A new life - God gave me a second opportunity at life

So I haven't posted a blog is a long time - April was my last post. I got a puppy in March and life was going pretty well since then. Summer camp in July was awesome and then my brother and sister in law had their first baby, Tripp, in August. But my world turned upside down and inside out in Sept.  I've been encouraged to start writing my blog again to help in the recovery. So here it goes:

On the  night of Sept. 13, I went to the ER at Kennestone hospital with my mom because I was having a Crohn's episode. I was diagnosed with Crohn's August 2010 and had it pretty under control, but it flaired up again this Sept. I had a colonoscopy and was at the hospital until Sept. 17. That night I had a horrible headache and by the next morning it was really bad. At first my parents just thought it was a migraine headache, but by Sunday night they new something was wrong because I couldn't remember anything including who I was or who they where. So they rushed me back to the hospital (even though I didn't want to go). After a horrible experience in the ER (we spent 3 hours in the waiting room), I finally got seen by a doctor who discovered that I had a stroke. They moved me up to the ICU where I stayed for a couple of days. I then got moved up to the 7th floor and on Saturday night Sept. 24 my mom started calling all the nurses cause I was in a lot of pain, I kept throwing up. I don't remember a lot of the things that happened next but my parents have tried to tell me some things.

Apparently on Sunday Sept. 25 two doctors took me into emergency surgery to remove part of my skull because my brain was swelling. (now I have part of my scull in my stomach and hope to have it put back in my head in the next few weeks). I was then intubated for 2 days and my mom says they had me on the same medicine that Michael Jackson was addicted too. I was finally pulled off the ventilator after about 2 days and stayed in the ICU for over 2 weeks. I had some really amazing nurses that I loved and they were so helpful. For a couple of days I couldn't talk so I would just respond to questions with my fingers. But I eventually started to whisper. My parents spent the whole time with me - they alternated spending the night. And my little brother Blake celebrated his birthday with me in ICU. That was all he wanted for his bday. My older brother Franklin would also come visit me a lot, but he wasn't allowed to bring Tripp, which made me sad.

I was finally moved to a step down room on Monday Oct. 10 and they finally took out my NG tube out of my nose on Wed. 12 (that thing was really annoying).  Once I got to the step down room I got to wear real clothes instead of silly hospital gowns. That was really nice. And I started eating more food (except hospital food is not very good so my parents would bring me food). They also tried to make me drink a lot of ensure and boost but I refused to drink that saying it was old people food.

On Friday Oct. 14 I got to go home from the hospital. One of my doctors (I now have 4) came and removed all the staples from my head and stomach (I didn't like that at all and I have to have more staples put in my head and stomach when they put my skull back in). And then I had a new nurse take the picc line out of my arm (a picc line is a large IV that goes all the way to your heart - I didn't know it was that big until she pulled it out). After the new nurse pulled the picc line I had to lay flat while she applied pressure for 30 minutes. I then got to leave the hospital about 20 minutes later. My mom and I left the hospital and went to my house (my parents are staying with me because I can't be left alone at all and they're getting the floors redone at their house after it was damaged during a storm this summer). I was sitting on the couch while my mom was unloading the car and about 20 minutes after we'd been home, I look down at where my picc line was and noticed it was bleeding. I called my mom and started crying. She grabbed some towels and started putting pressure on my arm and gave me my phone to call 911.  My dad got to my house about 5 minutes later and walked in and saw mom putting pressure on my arm and talking to Marietta 911. They then arrived about 2 minutes after that (and they were very cute!) They came in and helped my mom get my arm to stop bleeding and kept asking me if I wanted to go back to the hospital. I said no - i'd been there long enough. My arm hasn't started bleeding any more, but for a couple days I checked it like every hour cause I was afraid it would happen again.

So I've now been home from the hospital over 1 week. It's so good to be home, but I know I have a long recovery to go. I am most alert and remember things in the morning. And by 8:30 at night I'm completely worn out and in a lot of pain. I have a headache nonstop and have to take a lot of pain pills. And I have to go to one of my 4 doctors a lot - and most of the time I go I have blood drawn (although now they just prick my finger). I feel like a human pin cushion.

So I know that was a lot to write, and I probably forgot some things (like the few days I had to give myselfs shots in the stomach). But this has been an overwhelming experience. The doctors have tried to figure out why a pretty healthy 26 year old girl had a stroke but they've yet to figure it out and told me I might never know. I've had a lot of conversations with God (sometime I'm angry, sometimes I'm just crying, most of the time I'm just confused). None of this makes sense, but I know that God has given me a second chance at life. I don't know what's ahead for me, but many people have told me I'll have a great testimony to share and encourage people.

So right now I'm trying to take one day at a time. I do know that I am surrounded by amazing friends and family who are encouraging and supporting me through all of this. My best friend Elise Nichols has been my constant supporter. She's staying with me today. We've been best friends for a long time but I can't even begin to say thank you enough to her for everything she's done. And people have been supporting my parents and brothers through this terrible ordeal. I thank God for putting all of this encouraging people in our lives that have done all sorts of things from bringing us food, checking out mail or putting new flowers in front of my house.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers. I still have a lot of recovery, but I know I'll be back to my normal self at some point and this will all just be a terrible dream!