2010's resolutions

So with 2010 coming to a close and 2011 about to start its time for some new resolutions but lets see how I did this year.

1move by valentines day. technically I did move on Feb 1 but had to move back in Moved back but was out again by July. I'm counting this a success.

2. go on more dates. I think we could have been better about this but we still had a few.

3. I had three goals having to do with being a better mom more patient, less TV time more activities. These didn't go so well but to be honest I'm just glad I made it through this year. I also got Bella into school which gives her more socialization and activities.

4. do a 5k. technically I was there but I was pushed in a wheelchai the whole way but again not my choice or fault.

5. drink less soda. This one I failed at. Its my fault

So as a whole I didn't do so well but I only had a month before the stroke so I didn't have a real year to get things accomplished.
So I'm going to make new resolutions for this year and I hope I get the full year to do them I hope to make a post about them tomorrow

Christmas is coming

so one week till Christmas and I 'm really excited. I need some good moments. I'm doing pretty well in my recovery and I've improved a lot. I'm still suffering emotionally a lot. My stress levels and depression are still effecting me. I need some joy and to have something to be excited about and I'm excited about Christmas. Bella is going to be so much fun this year. She is really starting to understand all the traditions and getting excited about Santa coming.

I know we are going to be overloaded with presents over the next two weeks and while I'm not excited about having more stuff in our house she is going to love it. I want her to love all the other things about Christmas and not just the presents. The baking and eating. The spending time with others. She does like those things and wewe try to balance that with liking presents. There is still a lot to do to get ready for all the christmas gatherings we have. I just am not very fast anymore I'm recovering pretty well physically but I still move slower and not as controlled. I need to do more recovery emotionally. I'm still pretty depressed and have a lot of anxiety. I'm trying to get through this but it's difficult. I'm just trying to enjoy things more and look at the good things.

This is whyI'm excited about Christmas.

coming back!

So it’s almost time. We are closing in on the end of 2010. And boy do I want to say goodbye. I need to start new and see if 2011 can bring me the joy and happiness that was so lacking this year. There have been good moments, sweet moments that got me through but it was hard and I’m ready to move on. First there are a couple more moments to make? Some thanksgiving turkey and family gathered round. Then so many Christmas events to enjoy. Some special time with my girl and sharing a little love with my Kilee and Austen. I can start to appreciate what this year has taught me and given me and the only thing I can hope is that I take these lessons learned and bring them with me into this New Year. A new year where I have my health. That I have truly learned from my past. I want to grow and learn even more this year
Because what I’ve learned most is that if I have this I’m going to end up all right.

I'm finally starting to get back into taking pictures and enjoying things again. Hopefully that means I will post more and have more of Isabella and my life to share soon. It all kind of disappeared for awhile after the stroke but I'm slowly getting there.

what I've discovered.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted but I’m trying to get some perspective on why the stroke happened, what it will change in me and how to go forward from here. I’ve been stuck for a long time now going through the motions but not really living for a long time. I have to believe this all happened for a reason and someday I will look back and know what I learned and what I’ve gained during these years of recovery. So far this is what I’ve got. The stroke saved my marriage. This would have been the year I got a divorce. We had strayed so far off course that we couldn’t get back. I was running running every day but getting no closer to Blake. We knew things were bad but couldn’t seem to do anything about it. We needed our lives to explode so we could see if we could put things back together and somehow we are starting to. I hope that the future has us stronger and more connected than ever. But it was this year that started it.
I’ve also discovered a backbone in myself that’s never been there before. I have discovered how to stand up for myself which I’ve never done before. I’ve realized that there is some fight in me and I will take out whoever is in my way of getting better. I’m still sensitive but I’m beginning to discover that I have to be just as worried about my feelings as I am about everyone else’s.
I hope there’s more and that things get better from this point forward.

goals and plea for help

So it has occurred to me that I need to set what my goals are in this transformation of my life. There is so much that needs changing, improving and to be worked on. So let’s break this down.

