July 8, 2013

I am going to back up 6 days because I left the first 24 hours out. The night of July 2 Bryce woke up to me gasping for breath and moving around oddly, but he remembers the noises I made best. Then I became non-responsive with eyes open for a minute in a half or so, long enough for Bryce to call 911 for an ambulance to come. I started waking up before the paramedics arrived, but they got there shortly afterwards.

They looked me over for a short bit and left sending us on our way to the hospital. They were thinking it was probably a seizure. Bryce called my mom to come over and stay with Cap. It was about 3am. We took Tuolumne with us. After getting to the hospital, they ran a blood test. I was a little low on Potassium. They gave me a prescription for Potassium pills and they suggested seeing a neurologist in the future.

We went home and had a quite sleepy day. We enjoyed being with my mom and Bryce's parents came down for dinner. We went to bed early that night. This is a picture from that evening.

On the night of the 3rd, I had fed Tuolumne around midnight and everything was fine. We didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Bryce woke up around 1:30am to the same thing as the night before. I was gasping for breathes, but not a normal gasp, a last kind of dying breath. I was non-responsive, no pulse and Bryce called 911. He pulled me off the bed and started chest compressions.

The firemen arrived first. They were the ones who did the most. They pulled me into the living room and continued chest compressions. They hooked me up to the defibrillator and shocked me 3-4 times before my heart was in regular sinus rhythm. The paramedics arrived and quickly loaded me in the ambulance and took me to the hospital.

Cap stayed at home sleeping with our neighbors and landlord (we lived in a basement apartment) listening to the monitor in case he woke up. My mom came to the house and cleaned up the mess that was left from the firemen and paramedics so Cap wouldn't see it. Then she also headed to the hospital. By the time Cap woke up, Bryce's dad had gotten to our apartment to be with him.

The hospital immediately followed protocol for a cardiac arrest patient.  It was then when they began the hypothermic treatment which lowered my body temperature to about 85 degrees. My mom was playing with Cap in the waiting room.

Bryce was with his mom when the doctor came to talk to him. They told him there was no way of knowing how long I was without oxygen. If I were to wake up from this, it was very possible I would be in a vegetative state.  He was crushed but reminded by his mom that the first report is not the last report.

It is better to see the miracle of a squeezed hand, or a smile, or an "I love you" when you see where the doctors saw me going on Day 1. They didn't know if I would ever wake up let alone lead a normal life.

Now I continue to July 8, 2013. This was a big morning for everyone! I woke up more alert and started asking why I was in the hospital. This was a huge improvement as it showed I was becoming more and more alert. I also started asking everyone who came in the room for a strawberry malt!

They cut and removed all the electrodes from my head which was part of the EEG. Cedar, one of the many awesome nurses that helped take care of me, washed my hair for me in bed. I was still on seizure and heart medicine, so this kept me very groggy. It was almost like I was in a deep sleep that I couldn't quite wake up from, but I was showing signs of memory and comprehension which was great.

I finally got to see Cap this day too. Since I only remember a couple of things that month I was just told it was a little awkward. I called him Collin (my youngest brother's name) right away. I knew that wasn't right but just kept doing it. I looked a little different and we had never been apart for more than a 24 hour period at this point. 

I went from some ice chips to water to learning how to use a straw again that day:) Later on I was finally given a strawberry malt. I am sure Cap warmed up to me after that point!!! 

This was Cap's first time seeing me since July 2.

Bryce had to help me hold my head up because I was so tired and out of it still. 

I was given my strawberry malt later that day.

Cap enjoyed as much as I did!

I held my eye closed a lot in the months that followed.

It was a constant bother.