Protect your noggins!

Recovery Day 10 & a PSA...

Good news: My shunt is working FABulously well. I haven't had a too much or too little CSF headache since I woke up from surgery! The world may now rejoice! This is really exciting, friends. I've had one of those headaches almost every single day since April 24. That's a looooong time to have a headache!

More good news: My stitches and their accompanying pain are GONE because my fabulously wonderful friend loves me and responded to my frantic text asking her to take them out super late Thursday night. Our goal was to keep them in for 10 days because the incision on top of my head wasn't happy about being opened twice in as many months. But the pain from those wire stitches became unbearable and I was ready to go to the ER for relief. So THANK YOU Holli for saving me an expensive ER visit and from another sleepless night wallowing in pain.

Even MORE good news: I'm finally able to sleep! With the stitches out, the stinging and throbbing incision pain is gone! I slept a TON yesterday and today is looking to follow the same eat, read, sleep, sleep, eat, chat, sleep pattern. The only pain I seem to have now is just bone pain where they widened the burr hole in my skull to replace the ventricular catheter and that will go away soon. Hooray! I'm almost semi-normal again.

And here's my PSA: I've heard our neurosurgeons refer to April through October as #StupidSeason. It's when otherwise smart people make stupid choices like not wearing their helmets while riding their donorcycles *I mean motorcycles* or ATVs or bikes or whatever. People of the earth: Protect your noggins and don't lump yourselves in with people making stupid choices and causing unnecessary and easily preventable drama in #StupidSeason. Glen and I had a lovely chat Wednesday afternoon with a kid on his motorcycle while waiting at the on-ramp light at NB Bangerter and I-15. His helmet was strapped to the back of his seat. Glen rolled down his window and we pled with him to put on his helmet. His excuse for not wearing it: "I'm running late. I'll put it on when I head back home." I told him about the guy next to me on the post-op recovery floor who crashed his motorcycle and was writhing in post-op pain until they gave him a spinal nerve block and even then he was whimpering from the headache. I wonder what that guy's excuse was for not wearing his helmet.

#HAM2016

A matter of faith...

I've always been taught that faith is a verb, a word that describes the action of believing in that which is not seen but is real. So when I say that my body is exhausted after this summer of surgeries, it's because all this exertion of faith that everything will work out for my good has left me physically wiped out! But the cool thing about faith is that it may exhaust you physically, but it makes you super strong spiritually and emotionally!

God is at the helm. He knows the trials we need to face in life to help us grow into the sons and daughters He knows we can become. I'm just hoping that I can grow spiritually by getting to read about the next trial instead of living through every pain-filled moment the next time around. But if not...

#HAM2016

With a little help from my friends...

I have NO idea how I would get through life without my neighbors and friends. My neighborhood should be the most coveted place on earth because the people who fill these homes are some of the most wonderfully selfless and giving people I've ever known! All summer long they've served my family by bringing us meals and treats. They've dropped everything to babysit and entertain my kids and give them rides to and from school and various activities. If I need any kind of help, I know I can send out a text or two and they're all over it!

My neighbor across the street brought us cookies last week and I sent her a text asking for her oatmeal cookie recipe. She sent this text back to me and after we both had a good laugh, she posted the conversation on Facebook for others to enjoy. Haha! Tracie cracks me up!

I'm telling y'all, houses don't go up for sale here very often, but when and if they do, I recommend you buy it without question and enjoy the fabulous-ness that is our community. And Costco is only 13 minutes away. Just saying.

#HAM2016

#HAM2016

It's National Hydrocephalus Awareness Month! Be prepared for info graphics and stories and pictures that will help explain how individuals and families cope with this lifelong condition.