January 27 Update

Hi Friends and Family,

I just wanted to upate you on the latest after meeting with my surgeon on Wednesday.  He seemed pleased with my progress in healing (as are we).  I am feeling more like myself each day and have been able to be up and about in more of a "regular routine," which is great!  The numbness in my right leg is slowly getting better!  The feeling in my calf has returned quite a bit, so it's mostly only my right foot that still has a pretty severe lack of sensation.  My surgeon was a bit baffled by that and doesn't have a medical explanation for why the feeling has returned.  To me this is very cool because it shows an answer to prayer.  To God be the glory for that returned feeling!  Yahoo!!!  We still don't have a definite date for surgery, but we are still anticipating mid to late February.  We will update on those dates as soon as they are set.  As always, we are so thankful for your prayers and support.  As evidenced in so many ways, we know they are being heard and answered.  We are enjoying this time to feel "normal" before my second surgery. 

Lots of love,
Cami and Seth 

January 13th

Hi Everyone!  We want to share more good news with you (Praise the Lord!) and thank you again for your prayers and support.  Monday and Tuesday I had a lot of neuropsychological testing (as well as some Occupational, Physical, and Speech therapy evaluations).  The good news is that after my results came back, it was determined that, for now, I don’t need any additional outpatient therapies.  I was given some exercises at home to complete to help me build back the muscle I lost in the coma.   After my second surgery I will return for another evaluation and will participate in therapy if it is determined that it’s needed at that time.  We meet with my surgeon on January 25th to see how things are going and set up the arteriogram (the test I mentioned in my previous post), and from there we will schedule surgery.  It is likely we won’t post a ton on the blog in the next few weeks unless something unexpected comes up.  I am feeling stronger everyday, and it’s hard to imagine that I was barely strong enough to left my head off the pillow 3 weeks ago.  Here are some things we would like to request prayer for:

• God’s perfect timing and will for what’s to come
• Quality sleep to promote healing.  (This is slowly getting better)
• Return of feeling in my right leg and continued general healing from the surgery
• Protection from feelings of depression (common with brain injuries)
• God’s glory to shine through the situation
• Stamina and energy for Seth as he is back to work and masters classes without really having any break over the holidays.  He was with me at the hospital everyday, all day until Tuesday the 3rd, and he went back to work the next day.
• God’s peace to reign in our hearts as we anticipate the next surgery instead of the “what ifs” that easily pop up in our minds.  
• Any other things you feel led to pray for!

Thank you again for following this and praying and showing us you care.  We will continue to update as we learn more, but hopefully there won’t me much to update on before the next surgery!  

Love, 

Seth and Cami

A message from Cami...

Combine all words from every language and dialect in the world with all forms of artistic expression through music, dance, art, poetry, etc. and there would still be no appropriate way to express how humbled and grateful I feel by the support of everyone checking this blog.  I quite literally sat and stared at the computer for several minutes and kept starting my first sentence over and over again until I realized that it is impossible to express the way your support has touched my heart. 

I only sat down to read the blog and all your posts a few days ago because, to be honest, I just wasn’t up to facing everything before then.  There were many scary hallucinations and frightening things in the hospital, so I think I just avoided reliving it as much as possible because I didn’t know what was real and what wasn’t real.  So it took me awhile to build up the courage to remember all that had happened.

I hate to say this, but I think in the last few years I’ve lost bits and pieces of my faith in general.  Whether it has been losing a little of my faith in God or just my faith in humanity I’ve felt sort of “blah” about life....maybe just a little “burnt out” might describe it.  I feel like everyone’s too busy to really care about others...I’m too busy to really help others the way I’d like to help them, etc.   Whether this is due to just becoming an adult and being more aware of the evil in the world or what, it’s just how I’ve felt lately.  As I finally got up the courage to read the blog, I sat and read it with tears streaming down my face.  I was awed and humbled by the demonstration of God’s love through His people.  I just simply can’t begin to wrap my mind around the number of people who are praying for my family and me, and I KNOW those prayers have made a difference in my recovery.  If the first thing I said to everyone I see from this day forward every time I saw you was “Thank you so much for your prayers,” I wouldn’t be thanking you enough.  You have not only carried me (and my family) through an incredibly difficult time, but you have let God use you to restore my faith.  I never lost it entirely, but it is much stronger due to your prayers and demonstration of love.  I just can’t being to put into words how it feels to know there are so many people loving and caring for you.  I don’t want all of you to go through this, but I wish you could feel that power.  Hopefully you can get a small sense of it through the posts on the blog.