1. I need to commit to getting my arm and leg stronger. The stronger they get the more connections being made to my brain, so the more I will be able to use them In order to do this I need to start really pushing myself in therapy and to do my at home exercises. I was never big on exercise before so its no surprise that I don’t want to do it now.
2. I need to get healthy emotionally. The depression is making it hard to work my hardest. I need to find the right medication and the right therapist. I’m working on finding what works for me. I also need to find a way to make myself happier. If you are reading this give me suggestions. I need fresh ideas. Leave a comment
3. I need to organize this house its hard and I am trying but I am not doing great. I have found some organizing websites so hopefully I will get some ideas to help me.
So here is my attempt to take a first step. Towards a better life.
So any ideas would be appreciated.

Love

Let’s begin with love. The first and most obvious of what I love is Isabella. I am consumed by my love with her. She is funny and smart and a challenge. She doesn’t seem like me at all, even though others can see traits we have in commonI don’t see them. She is a tornado. She blows in and will take down anything in her path. Her energy the never ending energy that overwhelms me because my natural speed is much lower. She makes me happy and I'm glad to be her mom.
I also love that we moved. Our move there is so much more to be done but we are getting there. It happened and I survived. There were moments of nervousness where I was afraid that history would find a way to repeat itself. Not so much that another stroke would happen, although that thought was there, but more so that something would happen to pull the rug out from underneath me again. That I would get so close and everything would fall apart again. I knew that I had more control this time. That we had more help and support than last time. The stress could be kept under control this time which would go a long way to keeping me ok. So it happened. All of the stuff has been moved and we are starting to unpack and organize. It’s a big project and I’m getting a lot of help because there is no way I could do it alone. I will have pictures of it at some point bit I’m not ready to share. I need to do more to make it feel like mine.
Photography something else love but haven’t been sharing much of lately. My slowness makes me insecure when taking pictures so there are less to share. As I can move better and quicker I hope to do more. I so deeply believe in photographing your life, especially the lives of children. It changes so fast and I want to capture it. Trap these moments in her life when she’s little and mine and keep them a while longer. The time will come soon enough where my presence is no longer wanted so I want these moments now to last.
Cousins. So many good cousin moments coming up for Bella. She is going to Disneyland for three days with Maryssa. She doesn’t know this. To spare me the never ending question if it’s today that she gets to go. Then Kilee gets her cast off at the end of the month. These two girls want to play and run together and finally they will have the chance. My baby’s joy is my joy and I can’t wait for her to have these moments.

shifting gears

Now I know this blog gets a little dark and down in mood sometimes. Before all this happened this year I had the tendency to view my glass as half empty all the time. I saw things with the opposite of rose colored glasses. I was probably dealing with some mild depression but didn’t realize it or want to accept it. Now it’s uncontrollable. The emotions are just there. Emotions bubbling right below the surface ready to escape at any moment. All different types of emotions. Without warning here comes anger, hot raging explosive anger. Then here come the tears. Gut wrenching sobs that make my head hurt from crying so hard, although a good cry sometimes helps relieve the pressure. I can’t stop though the tears aren’t in my power to control. The depression is there now. It isn’t even possible to hide or deny now But really I don’t care. I have reasons to be depressed. Though the level to which I am sometimes worries me. Hopefully my brain will continue to heal and my emotions will get easier to control. Until then I will keep trying to find a therapist who works and the right dosage of anti-depressants. I’m also trying to find good emotions. I f I’m going to be over powered by an emotion then lets pick some new ones. How about happiness, love, excitement, I can handle intense bouts of love. So now my new focus is to make posts about what I’m happy about instead of what’s wrong. At this point picking out what’s bad is too easy I can find plenty to complain about, as can most people I’ve realized. Instead I will break up the negative with some positive. Here we go

