finally...

...i have a few minutes to update.



lets start off with ashley. she is doing MUCH better and actually survived a full week of school doing full-days. she was able to catch up in most of her classes but she still has some outstanding assignments in a few of them... she has been a real trooper. i just have to keep reminding her that her goal is to be SLOW AND STEADY and not race to see how quickly she can get caught up. we are still going to have to get a math tutor since that class is tough without a concussion but she is ok about that.



megan has been fighting a terrible "cold" thing...you know the one that starts off with all the symptoms of the swine flu...achey, fever, sore throat, ect...but just the time she thought she should go see the campus doc she started feeling much better. she had to miss a day of classes...but seems better now.



ashley and i went out to happy WET valley on saturday...it was the strangest feeling being inside that stadium (besides being soaked to the...well you don't need all the details). i am not usually a very sentimental kind of mom but when i looked over into that VERY WHITE-OUT student section and saw the intensity of those kids knowing that my daughter was one of them i almost cried...that has been megan's dream since she was about 4 years old and there she was...i was having one of those PROUD MOM moments...and then PSU lost to IOWA (again) and i really did cry!!!!



kelsey went to the beach this weekend...the story goes that they started out in a tent on the sandy beach of wildwood and ended up waking up in a lake. the rains came in and when i say in i mean IN THE TENT...from the bottom up. her 2 pound sleeping bag came home weighing about 40 pounds (and is now out to the curb for garbage pick-up). i hate sand!!! we could probably build our own sand volleyball course in the back yard with all the sand she brought home. but she keeps telling me how much fun she had...oh to be 16 again.

well, we are off to the bloomsburg fair this morning...the kids have off for a jewish holiday so we are hitting up the fair for a bit. i am SO EXCITED. i love the fair.

thanks for checking in

tammy

mini update...

...we received a new list of rules and recommendations from the hershey doc on friday.

ashley is now allowed to try school for a "full schedule day"

with the following guidelines straight from the PENN STATE CONCUSSION PROGRAM (they have their own group of brain injury specialists...how cool is that?!)

NO GYM CLASS
UNTIMED TESTS
TUTORING
REDUCED WORKLOAD
FREQUENT BREAKS
MODIFIED HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS
EXTENDED TIME ON HOMEWORK, PROJECTS

plus she is supposed to take an on-line memory test on a day when she is feeling really good...we haven't had that day come yet...but it will. then the doc's can use that to gage exactly where the issues are and how they can work with her to fix them.

i have a meeting with the school guidance counselors on monday morning to hash out all the details. keep praying that we have a speedy recovery and can get this junior year back on track.

keep an eye on these susquehanna field hockey gals...kelsey's team is on a roll.

penn state is not doing too shabby either...

take care and thanks for checking in

go lions
go indians

tammy

enough said...

thanks to the crazy person who sent this to me...it really fits this month.

ashley update after our friday appt.

thanks for checking in

go lions!

tammy

odd week...

...one lady in the office of the high school said that i am at the school so much i should be on the payroll. i told her that i at least should get a parking space!!!



we had a good week as far as ashley feeling a bit better but not much improvement in the area of her short term memory loss. she still gets the headaches but they are not nearly as severe because she has learned to stop whatever she is doing when they appear.

after meeting with the doctor and the school nurse and the guidance office and a teacher or two and the asst superintendent...we have finally settled on a compressed schedule that has most of her core classes into a "morning only" slot. i then pick her up at around noon-time and she comes home and goes right to bed.

she has had to drop a class and re-arrange a class and there is one class that she still has never been in...this is turning out to be quite a start to her junior year!! homework is given but there are nights when she just can't get it done (but that is ok for now). there are NO TESTS allowed to be taken but the teachers are to try to assess orally what she is retaining, if anything, from the day before. the maths seem to be giving her the most grief right now. (that would be algebra II and the chemistry maths).

we have talked about cyber-school and we have talked about summer school.

some have advised dropping the maths...some have advised just auditing the class...some have advised the "lets just wait and see" and that is where we are right now.

we have talked about every option that the school has available but because there is NO TIME-LINE as of now we are leery to pull her totally out of the school day yet. we go back to the neurologist next friday to have her evaluated and see where we are in this process...hopefully by then she will start to improve. she is stressing a bit about getting so far behind. it is hard when you start to physically feel better but you can't get your brain to catch up with the rest of the "stuff".

keep praying.

i am going to try a work a bit next week...it has been really hard. she doesn't want to EVER be alone.

keep praying.

go lions!!

tammy

ps...pray for megan out at PSU as the swine flu is beginning to surface!!! many of the study rooms in the dorms are starting to be used for isolation rooms and certain bathrooms are OFF limits and many masks are being worn by the sick students. is it a bad thing that i wish the game this week was an away game so she is not compressed in that stadium with 110,000 people?!?!

new update...

