~Carter

~Jonathan

~Anthony

~Sienna

~Alaina

~Laura

One thing that has not changed with her is she still loves to stay up late! She is watching the Royal Wedding specials.

I have NO Idea how the little ones did not wake up with all this thunder… I love the sound of constant rumbles.

Anthony has been so stinken fussy all day today. I feel so bad for him. His gums are all swollen and red. The only thing that did help was a cold wet washcloth.(thanks mom for the idea!..I have used it before on the others but i just forget sometimes when it’s in the moment) 

Laura has therapy tomorrow. Her Aunt is taking her. It’s nice to let others help sometimes, I struggle with this because I just have that instinct I guess to do it myself…EVERYTHING myself.

Most of the times things run smoothly around here. Most of the time we have good days. Once in a while we have what I would call a Crazy Pshyco messed up day. Ummm which would be today. I could not do anything. I mean it when I say anything. I was not even allowed to go to the bathroom!  It was CONSTANT go..go…go! 

Anthony slept a total of 20 minutes all day, I carried him everywhere I went. Normally Laura would be able to hold him or pick him up for me when I can’t get to him at the moment he needs me. Well this is not the case now. I know she misses being able to do that also. She lays on the floor and plays with him whenever I set him down. Well, today was different. I could not set him down…. before he would even TOUCH the floor he would wail so I would just pick him right back up.

To be honest…I didn’t even want to sit here and wright this.. I ache all over my body and I am so extremely exhausted. I have SOOO much laundry to do, a kitchen to sweep and mop,clothes everywhere,CRUMBS everywhere, MUD everywhere from the boys literally ROLLING in the mud today when they got home from school. I mean literally. I would have taken a picture, but I was too mad at the moment. I made them go upstairs in the shoes and clothes they were wearing and put them in the shower clothed with shoes and all ..the rule was DO NOT COME OUT until every last bit of mud washed down the drain.

The mud blends well with my unfinished bathroom..which we were going to finish with this years tax refund,which pretty much will now have to wait until next year..

I just rambled for 20 minutes, I am not sure where I was going with this, I think everything just built up. I am thinking tomorrow the sun should shine again and it will be a new day..a very nice day.

 I think too much! Please BRAIN would you turn off?!?!? Just so I can sleep? And could you please wake me up in the morning..I mean REALLY wake me up from this horrible dream I have been having since March 4th when everything turned up side down on me?

Eighty in the WORLD..I  am still trying to grasp that fact.

Vasculitis….

Medium Vessel Vasculitis…

In her BRAIN

Unknown cause,

 no underlying reason they can find.

 I don’t get it.

A new virus? Who knows.

I wish i knew.

But what good really would that be?

It wouldn’t change anything.

I am so tired..

I don’t get it, how i keep going, I must have batteries stuck somewhere.

I need to cry.

But I can’t..no really I have tried.

I told my husband to stomp on my foot really hard just to get me going..

we both laughed. Of course he didn’t.

Today, I dropped a bowl,it broke….

Got a gut cut..the kind you can see the meat puffing out…

REALLY weird did NOT even feel it!

I saw the blood..

Freaked out!

SIX stitches…SIX! didn’t feel them either! or the pricks from the numbing needle…

wonder why I didn’t feel anything.

I just don’t get it!!!!!

Probably should have cleaned it up before I took the picture

what next?

 So before Laura was discharged,they wanted to take her on an outing, I suppose to see how well she would do. They told her to pick a place, she picked the MALL where else? HA!

She became good friends with the girl down the hall, Rae Lynn, who was in a pretty bad accident 3 weeks ago (in a coma for a week) and they happened to be discharged the EXACT same time. We walked out of the Hospital together.. (more on that in another post)

They BOTH decided to go to the Mall of course. The 2 women with them were part of the program.

Just wanted to mention, in case you were thinking she looked different, Laura is getting quite “puffy”, a side effect of the Prednisone…she looks at herself in the Mirror and laughs she thinks she has chipmunk cheeks!

It was sweet watching them walk together, Lauras right side is affected and Rae Lynns Left side affected, they limped opposite, but it didn’t slow them down a bit.

Notice how the Therapist stands close to the girls, not letting them get too far away from her, they call this “stand by assist”. Just in case they lose their balance. This is when they were just starting out in the mall, the most walking they had done in a while.They had lots more to do if they wanted to get to the stores! A bit later, she let them a little further ahead, but keeping a close eye out for signs their legs were getting tired.

First we ate…

Laura picked SUBWAY where else?

Rae Lynn is a typical 15 year old ! I had to laugh at her constant texting. Her Dad had told us that when she first came out of the coma, he heard her saying something,so he got closer and thought she was saying, “I want to go home” with her eyes still closed. After she said it a few times, he realized she was saying, ” I want my phone”.  

The stores in this mall are HUGE! After we ate, they mapped out a plan.

They picked this store first.

GREAT sales! Laura found a few things she liked.

Next store was………….

moving FAST…teens shopping BEWARE .

B-lined  $$$$ eeeeekkkkk! $$$$

Actually it wasn’t too bad, she found three shirts, and they were short sleeved, each one was only $5. (clearance section in the back!)

I fell in love with the clothes here, I HAD to get something too!

Taking a break…

Next store was……

HAHA Just Kidding!… I didn’t DARE set foot in this store this time. (I really wanted to though!)

Lauras picking up speed! Claires!

A girls DREAM store !

And a TON of SALES! Let me put it this way, her purse is 1 pound heavier now .

10 for $10 sale !!! (we spent at least 20 )

Laura and Rae Lynn did really well, They only had to rest 3-4 times. We went in a few other stores, then had to make it back to Childrens in time for the 8:00 meds.

Friday was the day of discharge!

Laura with the two “brain doctors” and the psycologist, saying bye.

With the Teen recreational Therapists.

With her Dad and his Coworkers.

With the Music Therapist Kim.

The Occupational Therapist.

The “wheelchair ladies” They are NEVER late for therapy!! They would come to the room and WHISK her away!

Miss Mary was on vacation, I wanted so bad to get her picture..very VERY sweet lady. I will never forget her!

Speech Therapist.

Physical Therapist

Another Physical therapist.

Very hard to remember all the names!

Finally in the room waiting for the “official” discharge papers…

AND WE ARE OFF!!

Ummmm, AFTER we get the UHaul!!!

SEE Y’ALL SOON!! WE ARE COMING HOME!

 ~Thankyou all who are thinking about us and praying for us,it means so much to us.

 This was Laura yesterday morning after laying in bed flat for almost a week. She got up after we received the results of the CT scan. The bleed did not change,so it was good news. they saw the clot and said it would eventually go away on it’s own…. it was on the surface of her brain, not within any vessels, and also was not any larger.

They did see Necrosis in the brain, an area that was permanently affected. So how this will show is unknown,we have to wait and see because she continues to progress,although not quite as fast as she did with the first stroke, she is still progressing fast.

She still is unable to move her fingers or lift her arm like she was before the second episode. Actually she is still not moving her fingers at all,but can lift her arm up half way. I hope this is NOT where the permanent damage is .

 This video was where she was at the day before the second episode.

On the bright side…we may be able to head home this coming week sometime,as long as she gets the clear from the Doctors and it is safe to travel. (she has a plane ticket still,but the doctors do not want her flying,so we will have to take our time driving back with her.)

So she left March 1st to visit her Dad in New Orleans for 1 week. It is now April 2nd. As soon as I find out when we are leaving, I will let Y’all know! (think i have been here too long)