my dream

I have this dream that someday I will just be Karissa again and not the girl who at 25 had a stroke. It is what I am defined by and what I am known for now. There are moments where I almost forget that it happened. Where instinct takes over and I almost take a step before the realization that walking isn’t a part of who I am now hits me like a bus. It hurts every time. That glorious second where I almost feel whole gets replaced by the intense pain at the reminder that I’m not. I know that I will probably get better at some point or at least mostly better. But I ask of you, all of you who say to me you will be 100% or at least 90-95% back to normal right as if that should make me feel better. Right now what 5-10% of you would you be ok to lose? Probably can’t answer that because who wants to feel less than whole. Well I don’t either I want everything back. I want to be 100 % back to who I was physically and While we’re at it I want this year back too. I want a chance to be care free again and enjoy being 25. I want to go back to the time where I don’t wonder if I will wake up when I go to sleep at night. Also can I have the people back that I’ve lost since the stroke? The people who say it’s not the stroke that made us turn our backs on you but I still believe the stroke played a part. Can I have them back? For everything I’ve gained and learned from the stroke can I have that back in return. I have gained a lot. Like moving out and new friends. An appreciation of the fact that I’m still alive. So many moments which were made possible by the stroke. For now though I wait. Wait for the moment to come where I get to forget for an hour, a day a week a month maybe even a year that I had a stroke. That my life and body are so back to normal that it doesn’t even cross my mind. People do that they heal and move on and imagining that day is what keeps me normal. So do me a favor and enjoy it. Live life to its fullest. Stop complaining about work, and just be grateful for your life. I am trying to be and my struggles are greater than a job. Wait for me I ask you to wait for me while I work on breaking free from the prison of this stroke. Give me a chance to heal and strengthen. Don’t put your expectations on me about how I should feel, heal and deal with things. In return I will do my best to come back to you. To move past this and start over. I’m not there yet but I will be in my own time.

blogs and moving

We are moving on Saturday I can’t think too hard about it or I start having seizure symptoms from the stress. I am excited but even that puts my body under stress. I just keep reminding myself that I just need to make it through the move and the first few weeks. Then I will feel more relaxed and confident about the move. There is just so much pressure on this move to be so many different things. A positive thing for my marriage. A chance to give Bella some more stability and hopefully improve her behavior. It also will hopefully be the start of Blake and I improving our finances even further and a fresh start. With all that expected from this move it’s no wonder I am feeling so overwhelmed by it.

So now the plan is to learn to relax. To plan and be organized so that there is less to be stressed about. Through my occupational rehab we are working on guided imagery to bring my heart rate down, help my breathing level out. Then to be able to focus on one problem or concern at a time and put the rest away.
I’m also a big fan of distraction. My new way to distract is by checking out blogs. There are so many beautiful, funny and inspiring blogs to read out there.

A few of my favorites:
1 http://www.kellehampton.com/ Enjoying the small things. An amazing blog that is a pleasure to read. It also is full of wonderful photography which I am inspired by. Check it out and enjoy. So many amazing ideas about things to do with Isabella and how to just be happier.aslso a big source of inspiration in my own blog. She is who I would choose to be when I grow up if I coulld choose.

2. http://celebrationsathome.blogspot.com/ Fun site with lots of party ideas. Also has some great pictures. Might even try a few with Isabella’s birthday coming up soon.
3. http://www.cakewrecks.com/ a hilarious blog about horrible professional cakes.
4. http://www.knock-offwood.com/ a blog about building furniture. Someday I hope to try to build something off of here.

There are so many more but these are a few that I visit frequently. My hope is also to keep working on my blog and pursuing photography. It isn’t easy for me to take pictures now with how week my hand is. The hope is someday to have people come to my blog and be inspired by what I have to say and what I do. The next few years are going to be quite a journey. Hopefully how I handle it and what I make from it will help someone. If you have a favorite blog please leave a link to it in the comments. I would love to hear of some new blogs I haven’t discovered yet.
I will not post for a few days with moving. But hopefully will have some pictures of the new place when I return.

