Monday, August 31, 2009

Loads of updates

I am sorry I have not updated. I took the weekend off to relax, and to gather my thoughts. Friday night Jude, and I went and hung out with my friend Michelle, and her boyfriend Greg. We enjoyed the conversation, and some great Tex-mex. Jude did pretty well, but he did have a moment where he decided to show them his bottom lip. Saturday we dropped Jude with my dad, and we went to enjoy a couples massage that our friends Natalie, and Andrew bought it. They knew our lives have been very stressful lately, and therefore they got us a treat. The massage was great, but I felt like I couldn't fully unwind. The funniest part of our couples treat was Mike when the massage was over. He fought me on going to have this done, and at the end he sat up with his hair going everywhere and said "wow, that was great!". So to say the least he relaxed, and enjoyed the day. We then grabbed, a bite to eat, and went to pick up Jude. I am afraid that Jude had woken up VERY upset, and was pulling his refusal to breathe tantrum. My dad looked very frazzled, and I felt sorry for him. We appreciated the few hours to ourselves though, and are very thankful to all that helped out.

Sunday we picked up another donation for Emily's Smile Boxes, and then we picked up Emily from her daddy. Once at home we all relaxed and watched the movie "Ink Heart". We got a few laughs because any time Emily has seen a movie she gets very irate if you talk, she wants to make sure you don't miss out. In this case she had seen Ink Heart, and said he loved it, so she got very angry with Mike for talking. We were both cracking up at her, and she put on a front that she was angry, and then cracked herself up too. During the movie Emily, and I both noticed Jude was rather warm, I attributed this to him being held, but it wasn't the first time I had noticed it this weekend. He has also been considerably cranky again, and choking on his saliva. I have noticed that he still sounds a bit rattled, and this means he will be taking another trip to the doctor's office. Mike is taking him today at about four thirty to have the doctor listen to his chest again. I understand what they will do if Jude is aspirating on food, but what about the choking on his saliva? Dry up some of his saliva I guess. Jude's seizures are also still present, so I am leaning towards going back to the liquid form of Depakote.

After my insurance tyred on Friday we received a notification this weekend that the secondary insurance has pre approved Jude's adaptive stroller. This is wonderful news, but it also irritates me that the primary insurance hasn't stepped up for anything. This is a great indication of why the country is in constant financial crisis. Texas has a fabulous program set up for medically dependent children that is not based on a parents income, but rather the child's income. In other words if they have serious special needs you get help to keep the parents from going into financial ruin. Granted it takes awhile to get on it, and during that time we accumulated thousands in medical bills, but since the time we have been on it, things have been much better. So they immediately approved the stroller/wheelchair, and we are just waiting to hear on the other items. Another wonderful thing I have to share is that I emailed the wonderful people who make the wingbo swing to inquire about insurance covering their product. The kindness in people sometimes amazes me, because the lady at the company emailed me back the nicest letter. She told me that since jude could benefit from their swing they would send one out right away, and then deal with the insurance....really??? wow!! I was so amazed because customer service like that is rare. If you have not seen the wingbo please click here... http://www.wingbousa.com/.

