!  He is learning that I am becoming more and more independent.

We drove to Jackson where I got a root canal in a back molar damaged at the time of my impact... Yippee!!

Tomorrow we will return to Jackson and spend the night with my son Derek and his family.  That will put us only about 1 mile from our appointment at Quest at 8:00a.m. Thursday.  At this appointment I will be evaluated by the whole team of therapiists.  At some point after this evaluation, they will put together a plan of therapy for me.  We have no idea how long my outpatient therapy will last, but I am totally comitted to making it work.  I told them that I am signed up to do the Disney World Marathon in January.  I want to complete it.

My plan is to have the therapists "BRING IT".  I will kick butt and take names, and show them what I've got!!  A little brain damage won't keep me down!!

Jan

I Love My Husband

My Little Darlin, PT day 71, by David

Day 7 at home.  Jan is conked out again after a long active day(TIGT) so you are stuck with me writing this again.  Not much new other than Jan seems to be improving daily.  She even said she feels the improvement.  We did go to Tupelo and visited the critical care unit where Jan was for a month.  Jan saw and was able to thank many of the nurses and staff that took car of her.  I will tell you who read this, for health care providers who deal with a lot of very sick people to actually get to see one come back the way Jan has shows just how important and meaningful the job they do is.  Jan and I are so thankful to all of you at North Mississippi Medical Center.  Also as important are the ground and air ambulance crews that got her there.  You all truly played a major role in saving My Little Darlins life.  We can not thank you enough.  What you do every day is difficult and very stressful but matters so much and she is proof.

Tomorrow we are going to Jackson for her Intake Interview at Methodist Rehabilitation Center Quest Program to be followed on Thursday for her Quest team evaluation.  By the way she also gets a root canal tomorrow.

Please do not forget what happened to Jan putting her on this path.  Not all are as fortunate in their outcome as Jan has been.

SHARE THE ROAD, IT'S A LIFE
PUT THE !%@$# CELL PHONE DOWN BEFORE YOU KILL SOMEBODY
GET OFF THE COUCH,  LIFE IS FOR DOING STUFF
SUPPORT BIKE WALK MISSISSIPPI,  THEY WILL HELP MAKE CHANGES HAPPEN
BE BRIGHT AND BE SEEN

I Love My Little Darlin,
David 

My Little Darlin" Day 70 - Home (By Jan)

Today was pretty much a normal day.  David let me sleep til 9:20, then cooked me breakfast - scrambled eggs, turkey sausage and blackberries.  We contined cleaning up the "clutter" around the house and did some laundry.  I am more and more able to actually help out around here!!

Around noon we took a "Sunday Drive".   We went to the Noxubee Refuge and looked at the alligator swimming across the lake!!  I LOVE spotting the alligator!!

Once we got back home we ate some of the delicious soup made yesterday by the "brain damaged" woman of the house.  Both husband and son seemed to enjoy it.  TIGT.

I went back and read some of David's early posts.  That was very hard for me.  To realize what he went through.... the pain and fear he must have been feeling... was overwhelming.  I cried.  I wish the woman that hit me could feel what David felt.  I wonder if she felt anything.

I love my husband.

Jan

My Little Darlin, PT day 69, by David

Day 5 at home.  Jan went to running club and had a great reception.  She very much enjoyed seeing every one and I thought they all enjoyed seeing her and how well she was doing.  She really is doing well.  As I said yesterday all areas that she has deficits seem to be improving.  I am not hovering as much as I have been when she walks around he house letting her be a bit more independent.  She knows she is improving but is still frustrated because she cant help me do much of anything around the house.  I let her know her job is to get better and not to injure herself by doing too much.  She feels her biggest limiting factor is the back pain she has from the compression fracture.  She is past six weeks with pain and we have talked about kyphoplasty(inject glue into the bone).  This is a procedure my partners and I do quite a lot of and get significant improvement in the back pain in most patients.  It is typically done of fractures from osteoporosis rather than trauma.  I tend to be conservative and would rather her avoid any procedure but if the pain persists then we may have it done.  Risks are very low but I worry when it is my little darlin and cringe at the thought of any more harm happening to her.   Even though risks are low they happen and if it happens to you it is 100% to you.  I also do not want her to hurt. I have told her to write down today what her pain level is and record it daily for a few days.  If it is improving then we do nothing.