A bit of thanks

There are people who need to be thanked. 5 months ago I would never have imagined the ways in which people could surprise me. If asked I probably would not have been able to name many people who I felt really cared about me. Now I could list so many more. There have been so many people who have shown me love. Who have reached out to me in my pain and been there.
To be specific. There is an amazing community of moms online who have offered support to me during this difficult time in my life. Sometimes just knowing that I can reach out and vent gets me through a bad moment. To know that there are virtual hugs and someone to read my words is enough. There is also a community of other people who have had strokes that I am starting to get into. Just knowing that my struggle is not unique that others have been here before and made it to the other side gives me strength.
Also a thank you to kaitlyn. We were friends in high school and through the years drifted apart. She and I have become friends again and the timing could not be better. Oh how I need a friend right now. I feel so alone in this. Even with support there are so many moments of sadness and loneliness. Having regular girl time is something I didn’t give myself in my life before the stroke but am so grateful for now. I’ve never let myself gather friends to have around me to lean on. It’s a challenge for me to trust and to be vulnerable in showing my disabilities. I have been able to do this with Kaitlyn and am learning to feel safe in having friends. To know that there are people to turn to when I need help and to cheer me up when I am sad.
As far as family goes there are many to be thankful and lots that I’m not thankful for.
Let’s start with Blake. We weren’t solid before this. We should have gotten help long ago but we didn’t. It’s easy to put the blame on Blake but I could have sought out help on my own but I always wait for Blake to be strong for me instead of being strong for myself. I haven’t been easy to deal with, or very nice since the stroke. I carry around a lot of anger and it when it breaks free it lands on whose closest which is normally him. He could have walked away. It would have been easier than dealing with me. But he’s stuck around and is with me in fighting for a new life. I don’t thank him enough but I should. There are others who have abandoned me along the way since my stroke but he hasn’t. I hope that we get to a place where we can be really happy and enjoy life but I am thankful that through this mountain of pain, sadness and fear I have him with me.
My parents I am also incredibly thankful for. They let us live with them all though it was a burden. I am not kidding when I say I am not easy to be around right now. I am angry and depressed. They have put up with this and more. Now they are helping me with moving out. With me not being able to work or drive moving out is nearly impossible but they are helping us find a way. Also my grandparents have been an amazing help to Blake and I. There is a certain amount of pride I have had to let go of these last five months. I have had to reach out and ask for help. I want to do it on my own and it’s a constant struggle to not be able to. But I have asked and all of these amazing people have stepped up and helped us how they can.
Also to all those who have said a kind word to me either on the computer or when I’ve seen you. To everyone who has said a prayer for me thanks. I truly believe I have been helped with all this love and positive energy.
Now to the person who deserves the biggest thanks. My wonderful Isabella. Someday when you are older I will tell you of how you saved me. There have been so many moments when everything in me wants to quit. When getting up to fight another day in the battle of getting well seems to be too much. It is always a choice I could choose to hide my head under the blankets and stay in bed but it’s you who pulls me up and gets me moving. You deserve to have me back and to have me whole. So I thank you my little bug for being you and being mine. I hope someday there is someone who does for you what you’ve done for me. Being a mother, your mother saved me. Your smile, your hugs, the way you worry about me and want me to get better. Sweetheart I couldn’t have made it this far without you. You gave me the strength IU didn’t know I had to fight. Stick with me baby and someday I will come all the way back to you. I will make up this year to you somehow.


So to those reading this. Leave me a comment. I need some of that support right now. Moving is pushing me to the brink of an anxiety attack.
Thanks

Our big news!

So our big news is... we are moving. An amazing opportunity came to us which will allow us to move out next week. We are moving into a mobile home for an amazing price due to family helping us out... This move gives me so many emotions to feel that I'm kind of a mess.

first I am excited. We want to be on our own. I am grateful that we have been able to live with my parents. I couldn't have gone home with just Blake and Bella. I needed help and was lucky to have it. But living with your parents with your husband and child is hard. We need our space and I am so glad to be able to move.

but there is some guilt because we are still going to be recieving help financially from family as well as support with taking care of things that I can't do, like cooking and some cleaning. Once I get disability which will hopefully be coming in the next couple months we wont need help. Also Blake is looking for a second job which will allow us to not need as much financial help. I just struggle with guilt over not being able to work.

I also have a good amount of fear. We were so close with moving into the apartment and then my world exploded. I'm not exactly afraid of another stroke but just of something coming along to take away this opportunity. I have a hard time trusting anything good right now. Hopefullyafter we get moved in and nothing bad happens I will begn to trust again.

I'm in therapy to help me with all of these emotions as well as all the others that I go through with dealing with the stroke. I have been trying to work through them but a lot of change and no stability in my world scares me. I hope to be able to use this blog to journal what I'm going through and to share our joy with this move.

so I had a seizure.

