Day 104 - Jan Went Up The Hill

The scholarship interviews on campus were a test of Jan's stamina. She spent all day without a nap. It did get to her a bit and after lunch she had me put a heating pad on her neck. We finally arrived back home around 6:30PM and she was pretty tired.

We won't find out anything about the results until Tessa gets a letter next week. We have our fingers crossed! Even if she doesn't get the Presidential Scholarship, she has the Award of Excellence Scholarship and is in the Honors College. Between the scholarship and the KEES money, she should be pretty much set.

After all the running around yesterday, we only walked two miles but it was a day without a rest break that she is used to. She slept pretty well last night and now we only have to see the doctor on Wednesday to see what happens next! Hopefully, physical therapy will be prescribed.

Fingers crossed and hoping for the best!

Day 102 - Retribution!

Some times I think too much and other times not enough. Things bounce around in the back of my mind until they make sense. Or maybe they make me crazy. Either way, I wind up acting upon them.

On this occasion, I called Bilkmore and confronted them about the December 16th bill, the one where Jan wound up back at the ER because of them providing no halo instructions. If they had given her or me any useful information and expectations, she would not have wound up back at the ER in less than 24 hours! The short version is they wiped out the entire bill for that day! Minor victory for our team! Money isn't the issue. It is about what was not right.

Tomorrow is an all-day event on Campus for Tessa. Jan is a little anxious about spending the whole day without the comfort of a chair to recline in if she gets exhausted. It will certainly be a test of her endurance. I can take her home at any time and Tessa can handle it all by herself if need be but it is a family event and Jan wants to attend.

I'm going to make sure she gets a good night's rest and keep my fingers crossed.

Day 100 - How To Wash Your Hair In A Cervical Collar

Triple-digit days since the accident. Only seven days, as I type this, until she returns to the doctor. Jan is looking forward to it, but with some apprehension. Any change is stressful when you don't know what happens next. She has been walking three miles each day the last few days so that is building up. Physical therapy will be hard but it will get her back to normal.

The lady at Hello Halo blog was having trouble washing her hair. Since Jan washes her's in the shower every day, she and I came up with this arrangement where we remove the back of the collar and put a wide velcro strap across the back to hold her head in the collar. That way her hair isn't covered by the collar back that goes from above her ears to below her shoulders. In this picture, she has her hair pinned up to show the back of the collar as it wraps around and the black strap that gives her some support.

Today was the first time in more than 100 days that she took ibuprofen for pain. NSAID drugs (aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen) are not good for broken bones in the early stages of healing. They are anti-inflammatory and the healing process requires the inflammation response to cause the bones to properly grow back together. She is not in a lot of pain but it is that annoying ache and pinch that just won't go away yet.

I was speaking with someone about our accident. After showing him the pictures of the Miata, he remarked that a taller vehicle, such as Jan's Honda Pilot, probably would have rolled sooner and more than once. Even so, a Miata normally has no roof protection but our Miata had a hardtop and the roll bar. The odds are, the Miata survived the rollover better than the Honda Pilot would have. A Pilot, while full-bodied, does not have a roll bar reinforced top. Just sheet metal.

I used to operate a tow truck for my father. I recovered a few rolled cars in my time. If you google some rollover pictures, you will see that cars and trucks without roll bars are not any safer than a Miata with a roll bar.

In the end, accidents happen and nobody can predict how it will end. Some times, surviving is all you can hope for.

Day 98 - Is This The New Normal?

At 14 weeks after the accident, it almost feels like this is the new normal. This is a normal Jan does not want, nor do I. She feels like her progress is so slow and she just wants to be back like she was before the accident. I know she can do this but she needs more encouragement. She thinks her progress is slow but it took seconds to break her neck, 80 days to get atrophied muscles and it can't all be undone overnight.

With only nine days until her next appointment, I am trying to keep her motivated. Some of the time, I wish she'd do a blog on her own. She is still working on her on-line class and contemplating how she can get to work with minimal effort. She wants to return to work but just doesn't have the stamina for a full day.

Today, she walked about two miles, part of it at the grocery where we got more yogurt! Even if she isn't a fan, it is helpful with healing the bones.