I have to laugh as I type this because I was always telling Seth, “Keep the posts short...no one has time to sit and read my blog all day...people are busy,” and here I am writing a book...SORRY!  We met with our surgeon today, and I’ll tell more about that in a second.  Before I do that, however, I can’t go one more second without bragging on my amazing husband.  Seth has been there for me above and beyond anything I could have imagined.  He has stayed strong, rational, and calm when I have been weak, irrational, and panicky.  He has helped care for me in ways that I’m sure he didn’t envision having to do when we said, “I do.”  I can’t fathom a man more perfect in the role of my husband, and I am so thankful God placed him in my life.  At our wedding we played a slideshow to the song “A Page is Turned” by Bebo Norman that says “And all this time, preparing her the one to hold her up when she comes undone.”  I know God has given Seth special wisdom to know how to hold me up through this all, and he has done so without the slightest hesitation.  Let me give you one tiny example of the devotion and patience he’s shown.  After 2 weeks in the hospital, my hair had become indescribably tangled to the point that I figured I’d just have to cut it off.  A nurse had told me that’s probably what I’d have to do too.  Seth spent about 10 hours over the course of 3 days detangling my hair (many times literally separating one or two hairs at a time) so that I wouldn’t have to cut it.  I just don’t know many guys who would have the patience for that!  Thank you, Seth.  Everyday I love you more!

Anyway, on with the latest update...we met with Dr. Pritz today, and he indicated that he’d like to wait until I’m feeling stronger before doing the next surgery.  We have another appointment set for 3 weeks from now to see how I’m feeling.  If I’m feeling pretty strong by then, we will do another arteriogram (the initial test we did in August) to see the status of things.  That would be followed a week or two later by the 2nd surgery.  So it looks like my 2nd surgery could be mid to late February???  I was able to get my staples removed today too!  Also on Monday I will start my outpatient therapy.  

I want to thank you again for all your support and prayers in this tough time.  Although I’m improving all the time, I beg for you to keep praying fervently because I know it’s due to your prayers that my recovery has been so speedy thus far.  Seth and I are lucky to have each of you in our lives and words can’t express that enough.  Thank you for standing by us.  Please continue to pray for a quick recovery, perfect timing for the 2nd surgery, and God’s glory to be revealed through every detail.  I was very anxious this morning thinking about having to do this all again and came across this scripture which was a comfort.  Ephesians 3:20   Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. 

Thank you so much for everything!

Cami and Seth

January 3

Cami's home!

January 2

Thanks to everyone who signed up to bring meals over the next couple of weeks.  I got several emails about adding additional dates, but for now we are going to just stick with the ones I posted.  That may change in the next couple of weeks depending on how things play out and if so, I will be sure to post that on the blog.

Everything seems to still be on track for Cami to come home tomorrow.  We are both excited to finally be able to spend some time away from a hospital.  There are a lot of unknowns right now, but hopefully we will find out some more information as we continue to meet with various doctors/ therapists over the next couple of weeks.

I'll be sure to update things tomorrow after Cami is home.

Seth

January 1

Happy New Year!  We hope you have all had a fantastic start to the new year.  While our start may not have been the most ideal, we still have a lot to be thankful for and are excited for the upcoming year.  Cami is still on track to go home on Tuesday and will hopefully begin her outpatient therapy later on this week.  Again, while Cami is very excited to come home, it does make her a little nervous after being confined to the hospital for three weeks.  She continues to make great progress, but it will just take some time before she gets back to the way she was before the surgery.

I have had two specific requests from many of you over the last couple of days so I thought I would address both of them here since it seems like the easiest way to get news out to everyone.  The first was in regards to ways you all are able to help out.  The number one way to help is by still praying.  While Cami is going home, there are many things that are both difficult and different for her and going home will provide even more challenges.  I have also had many people ask if they can bring meals to help out.  This would make life a little more simple as we (Cami, Walt, Sherry, and me) adjust over the next few weeks.  I have included a link below where you are able to sign up for a specific day to bring food so we are not overwhelmed with food.  Please call before bringing food over to make sure someone is at home.  Thanks in advance for those that are able to sign up.  It will be one less thing we have to worry about on those days.    

http://mealbaby.com/viewregistry/11071975

The second request is in regards to visiting Cami.  While she is coming home Tuesday and is feeling much better, I feel it would be best to hold of on visiting at this time.  I know Cami would love to see many of you, but I believe it would best for her to wait until she is feeling a little more like her old self.  In the meantime, you can keep praying that Cami continues to improve and feel better so that she is able to have visitors.  I will be sure to know when I think she is feeling a little more like having some company.  Thanks for understanding.

Sorry for such a long post, thanks for reading to the end.

Seth