It was a lesson. I ran out of pills and couldn't get more before the weekend. I was out of anti-seizure medication so it was a big deal. Father's day my arm felt funny. Really heavy and tingly. I had a doctors appointment monday morning so I just kept telling myself all I had to do was make it till then and she would get me more pills. I went to go sit down and must have fallen. I remember screaming for Blake but he was outside and couldn't hear me. My parents and Sister did, as well as Isabella who was in the room with me. My mom came in and I was sitting on the floor, she thought it was just a fall but then I told her I didn't feel right. I went into a grand mal seizure. I bit the inside of my mouth and blood began to trickle out. It freaked my dad out . My parents called 911.. The ambulence took me to palomar hospital, where I was supposed to go later that day for rehab. At the hospital they did blood work and a cat scan. Everything looked fine just the lack of pills for a few days. The dr, explained that in the event that I run out of pills again to just go into the hospital and a dr will get me a prescription. All said and done it was scary but no real damage. Just really tired. Guess I'm really not ready to be off anti-seizure medication.

what I'm doing to recover

Right now the stage of recovery that I am in is out patient rehab at the same hospital where I stayed the month I was admitted. . At the hospital I was in in-patient from there when I went home I had in home rehab for three months. . I have Occupational therapy (OT) which focuses on gaining strength back in my left arm and learn to make it more functional. I also have physical Therapy (PT). The focus of this rehab is to get me walking and using my left leg again.
It is hard I have lost just about all muscle tone in my body. Since the left side of my body doesn’t move well I haven’t used it much. My strength is all but gone and my endurance is very low and I fatigue easily. I have both types of rehab three times a week for 45 minutes each. Back to back. I am usually pretty tired and sore afterwards. I have a at home routine for my lower and upper left side. Only working out one side of my body leaves me with a fear that I will be horribly uneven with a strong left side and a week right side. I am also going to be starting horse therapy sometime soon. It should help me get some strength in my core as well as improve my walking. Having never really spent much time around horses we shall see how this goes. It should be fun and anything that helps me recover that is also enjoyable I am willing to try. Plus Isabella will enjoy getting to see the horses and watching me ride. I'm trying to do morephysical things, swimming and walking around more to build up my endurance.
I hope to see great improvements over this summer. With the big hope being to be walking in a couple months. Oh how I miss being able to walk. You take it for granted being able to walk. To just go where you want to go when you want to. For those of you who can walk appreciate that and try not to take it for granted. I know I didn’t value being able to but why would I. Who would ever think to appreciate something that comes so naturally?

emotions and changes ahead

There are changes coming up ahead. Changes that I am excited for and at the same time afraid of. So I’m not going to go into any details about what is going on because I'm afraid to get my hopes up last time I got really excited for something everything crashed around me I can't risk that again so instead I'll just say that there is some big news that I will hopefully be able to share in time. There are many people who know what is going on so it’s not like it’s a big secret. It’s just the less I make a big deal over things and the less I build it up the less chance of crashing if something doesn’t work out right. Emotions are scary for me the part of my brain that was affected by the stroke Is the part that would help me control my emotions so now everything that I'm feeling lives just below the surface and without warning can take me over There is very little control left.
if something makes me sad I become overwhelmed with sadness the same with anger So for now I'm going to try to keep my emotions guarded for fear that the next time something goes wrong I will not be able to stay in control of my emotions So for now I’m working on Happiness. With the hope that by overwhelming myself with positive emotions I won’t have as much room for negative ones. Also by confronting what hurts me and trying to limit the amount of negativity and pain created by those around me There is a certain amount of “fake it till you make it going on around here” If I just keep believing that I’m happy and ok then maybe I will start actually being happy and ok. There can’t be too much happiness or too much love so if I have to be overwhelmed by emotions and feelings I choose those ones.

So I’m going to stop and focus on whar can go right and hope that everything falls into place


I will keep everyone updated as I feel comfortable sharing.

What I'm looking for

So it’s about time to come out of the fog. The stroke caused a fog to settle over me and I’ve been weighed down by it ever sense. The shock of what happened has caused a lot of emotions. Ranging from good (feeling grateful for a second chance at life. to bad (angry at losing So much time). To fear (that this will happen again. The thing about these emotions is that everyone thinks they understand how you feel or that they can imagine how it is. Well you can’t. What I have been through just isn’t something you can get unless you’ve lived it.

That’s true for everyone and I don’t get why we think we can understand what someone else is going through. I can be empathetic and try to imagine how I would feel but I will never know what it’s like to be you going through what you’re going through at that moment.

