Wednesday, March 24, 2010

One day at a time...

wasnt that a TV show!? (LOL for those you who really know me... I love 70's and 80's sitcoms)☺

but that is our motto in this house!

As I sit here typing this out, our Sammi is upstairs sleeping in our bed (we have a tv in our room) with a fever, sick stomach and vertigo. It is his normal day for staying home but today he is sick. I have had him up and in a cool shower, gave him Tylenol and sent him back to bed. He white as a sheet and looks horrible. I always get worried when he has a fever since we have to be sure the fever doesn't go to high and trigger seizures. (never have had one yet but the doctors still tell us to be very careful with them).

Last week on Tuesday he came home from school fatigued. White, slightly limping and his left side ever so slightly drooping. It took until Monday for him to 'get back to normal'. Then he came home last night feeling sick and just blah. So i wonder if it wasnt starting last week and finally hitting him now... who knows.

Sam and I had a great talk last week and he has decided to have the plastic surgery done on his head. This will be a metal plate put in to cover  the 'hole' where the bullet entered. I was shocked when he told he that this was what he wanted to do AND that  he had been thinking about it for quite a while now. He says he is bothered by the way people will watch his head and not look him in the eye when they talk to him (usually this means his friends). Around the entry wound area is not only a long scar but the 'hole' and a person can see his heart beating there and it will pulse or bulge when he is stressed or there is pressure from straining. We had told Sam (from the beginning) that this would be a decision up to him alone. It is him that would have to live with the scar, the 'hole' and whatever else is involved, and we have never brought it up again.  And his reasons for wanting to do it make sense to me. He is a teen and wants to not be different. But there is more to it... kids are also asking to touch it. This is one thing that distresses me! Sam has said that he didn't mind at first but now it is getting to be too much.  So we have talked about it, and I have called our TBI co-ordinator (Gail) and am waiting for her to call me back to see how we go about getting a consult and with who.

Sam lately has been having episodes of vertigo. He will get dizzy when sitting then standing (which is normal for a lot of people) but he will also get dizzy when walking, standing AND while sitting! So I hope to ask Gail about this too. I know it is normal for a lot of survivors but it doesn't hurt to just double-check. We have told Sam that he needs to be aware of when it happens and what happens b4 he feels the full effect of it so he can know while riding a bike or climbing up a ladder, etc. to get himself in a safe position.

He is still having stomach issues to the last while. Meaning his stomach will physically hurt, then he tends to lose his appetite. I havent found much info on this so it will be another question for Gail.

Once again our lives are taking a turn and things will be very different around our house, but for now I will leave it for a future date to talk about! BUT we did sell our house and as of tomorrow (Mar 25) it will no longer be our house! YAY!!! Thank you Lord!

My blog will be under construction the next little while as I get used to the new formats and get the right background and widgets on here. I need to transfer over the info from the old blog once all that is in place! If there are any ideas for here please let me know!

3 comments:

andrea said...

Just want to say, thanks for all the updates Jodi. I pass them on to my mom. Your entire family is always in our hearts and in our prayers. I know we rarely if ever see one another but be certain that you are a huge part of our family.

love andrea

brokenbrilliant said...

Vertigo has always been a problem for me. What I discovered -- almost by accident, about a year ago -- is that when I cut out dairy from my diet (no milk, no cheese, no yogurt, no cow's milk -- goat's milk is fine, for some reason), I have MUCH less of it. I think it's some weird inner-ear thing that gets worse from the dairy. My doctors are baffled by it, but I know what I know -- when I cut out dairy (and also keep my sugar intake to a minimum), I can actually move around without feeling like I'm constantly about to fall over.

My vertigo caused me related problems -- my moods were highly erratic, and I was pretty tough to deal with, time to time, since so much of my energy was devoted to just keeping my balance. I was a bit of a terror, very withdrawn, and not always easy to live with, with all that vertigo. Getting rid of dairy was one of the best things I've ever done.

You may want to try that. You never know...

Good luck

BB

brokenbrilliant said...

P.S. For transferring your blog, there may be some import/export system that your old blog has? Wordpress is great with that -- also I love all the widgets. Quite helpful and fun. Tons better than the other guys.

Enjoy