On December 12th, Sam was hit by a car while riding his bicycle and suffered a traumatic brain injury. This is his journey.

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

3/8/17 - Sam's Journey - Boring is good

Sorry it's been so long since I last wrote. The truth is, it's been pretty boring around here. While I definitely prefer tedium over the excitement(?) we had after the accident, it can be incredibly monotonous. We're on Spring Break this week, but when we're in our normal routine, it's can seem endless and tiring. I'm not so sure things would be easier without all the 'Sam stuff', but it certainly doesn't help. There are days I can't remember if I did gave him his meds, and I did, completely on automatic. Sometimes I walk into the kitchen, and the Nutri-bullet and I stare each other down thinking horrible things about each other. All things considered, though, I'll take this daily grind over the alternatives. 

Since the last entry, and at the risk of jinxing it, Sam has had no seizure activity. The Keppra is doing its job, and we're happy that seems to be settled for now, at least. Sam had a neurology visit last week, and the doctor seemed satisfied with how things leveled out for him now that he's back on the meds. He did order an EEG to see what's going on in that noggin, but he didn't seem to be in a huge panic to get it done. He also wants to give us a referral for a specialist in TBI on the physical side of things. One other thing of note was that Sam is now officially classified as epileptic. When Jim first told me that, I was pretty bummed, but as the doctor explained, it's kind of a good thing. It just puts him on the epilepsy spectrum, and there are even college scholarships for epileptics. I was curious and did a cursory search, and there is some interesting stuff out there for both that and TBI. There's one mini-silver lining to this whole thing, although I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have been hurting for scholarship money had the accident not happened. 

Sam also had an eye doctor appointment, because as I was eventually informed, he hasn't been seeing well for a while. We were filling out a survey for PATE checking on how his transition to 'regular' life was going. I got to the vision question, and Jim said, "Oh yeah. He can't see anything past six inches away from his nose." I don't think it was that bad in reality, but it would be good to know these things if you want to, say, SEE THINGS. As it turns out, his vision hadn't changed all that much, and his new glasses came in today. Because the new frames are basically identical to the old ones, no one will know they're new--except for the cleanliness factor.

Other than that, like I said earlier, it's been pretty boring. Sarah & I are going on a college visit tomorrow, and I get to see a good friend on the trip. (Yay!) I spent several hours on the phone today with insurance companies, so I am truly excited to get away for a couple of days. Hopefully when we get back, I'll have time to get my grading done, get together all of the tax documents, and shovel a path through the house before Jim's mom and brother come out for a visit. I have a feeling I'll be picking my battles on that one.

Prayer requests for this entry:
-please continue to keep JayFay and Liberty in your prayers as they move through their recoveries, especially for Liberty as they need her to wake up a little more to stay in rehab. Also, please pray for their families as well. They are in the middle of the most grueling part of this, and are doing everything they can to help their daughters recover.
-please remember Jim's aunt, Sylvia, as she has recently been placed under hospice care.
-the families and friends of three girls who were involved in a fatal car accident a few weeks ago. One of the girls survived, but has a very long road ahead of her. 

Thanks for waiting so long for a rather uneventful entry! May you all be well!

I realized I don't have a ton of recent photos, since it's been kind of slow, so I just snuck this one of Sam sitting on the couch reading his coin book. He still has a thing for blankets.