Thanks to all for coming to see Jan at running club today.  She definitely appreciated it.

SHARE THE ROAD, IT'S A LIFE
PUT THE !%@$# CELL PHONE DOWN BEFORE YOU KILL SOMEBODY
GET OFF THE COUCH,  LIFE IS FOR DOING STUFF
SUPPORT BIKE WALK MISSISSIPPI,  THEY WILL HELP MAKE CHANGES HAPPEN
BE BRIGHT AND BE SEEN

I Love My Little Darlin,

My Little Darlin, PT day 68, by David

Day 4 back at home.  Sorry for the late post. Very busy now that we are back home.  Mostly spending time getting the house more organized and less cluttered.  Want as few obstacles as possible that could cause Jan to trip given her limited stability.  She is improving daily.  In the house I do let her walk some without my hand on her but I am still right there just in case.  I still have high anxiety about her reinjuring herself.  Today she successfully completed a high level difficulty Sudoku and a jumbles puzzle.  Mentally this confirms objectively she is improving.  She can see the physical and mental improvement as well (TIGT).  She still has a fair amount of back pain when she tries to sit up or sit for an extended period.  She and I discussed kyphoplasty today.  This is the injection of glue into the vertebrae.  It is primarily done on older women with osteoporotic compression fractures and gives significant relief of back pain in the majority of women who have it done and has low risk.  There is still nothing safer than natural healing and the pain should improve over time so have opted to wait.  Got to go to sleep now. Can hardly keep my eyes open.  BTW tomorrow morning our local running club is doing a little extra for a welcome back Jan celebration.  We have a great running club and most bring something to eat  so it is a couple of hours of eating and visiting after the run every saturday morning for all level of runners and walkers.  Jan was very pleased because she made the brownies she is taking tomorrow with minimal assistance.

To address a couple of comments made on yesterdays post.  I do not disagree about taking a risk by riding on the road with the number of truly stupid, arrogant and or oblivious people driving automobiles.  The only way to decrease your risk from harm is to cocoon at home and that is what my little darlin has been saying is what she wants to do since this happened to her.  Add another thing the person that did this took from her, her sense of adventure.  I also much prefer to be on the trails riding my mountain bike but few of us have them out our back door.  I also like to do triathlons and this requires training on a road bike at high speeds that you can only do on a road.  Riding the road bike is also good training for the mountain bike.  I have not riden my road bike since this happened and I am not sure I can for a while for two maybe three reasons.  One psychologically it will be difficult because I still have a mental image of what Jan went through at impact and shudder every time I think about it.  Two I think Jan likely would have severe anxiety if she knew I were riding on the road.  Three my wife is very vulnerable now given her still weakened condition physically and mentally and I can not risk something happening to me that would keep me from taking care of her.  On the otherhand sitting on the couch like the majority of americans do now a days is a sure ticket to early death from many preventable diseases.  We could all give in and never ride on the road again or we can encourage more to do something good for themselves like ride and maybe someday this would become the norm(yea right! what BS)  I know the risks are there but I will be back on the road at some point in the future.  I won't be able to help myself.

SHARE THE ROAD, IT'S A LIFE
PUT THE !%@$# CELL PHONE DOWN BEFORE YOU KILL SOMEBODY
GET OFF THE COUCH,  LIFE IS FOR DOING STUFF
SUPPORT BIKE WALK MISSISSIPPI,  THEY WILL HELP MAKE CHANGES HAPPEN
BE BRIGHT AND BE SEEN