...after the doctors appt.

i asked ashley how she thought the appt went and she said that she thought it could have been better but it could have been worse...i guess that sums it up.

well...we confirmed that she does indeed have a concussion. not just any 'ole concussion but one that is showing 4 of the 4 major categories of symptoms that may be present. the only thing that she has going in her favor is that she does NOT have amnesia (which falls within one of the categories).

they classify or batch all the symptoms into different categories based on where or how the brain works. we actually found out that she has many more symptoms (within each of the categories) than we originally thought-oh goodie.

because of the severity of her headaches and numerous other symptoms they opted to wait to do any of the major neurological testing until our next visit in two weeks.

because of the severity of her headaches and numerous other symptoms we have STRICT orders to cut back on some things:

like school

like taking tests

like homework

like computer time

like texting time

like thinking

like anything physical

how many of you out there would just LOVE a note like that for work!?!?!

(unfortunately my 16 year old IS LESS THAN THRILLED)

she is just a few hours a day shy of total bed/couch rest!!! they are going to allow her (if tolerated) to attend school a few hours a day. but even with attending a shortened day she will NOT be able to take ANY tests plus she pretty much has no time-lines (or due dates) for homework or projects that may be assigned. she can take naps whenever needed. she can come home whenever needed. KINDA puts a damper on a parents work week doesn't it!!!

she is very sensitive to loud noises and bright lights. she is very sensitive to life in general. all very normal for this type of injury. her memory loss is very normal and he was very careful about his wording...but she SHOULD have a full recovery...just not tomorrow or the next day!!!

we talked about time-lines-nothing written in stone

we talked about long-term options if needed

we talked about medication options if needed

we talked about me taking a leave of absence from work if needed

PRAY for us.

kelsey gets tired of hearing me talk about the broken leg...but the analogy that the doctor gave ashley was fantastic. he asked her what happens when someone would fracture their leg. she said that they would put it into a cast to protect it. he said that the same thing that happened to that leg happened to her brain but that he CAN"T cast the brain. what if we wouldn't cast the broken leg? you would have to be on bed rest so the leg could heal. but what if you decided to get up and walk to the kitchen on that broken leg? or decided to go play soccer? you would have extreme PAIN and it could make the healing process take even longer if you continue to use the unprotected leg. JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN'T SEE THE BROKEN BRAIN DOESN'T MAKE IT ANY LESS BROKEN!!!!

thanks for checking in

go lions!!!

tammy

ash update...

well if you would have asked me last week how she was doing i would have said that we were seeing improvements everyday...THEN SHE WENT TO SCHOOL!!!

this has been a REALLY ROUGH WEEK (for so many reasons) but mostly because of ashley's sudden decline. Her headaches are worse. Her nausea is worse. Her appetite is worse. She is tired ALL the time. We kinda expected all those things to happen...what we DID NOT expect is her sudden memory loss issues that she has developed.

she was kinda resting the past few weeks and didn't really try to use her brain too much so i think she is having MAJOR SENSORY OVER-LOAD. we have been in touch with the school nurse and the guidance office and some concerned teachers and we have her first follow-up appt with the head trauma guy tomorrow (friday at 1:30pm). hopefully they will be able to shed some light on what we are to expect and a time-line (although i doubt that will happen).

since this was not her first concussion it gets classified as a complex concussion...i am guessing that we will be doing all sorts of testing over the next few weeks. PRAY for her. this is her junior year and she had such high hopes of getting off to a GOOD start and doing well this year. (last year was kinda rocky-go figure).

the memory loss is pretty freaky stuff...kinda scared her. the guidance has already informed me of all the different types of programs they have available if we need assistance. everything from homebound studies to cyber-school to a modified schedule to a personal tutor. they have already suggested a "lighter" schedule to reduce the stress (say good-bye to french IV). we will know more after our appt tomorrow. all she keeps asking is how she is going to get into college IF she drops classes and can't function in school...its only week #1...relax!!! pray and relax...easier said than done sometimes.

and pray for me...trying to work and coordinate all these appts with the doctors and the school is gonna get crazy...i feel SO GUILTY asking for MORE time off!!!

i will try to shoot out an e-mail over the holiday weekend sometime.

thanks for checking in

go lions...big opening weekend

tammy