Overall it was a great weekend, but I do have one personal issue. I feel like a seventy year old woman with my back. I had mentioned my car wreck on my other blog, but I will update you here. My friends can bypass this paragraph because goodness knows you have heard it before. In 2001 Emily, and I were on our way home from work, and daycare. I made a last minute decision to return a movie to blockbuster, and turned the opposite direction of the way I normally travel home. Suddenly, I looked up and noticed a small 280 z following me very closely. Right when I uttered the words, "Why is this guy on my a$$?" the lady in front of my slammed on her brakes. I slammed on my brakes, and braced for impact, and everything went in slow motion. It seemed it took longer than expected for him to hit me, but I guess he had braked and was skidding. He hit the back right corner of my Explorer at an estimated speed of 50mph. The angle he hit my suv caused Emily and I to turn a 180, and hit the curb violently. We struck the curb with such force that we began flipping. Luckily a light pole broke our turn or we would have hit a gas station. I remember being upside down, watching feet run our direction, and hearing people screaming. It took me a minute to figure out what was going on, to wipe the glass out of my face, and to scream for Emily who was in the back. Luckily everyone was ok, pretty shaken up but over all alright. I had a dislocated jaw, road rash across my hands and fingers, large hematoma on my right leg, bruised kidney, etc etc, but the big thing was my back. The impact of the crash curved my spine, and there is no longer any cushion in my last 3 vertebrae. I have always been in pain, but now it's to the point of agony. I have problems lifting Jude up, getting out of bed, and when I stand up from a chair it takes a moment for my body to move right. It's awful, but I now 100% sympathize with people with chronic back pain. If any of my neighbors would like to know why I don't let Em ride with anyone under the age of 21, it was a young boy that hit us.
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I know that was a negative complaining moment so let me leave you with something positive regarding the accident that will give you chills. When we were turning, and flipping I had mentioned it seemed like we were moving in slow motion. Everything was silent although I could feel the impact of glass, and steel. Suddenly I felt calm, and I heard a woman's voice say "Jennifer, you need to stay away from the glass", and I felt someones arms around me. Once at the hospital I recalled the incident, but I figured it was adrenaline, or something. Soon they brought Emily to me, and in her tiny little voice she said "Mommy who was the nice lady in the car with us". No joke! My mom? To this day Emily remembers three things, 1. the blood on her mom 2. The nice fireman with the glove balloon trying to cheer her up 3. The nice lady in the car with us that helped us.

So anyway, here are some pictures from the weekend. We were very excited to see Jude respond to our cat this weekend. He seemed like he could see Scooter, and would smile when he came near Jude. Although, I am beginning to think he just feels the cat because he is showing more indication to me he is very visually impaired from the stroke. I will keep my hopes up though :)

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My living room which is now Emily's Smile Box headquarters, I think I am going to have to give up the dining table. Also a donation of about a 1000 beanie babies this weekend. I was febrezing them so they were all laid out.

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6 comments:

Laura Marchant said...

Wow, that car accident sounds so frightening! I am so glad both of you were ok. So scary. Also looks like you have a lot of boxes to put together...awesome!

Sarah said...

I know I've been a broken record, but go see Pam about your back.

Caroline said...

Wow jenn, I literally have goosebumps all over after Reading about your mum being in the car. I'm
a great believer that our loved ones are always with us. Our sam often gives us signs .
I'm gonna ask at physio about getting a wingbo. (things r quite different over here- no insurances to deal with fortunately)
xxx

Purple Quilter Queen said...

So good you are getting the equipment that Jude needs. Did you get the crayons I sent via Susie via Jennifer? I hope so. Please let me know. I know it isn't much, but should help out a little. Best wishes. I've got my fingers crossed for you on the radio gig!

jocalyn said...

Jude looks so stinkin big.

Kamden is still talking about his Smile Box. He loved his huge green frog and the stickers are already on his take home folder for school. He's told everyone about it. Thanks again for thinking of him! The box was very impressive!

After our week in the hospital and talking to a number of Dr.'s I realized you can suction Jude's saliva while he's eating and just when he's sitting there. You can either get a hospital grade one, or just take a blue bulb and suction his mouth. Every time I thought Kendall sounded like it was in her chest it wasn't. We had chest x-rays and respitory therapists listening to her around the clock and every time it was in the upper airways. Give it a try. I was very surprised! Those seizure meds combined with teething of course are going to result in extra saliva. Its not uncommon...and doesn't warrant a feeding tube!!!

Renee' said...

Bless your heart I can honestly say that I feel you pain daily. You see I have degenerative disc disease and have for the last 7 years after having my daughter. I have had millions of MRIs and shots. Finally one day my cousin got an appointment with a pain management dr. Let me tell you I got a referal and he honestly saved my life. He put injections in my hips and up my spine and I also have severe muscle spasms so I take medicine daily for that. If you could get a pain management dr who is great I bet you will love and not believe that someone actually believes your pain is very severe and affects your daily life but he knows how to treat it too better than a family dr or a spine specialist. God blessed me with my dr. and I will pray for you and your back. I understand about getting up from sitting down or laying down. I have to some nights just prop myself up on pillows on the couch half sitting and have laying and i feel much better the next morning. I don't know if you experience this but I have trouble when I stand for long periods or walk through the grocery store. I also know how it affects daily life and the things you need to and have to get done and the pain management dr will get you to the point of being able to do things with having to take deep breaths and not cry at times. Hope you feel better soon.