Diagnosis: Right Vertibral Artery Dissection/Cerebellar Stroke

So many of you are wondering how I am doing, so I wanted to share an update.  I made it to Target this morning for a return.  Oh how I missed Target!!  It had been over a week!!

I went for lab work on Friday morning,  Jan. 13th.  My blood level (INR) was 1.1 and they would like it to be between a 2 and 3.  The Warfarin (the generic of Coumadin) was increased to 7.5 mg instead of 5 mg.  So now I am taking an asprin a day and 7.5 mg of Warfarin.  Derek was off work all weekend, so I wasn't on my own with the kids which was nice.  Always good to have a little back up around here.

I had my one week follow up this morning with Dr. Stotz at Avera Dawley Farms.  He is my primary care doctor.  I got the go-ahead to resume my normal activities as I feel up to it! I wasn't sure what to expect for recovery, but never thought i'd feel as good as I do so quick!  I'm not having any issues with balance or dizziness.   I have an ear ache and achy neck off & on, a darn cold & snotty nose, but otherwise am pain free!  I don't feel totally myself yet, but I am getting there.  I haven't taken a nap now the last few days, so I am not feeling near as tired as I did last week, which is great! I literally slept 85% of the time I was in the hospital, so my body definetely needed that extra rest.

My INR today was 1.7 so still not where they would like it, but they want me to continue on the same dose until Friday morning's recheck.  It may just need a little more time in my system.  I will be a regular patient in the lab as they will probably want to check my INR weekly or biweekly.  No worries though!  The clinic is right across the highway, next to TARGET!  :)

The bad news:  I also gained 2 pounds this week.  The delicious meals that are being brought to us, combined with all my sitting around are showing!  On a serious note though, the meals have been AMAZING!  I feel a little lazy just sitting around waiting for our supper meal to show up, but know that it's all coming with so much LOVE.  We appreciate it all! It's been a huge help! The last thing on our to-do list this last week has been to grocery shop, so it's been so nice just worrying about the basics in the fridge, and having the meals planned and brought in.  The kids have started to ask each day 'Who's bringing food today?'  so they are enjoying it too and may get quite cranky when i'm the cook again!

We've gotten a lot of questions about how and why this happened.  We will never be able to prove 100% that this incident happened only because of my chiropractic adjustment 2 days prior to my stroke.  There is a chance my neck ache this last month was the start of this clot already forming, but we feel quite strongly that the adjustment was the cause.  Every other test that was done on me (and there were MANY!) turned out just fine, so there is nothing else going on in my body that would lead doctors to believe there was another reason for it.  We asked Dr. Stotz today if we should worry about it happening again and he truly believes this was just a freak thing, and I feel the same.  I have such a peace about it all.  I'm not scared or worried and I don't have fear of the 'what if's'.  I feel like God was in total control and I am confident I will be back to my normal sassy self real soon!

Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you for everything!  Prayers, flowers, meals, cards, texts, phone calls, etc.  I have been blessed with the best family, friends & Church/Sioux Falls Christian family!  Enjoy some pictures of the last week!

So thankful for good friends!  The Snyder's had Boston & Brigs over night Sunday night, and got them to school for us on Monday morning.  They had a great time!  The hilite of the night was when Boston got a good night kiss from Dana!  The boys had switched beds, so when Dana went down to tell Cole goodnight, she actually got Boston!  So funny! We still laugh!

Tuesday, Jan. 9

The one and only picture I took in the hospital was when they had finally unhooked me from the drugs!  

 They were super excited for their monster cookies from the Addinks!

Jan. 12

My sister spent the day with me Wed.  I told her she was 'babysitting' me!  It was so nice having someone at the house with me.  I was able to get a good shower and an even better nap!  She even cleaned my house.  Ah-mazing!  Thursday, Blayke and I were on our own.  She took two good naps, so I rested in the afternoon too.  Bronx spent the day with Blaire & Andi! 

He was so excited to do that!

Friday, Jan. 14

Derek was off work Friday, Saturday & Sunday!  He was in charge of getting Brigs & Bronx to the dentist to have their cavities filled.  They did awesome.  No numbing & no tears!!