Back to what I was saying. It’s time to heal. I broke. Like to my core from the grief of what happened. Like sobbing when no one can hear you till there is nothing left to cry, I am picking up the pieces that shattered around me and am trying to put myself back together. There are a lot of pieces and its going to take time. Some pieces won’t go back together right because they broke off jagged. The pain from being unable to be with Isabella for a month and not being the kind of mother she deserves broke some pieces that are hard to put back. It’s not as simple as just start doing better now. I have a picture in my mind of what being the mother I want to be looks like and you know what she didn’t have a stroke. She doesn’t feel her heart break when she has to ask her child to help her get something because she’s physically unable to do so but a three year old can. She is able to walk and play on the slide. This perfect mom in my head makes the real mom me sad and to be honest resentful. The real me knows that someday I will be able to do that again problem is She is only three now she grows and changes so fast and I want to be that perfect mom and it hurts so deep to not be her. So healing is happening but it’s happening at my pace and it’s not just physical. Someday I will be able to look around and not see any more broken pieces because I will have slowly put myself back together. So just be patient with me. It’s painful and there are still pieces missing and it hurts. It sneaks up on you. There are moments when I almost forget something is wrong and when I remember it hurts that much more. So let me grieve and don’t expect me to heal at your pace. This is my story. I’m getting ready to tell it. I hope this blog will give me a chance to share the moments of joy when I start to fix another piece. I also hope to have a place to share my grieving and when another wave of sadness comes over to find support and kindness

Summer

So one thing I have learned through recovery is that I need to break up the overwhelming into more manageable pieces. So instead of thinking about what the next year or two years will be like I'm breaking it down to this summer. What to I want Summer 2010 to look like, what to I want to do and achieve.

My summer to-do's:
1: work on this blog, follow other blogs, learn how to build this one up
2: Photograph EVERYTHING learn by doing

3. get a mani pedi with my little one.

4. start driving. driving = freedom and boy do I need some freedom

5. build friendships

6. go to the beach ( even if can't walk my little one can and she wants to go )

7. get stronger and heal

8. Take a mini-vacation with blake and heal us.

9. take a moment to just be grateful for what I have

10. take a moment to thank people who need thanking.

11. Go for a picnic by the lake with Blake and Bella

12. Feed some ducks

13. Lie on a blanket with my girl and watch the clouds.

14. start enjoying what is instead of focusing on what isn't.

15. be happy

kilee

She is the perfect example of what I want this blog to become I have wrote about the day of the stroke and though there willl be many more things to say about the stroke and its affect on my life what I want to capture now is how I want the next few years to change me. Change me from the unhappy shell of a person I was into a happier, stronger more loving person I want to be and believe I can be

Kilee she is brave where I was scared,

She is happy where I am sad

She is better than I am and an example of what I wantto become.

Thank you Kilee for being the catalyst for change that I so desperately needed and was too afraid to do for myself.

The first week

The stroke happened on Monday February 2 and a lot of that day is clear. but I dont have another clear day till Tuesday February 9. I remember my parents staying there and watching TV with me that tuesday .after the seizure on the 2nd all I remember is wanting my feeding tube out and ripping it out. It was uncomfortable and I knew I was supposed to leave it alone but I didn’t care. I just kept pulling it out and they would put it back in and then have to take me down for an x-ray I guess. I just didn’t care I knew not to but I hated it. They even had to restrain me to try to stop me but I don’t remember that. I just figured they would eventually leave me alone. It didn’t feel good to pull it out but I wanted it gone. Even after getting up to intermediate care I still don’t think I understood what was going on yet. I know someone said stroke at some point but I didn’t really understand and I had very little knowledge of stroke before this. I knew it was serious because I was still there but not to what extent or what was going to happen. I also got my hair cut around this time and have a little memory of that but couldn’t have told you it was that week things are a little confusing around that time. My parents watched TV with me and then at some point I was moved to the rehab floor. I don’t know if it was that day or not Rehab is where I spent most of my hospital visit. I also guess I didn’t move floors that quickly but it bleeds together. I guess around this time I started moving a little bit but don’t remember much. Actually most of my information about this period of time I’ve got from reading facebook updates from my family most of which I didn’t even know had happened. It was a chaotic time and scary for me. I did pass my swallowing test around then so I could drink without choking. Then they removed the feeding tube and I could begin to eat.

