Day 18 – Thursday, April 11, 2013
Dear people who are following our story, I’m sorry that it has taken me a few days to post again! We are so busy each day now that Jess is awake, alert, talking, processing, and working in his therapies! Whereas I was able to write quite a bit while he was sleeping during the crisis part of his recovery, now I am constantly hands on with him. I’ll take that over the former any day.
Our daily activities include starting with a shower and breakfast (he’s eating a lot of eggs right now for the protein), then into a cognitive curriculum that I’m creating for him. It includes writing, reasoning, deductive and executive functioning, games that require intuitive leaps, and comprehension activities. For example, I had Jess research the effects of infrasonic sound on the brain due to his interest in car audio and low frequency bass. (The results of that search were surprisingly favorable! I think I’ll set another search parameter on that topic.)
We then do some kind of physical activity. This requires some care, despite Jess’ former athletic condition. Not only is he in danger of a second impact because of his brain injury, but his brain is still re-regulating itself after the trauma of the accident and the surgery. It is as if his brain is surveying the landscape and making a new map of his body and all that it takes to be Jess. This means that his heart rate, respiration and other autonomic processes are still getting worked out, and we don’t want to introduce a new high (life threatening) spike like what happened on Day 6 (Tests, Trials, and Teachings). So we do something ridiculously low key, like take a walk half a block to the neighborhood pond, or stand up for 15 minutes to do dishes. He gets tired from these things, which is tough to watch after being the mile-a-minute guy. For the next couple of months we have to keep him in psychic bubble wrap until his skull heals. He is being a good sport despite his sorrow that he can’t be as active right now. We feel confident that he will be athletic again as soon as he is allowed to move as much as he wants.
We continue our activities for the rest of the day, things like conversations about his experience (he is recounting some remarkable memories of his inner journey while in the crisis), entertaining visitors, talking on the phone or writing emails and texts, and watching movies and processing the emotion that comes up. This is an important part of his recovery; he has been through a trauma, and his body is still processing the experiences of the crash, the surgery, the loss, the realization of his decision not to wear a helmet and the consequences of that, and the impact of this on the people he loves. He has lots of feelings, as do we all, and it is very important that he has the space and permission to feel them and talk about them.
We are happy to report to you that Jess is off all medication; the Tylenol-based pain reliever is no longer necessary because he has no pain, and he was weaned off of the seizure medication early this week. He takes Vitamin C and any other supplement he tests for (through my surrogate testing kinesiology methods). Mostly we are doing very gentle flower essences, essential oils, and energetic support through qualified and trusted practitioners. I have had to set some boundaries around him and our family due to some unscrupulous energy workers who have not learned to respect free will and are trying to “work” on him or us without my conscious permission. They will find an unpleasant surprise for them if they continue.
Jess’ recovery is a delicate process, and I am uniquely gifted and given his care plan. His inpatient rehab hospital discharged him specifically to me as his 24/7. That means I am responsible for his care and well being until he can manage it himself. I take this responsibility very seriously, and Mama Bear is indeed very present.
We are getting wonderful help in so many guises; offers of massage, pedicure, meals, rides for Aidan from school, contributions to Jess’ medical fund, and lots of positive directed prayers in the parameter that I requested of HEALED and WHOLE. He is responding to the love by getting better so quickly, and we are practicing receiving, which is a tremendous gift and lesson for us. We are, all four, so grateful for the genuine love and kindness that we are being offered. Thank you from my heart. More in a couple of days.
Jess’ medical fund- we are at 55%…fundraiser ends April 22!
From the beginning-back to Day 1-“A New Definition of Allowing”