 She was loving the fresh mango in her food masher!

Saturday Snapchat Fun!

Jamie's Medical Update

Thank you to everyone who has called, texted, visited or prayed! I feel the love and support. My friends and family are amazing. God is even more amazing though!

For those who haven't heard, while I was at church on Sunday morning, I experienced some severe dizziness & felt like I was going to pass out. Thankfully I was able to hand Blayke off to a friend before going down on the ground. I don't really remember all of the details, or how long I was down on the ground.  I do remember throwing up a lot, and having no control of my body. I felt like I had a full body epidural. The most amazing part to this craziness, is that I was surrounded by so many people in the medicinal field, so did feel like I was in good hands. Derek rushed me to the ER, and once I got to the ER I was rushed to a room & immediately had a room full of people starting to work on me. 

i honestly thought it was a crazy case of vertigo or a severe migraine mixed with some vertigo, but when the MRI results showed a stroke, we couldn't believe it. I had gotten lots of fluids & mess so when these results came back, I was feeling much better and able to listen & understand what was going on. 

I had NO symptoms prior to this happening. I have had an annoying right sided neck ache for several weeks. It would get worse as the day would go on, and some evenings I was turning my neck like I was 80. It just got annoying to me, and was causing some dull headaches, so I decided to see a chiropractor for the first time. I had that appointment on Friday morning. The doctors suspect that during that neck adjustment, a blood vessel was punctured, which caused a blood clot that traveled to my brain. The part of the brain that has been effected is the area that effects speech, balance, dizziness, etc. I'm so so thankful to report that I have NO side effects from this event. I passed all of my therapy tests with flying colors. 

I have been on Heparin since Sunday. It's a blood thinner. I've gotten poked about 20-30 times as they monitor the levels of the blood thinner in my body. I guess this is a touchy thing, so they want to have my levels just right. Last evening I also started a Coumadin pill, (a blood thinner) which I will continue taking at home for the next 3-6 months. Hopefully at my follow up in 3-6 months, my brain injury will be healed up & I can go off the blood thinner and continue living a normal, healthy life. 

I'm hoping to be discharged from Avera today. I miss my family, my kids & my own bed. I am feeling pretty good, just very very tired which they say is very normal with brain trauma. I had a headache yesterday, but slept pretty well last night & am feeling much better this morning! 

I know many of you have been wondering, some of you are clueless, but figured this little

Blog update was a good way to give everyone an update. We've had many offers to help with the kids, which is a huge help right now. Derek has taken over the family schedule & made arrangements for the kids, rides to practices, etc. I'm looking forward to getting home & resting up. The doctors are very hopeful that in a week or so I will be back to my normal! 

Please continue to pray! Pray all of my other tests come back normal, and there isn't any other health issues that would have caused this. So far the tests are all coming back great! 

Pray I am able to get home today!

Praise God for watching over me! This could have been so much worse. I am so very lucky. 

Thanks friends!

Happy New Year!! 2017!!

Pretty girl!!

Jan. 2

The boys are really enjoying Bronx's new game Sneaky Snacky Squirrel!  

 Bronx wins!

 Showing off her new boots from our sweet neighbor LeAnn!

Tuesday. Jan. 3  

The boys are back to school this morning, which also means Mom is back to having daycare kids!  Break went too fast, but getting back into our routine will be good!  Brigham is now going to Kindergarten EVERY day!  He isn't too thrilled, but I hope after he gets into the swing of it, all will go well!

 Blayke always likes to drink a little of her bottle before she goes to sleep and sometimes when her bottle is gone she just wants to keep sucking, so we have been popping a paci in once in awhile.  Little turkey!  

Jan. 5

Brigs brought home an 'I Like' book.  This was the last page of his book.  :)

 I spent an hour or so baby food squash yesterday!  She hates it!  LOL.

Jan. 6

Daddy is a little ahead of himself here.. she doesn't even roll or crawl!  

Jan. 7

Miss Blayke sure does love playing with the baby wipes!