The first day

They ran some tests to discover what was wrong. They found a blood clot on the right side of my brain. This was about the time Blake got there and they explained that I had suffered a stroke. Because there was no way of knowing when the stroke had actually happened they couldn’t give me a certain kind of medicine because you have to give it within a specific amount of time after the stroke and there was no way to know. So they told Blake the options were surgery to remove the clot but that was risky because it could cause bleeding or medicine to dissolve it. Blake chose the medicine. They ran a lot of tests to figure out why I had the stroke and the only answer that has ever been found is that I was on birth control. I have zero other risk factors.

Also I guess I was asking about Bella but don’t really remember that. I know I thought about her but I was so confused that I didn’t know where she was. My parents got there at the same time Blake did and then my sisters got there. I don’t remember them being there

All I can really remember is Blake being there but he kept disappearing. He would be there but then I would go under again and when I came to he was gone. Each time was scary also I was so thirsty and wanted a soda. I guess I kept saying this but I couldn’t drink anything because I couldn’t swallow. They couldn’t even give me ice chips because I could choke all I could do was suck on a sponge I just wanted to go home for just a few minutes and get something to drink. Then I was in a room with Blake and my parents went to take a walk since I seemed ok. I was talking and ok and then everything changed. I started having a seizure I was convulsing and turned blue. My parents came BACK FROM Their walk and I was no longer ok. After the seizure I changed I no longer would talk or interact with anyone and everyone was pretty scared. Before the seizure I would answer questions like who people were and the date? I swear ever five minutes someone would ask me the date. It was frustrating because I wasn’t sure if they were asking so much because I was wrong but I didn’t get why they couldn’t just look for themselves. I guess the first time I was asked by the paramedics at the apartment I got it wrong. I said it was 2008 but after that I usually knew. I have no memories around the seizure and for awhileafter that.

After a couple days when the physical therapists were working on my legs and my sister Trisha noticed that my ankle was swollen and blue. They took me for an x-ray and it was broken. I think I remember hearing it break but because I had no pain sensation no one noticed. I have vague memories of seeing my parents but no real memories. I guess lots of people were around my family and Blake’s but I have no memory of anyone. So if you were theret hanks. I went from the emergency room to Critical care and then to intermediate care which is where I begin to have memories.

The morning of the stroke

The morning of

On February 1 Blake and I moved into our new apartment. I felt fine that day but just tired and stressed from moving. My sister said I looked a little of but nothing major felt wrong. Went to bed that night and the next morning woke up feeling wiped out but didn’t think anything was wrong. I tried to stand up to get ready for work and fell down. I heard a snap but didn’t feel anything. I just thought I was really tired. Then Blake was trying to talk to me. He kept yelling at me to stop talking funny but I didn’t understand why couldn’t hear myself and didn’t realize that my face had drooped and I was slurring my words. Blake called my mom and his mom because he was freaked out and wasn’t sure what to do. I remember listening to him not understanding why he was making such a big deal. I was just tired and wanted to go back to sleep. Blake helped me get back in bed because I couldn’t do it on my own. Then he decided to call 911 because something really seemed wrong with me. I couldn’t believe how much he was overreacting because to me nothing seemed wrong. I guess there is a part of your brain that gets triggered that there is an emergency and makes you panic. That never happened I had no idea that something was wrong I felt no pain. The paramedics showed up and put me on the gurney. They asked Blake a bunch of questions about me and then told him where they were taking me and how to get there. Then they put me in the ambulance which is where I started to panic. I have a huge fear of needles and they wanted to do an IV. I couldn’t believe that Blake had just left me with the paramedics and I was so scared. I didn’t know where Blake was and why he left me. He was with Bella who was freaking out that the paramedics had taken me away poor baby

I remember being in the ambulance a little and then getting to the hospital. That’s the point where I started freaking out. I wasn’t sure where I was and still didn’t understand why I was there. I still thought the only thing wrong was that I was tired. In my confused state I started getting worried that since I didn’t know where I was Blake wouldn’t be able to find me. The only thing I really understood was that I wanted the IV out. Most of what happens the rest of the day I learned from others because I only have flashes of it. Also I thought a lot of things that I don’t remember saying but I guess I was talking but I only remember thinking it. The last real memory is going in to the hospital and then 8 days later. Most of that time had to be filled in by others.