I Love My Little Darlin,
David

My Little Darlin, PT day 67, by David

Day 3 back in Starkville

It is back to me (David) tonight.  My Little Darlin is conked out.  We had a busy day.  Got her up a little before 5 am.  A very good old friend of ours who is also our dentist in Jackson saw Jan this morning.  We wanted to get an early start because we did not know how much work was needed.  She got a temporary crown on the incisor that was knocked out.  Jan says she now looks less gooby.  Also found out the reason one of her molars was hurting was that it had a couple of cracks from the trauma.  She will get a root canal on this next week.  After eating lunch (where we incidentally ran into my sister who does not live in the Jackson area either) we drove back to Starkville at a leisurely speed on the Natchez trace.  Saw only one cyclist on a time trial bike and she did not have bright clothing on!  It sure was a nice drive having my sweetness with me.  Went to Lowes to get some more safety items for the house and then by Boardtown Bikes for a few minutes.  The shop looked great.  Kevin and David have done a great job keeping it going the past two months.  Those two guys are A-one.  We came home and one of our granddaughters was here so Jan visited with her for a while.  I tell you this mundane boring stuff because it sounds kind of like a normal day(TIGT).  The good thing is Jan was up and walking through the day, still with me there for support and bailout if needed, but I think she is getting stronger every day.  Every place we went all day long I  asked her various questions to keep her mind moving and improving along with her body.  They were all simple questions to prod her short term memory or questions that were meant to get her to develop short organized plans.  Her short term and executive cognition also seem to be improving.  She does tire easily but her endurance is also improving.  We do expect rapid gains over the next six months.

I have said this many times before and will say it many more times, do not forget what happened to My Little Darlin.  She has had a very rough road.  She is one of the fortunate ones particularly given that she is still here.  She is also doing incredibly well, better than expected given what was done to her.  She clearly has lingering problems some of which may at least partially be with her for the rest of her life.  This act that was done to her was completely avoidable.  I think there should be a harsh penalty for what was done to her but Mississippi law does not agree.  Yes this is an emotional response.  I had a very graphic reminder of the brutality of what happened to Jan when I saw her bicycle for the first time today.  I do not think dropping it from a twenty story building would have done that kind of damage and My Little Darlin was on it.  It still hurts to think about.  She still has healing road rash all over, dark blue old blood under the fingernails like when you smash your finger with a hammer.  She has bad back pain every time she sits up.  Not to mention the problems from her brain injury.  Laws must be fixed.  The 3 foot law must be given some teeth.  A distracted driver law needs to be in place.  If someone thinks using their cell phone while operating a 2 ton piece of steel is more important than someones life then they should pay dearly for that selfish, stupid and egotistical action.  Others will be severely injured and killed because of cell phone use while driving.  Bicyclist and runners/pedestrians do your job.  Know your rules, be very visible and watch the traffic.  Interestingly today in Jackson on a very busy county line road Jan and I saw a guy riding a bike in the wrong lane, against traffic, no helmet, no hands on the handle bar and talking on a cell phone.  You can not fix stupid!  Your life as you know it can depend on doing the right thing whether you are driving the vehicle, riding the bike or running/walking.

SHARE THE ROAD, IT'S A LIFE
PUT THE !%@$# CELL PHONE DOWN BEFORE YOU KILL SOMEBODY
GET OFF THE COUCH,  LIFE IS FOR DOING STUFF
SUPPORT BIKE WALK MISSISSIPPI,  THEY WILL HELP MAKE CHANGES HAPPEN
BE BRIGHT AND BE SEEN

I Love My Little Darlin,
David

My Little Darlin, PT day 66 - From Jan

Day 2 back in Starkville.

We've been home at little over 24 hours.  It's awesome!!  My amazing husband is scurrying about trying to staighten things up to make the house "safe" for me... but he still won't allow me to do anything by myself!!

We made a trip to Wal-Mart today and I actually walked around the store pushing a cart!!  Woo-hoo!!!

Tomorrow we are heading to Jackson to my dentist down there.  I knocked a front tooth out in the incident and injured another one.  NOT looking forward to a long day at the dentist...

So many of you have sent cards, flowers, prayers, posts, good food and good wishes.  Well... something has WORKED!  I am so much better, and know I am on my way to a full recovery... no matter how long it takes.

Please continue to be there for David.  He will need you all now... I'm sure I'm a LOT of trouble!

Love to you all,

Jan