158 replies to this topic

[HappyDaisy]

WONDERFUL! What great news!!!

[tessieca]

So happy SHE MOVED! She's giving you an early Mother's Day gift.

[fromhnl]

That is great news!

[Deb aka Resume Lady]

Does anyone have an update on Jessica? Hoping for continued positive progress.

[AMETHYST PRODUCTIVITY]

On Facebook:

Today at 12:22am
I am so sorry about the lateness of this update. Today was busy, both exciting and sad and every time I try to write this update, Jessica moves again. (I'm hoping that just by starting this again she will move. Nothing yet.)

*******

I was out of the room more than I have been today, due to the fact that Jess is still on a little bit of "Stimulation restriction". Visitors are still welcome and coming, but we are simply being very quiet in the room and then leaving the room to talk.

Sitting with Erin, Linds and Traci was good because those moms always know how to make me laugh. Aslan and Cindy brought me lunch and it was good to visit with them. Jesse even brought Jocelyn back so that I could spend some time with her sweet face.

That is one of the hardest parts of this. Not only do I not get to see my Jessica, but I don't get to see my Jocelyn much either. I'm without both of my girls. It makes my heart ache in a way that I have to box it up and compartmentalize it all, only taking it out to sit with it in bits and pieces. I will be so relieved when our fractured family is back together.

*******

FAMILY MEETING:

The family meeting this afternoon was decent. That was another sad part of the day. There wasn't any bad news, per se; but the doctor who ran it (LOVELY woman, I really like her) was just painting what she called the more realistic picture. She didn't want to provide false hope and wanted to paint the picture of what COULD happen, so that when things went better, we would be happy. If they went worse, we wouldn't have anywhere to go and quite possibly wouldn't be prepared for what is to come.

So, they talked about the damaged area of her brain, how it is possible that it will die and be unusable, the possible blindness, post-trauma epileptic seizures, the length of time before she is back to herself (possibly up to two years) and pretty much every possible eventuality. Again, they were just being realistic and I know that this is all possibilities. I recognize that Jessica has been through a MAJOR injury. Hence the trauma team, the ICU stay, etc., etc....

But I can't help but be filled up with hope over her recovery. She's moving, she's moving both sides of her body. Tonight she seemed to move with intent and purpose, and I just can't help but KNOW that she is going to blow them out of the water with her recovery.

It's just hard to hear all of the bad/realistic things all at once. It rains down upon me and I realize, once again, that my daughter is laying in a hospital bed in critical condition.

It wasn't ALL realistic/bad, though. They did tell us that we are out of the "Life & Death" state as a result of the injury. This means that there are still other complications that could arise, seizures, infections, pneumonia, etc.; but as far as dying from the injury? We are out of those woods now. That is SUCH GREAT NEWS to me!!!

It is still a long road, but knowing that she will survive is obviously the best news we've received since the accident occurred. I can sit in this bed in this hospital for an extremely long time, if it means that my baby girl is coming back to me. It's pretty much no problem at all.

*******

MOVING

Since she first moved last night, she continues to move every time she receives a breathing treatment (where they are suctioning her lungs to get out the build-up of mucous). She squeezes both hands and pulls her arms up.

HOWEVER: She also moved spontaneously when the sun started going down. It was one of those magical things when I was showing Jake the card that one of her friends at school made for her. It said: "Get well soon, Daughter of Apollo". (She connects with this friend over the Percy Jackson books, which center around the Greek gods.)

We looked up Apollo, just so we were certain who he was. Jake was reading the following from Wikipedia: Apollo has been variously recognized as a God of light and the Sun; truth and prophecy; archery; medicine, healing and plague; music, poetry, and the arts; and more."

At the same time he was reading, the Sun was setting and hit Jess in the face and she had BIG movement as she turned her head and tried to bring both hands up.

To me that was INTENT and PURPOSE. "The Sun is in my eyes, please remove it now." The nurse wasn't quite as convinced, as it could just have been "stimulation and her neurons refiring", but I'm just going to take my explanation to bed with me tonight to keep me warm.

She is moving. She is fighting to get back to us. It's not easy to wait, sometimes; but I will. I will be here for her every step of the way until she is back to us, healed, happy and just as amazing as she always was.

What a fabulous day that will be!

[Deb aka Resume Lady]

ChefRaven, thank you for posting the update.

Jolene and Jesse, the brain is an amazing, amazing organ. I have heard so many stories of unexpected recuperation and/or one side of the brain adapting to take on tasks the other side previously performed. All of this movement is exciting. As a parent, I can only begin to imagine how hard it is to be patient with the process and I am in awe of your strength and love and serenity.

Many hearts are with you on this journey.

[Rablibra6]

What a fighter she is! Our family is sending positive thoughts and energy to Jessica for a speedy recovery and to the rest of your family for support in your journey down this rough road.

[mac_convert]

God can certainly provide miracles! My friend Kathy Sturgeon was one of the women hit by the drunk driver in EDH almost two summers ago. She had to retire due to disability from my church, Lakeside, BUT she lives on her own, drives a car, etc. I think Jessica has her youth in her favor too!!!
Still keeping Jessica and the family in my prayers.

[gm2005]

Jolene so glad to hear that Jessica is making such movements. As you have stated yourself, dr's kind of have to give you almost the worst case scenario. But kids are amazing and our body is amazing.
Take care

[john]

Hey everyone - we just created a "fan" page for Jessica.
http://www.facebook....105779426133985

Also, if you are interested in donating money to help pay for unexpected medical bills and expenses resulting in the accident, here's the account you can send it to:

The Golden 1 Credit Union
PO Box 15966
Sacramento CA 95852-1966

Account #: 1120480 / Routing #: 321175261
Checks must be made out to exactly: Jessica Baldwin-Lavine Fund Raiser

People can send checks directly to golden 1 at the above address, or wire money to the above acct/routing, or go into any g1 branch and deposit directly to the acct #.

Any unused funds will be paid forward.

[folsom500]

The Facebook site that John listed will also be where Jolene will post all her new updates according to her FB post So if you have FB and want to follow, just click the "LIKE"

Since I see she did not cross post her update from last evening and you do not use facebook, here is the latest :

Jessica Update - May 7, 2010 - 9:15 p.m.Share
Yesterday at 9:22pm
A quick one tonight, as I'm tired and today has been (and continues to be) full of activity.

The first and foremost is something I should have mentioned long ago: Jessica is no longer in the coma. The only things that she has going on right now are pain meds and sedation. Those are the two meds that are constantly running for her and what is keeping her asleep right now. They are aggressively turning down the sedation and she continues to respond by making movements, opening her eyes bit by bit and trying so hard to respond to us.

She is no longer paralyzed and is even breathing on her own, though she still has the ventilator in place, for backup. She continues moving and yesterday was really reaching for her dance coach, who came to visit. It was very moving. Today, she opened her eyes (eye, really) for a while. She is shaking a lot, but that is normal as the brain tries to rewire everything.

We finally cut off the last bit of her hair last night (when they shaved it, they left a patch long in the back and I didn't want to add insult to injury by having her sport the mullet).

She is down to two IVs, they removed her catheter tonight and she has even started (TMI). The swelling in her head is VISIBLY better. That means: Until they can replace the part of her skull that was destroyed and removed, there is no skull there. Her head SHOULD have an indentation where there is no skull, but no indentation has been visible up until now because her head has been so swollen. (Horrible mom moment is me calling her "Lollipop Girl".)

However, today the swelling is decreasing and there is more of a "step-down" or an indentation on her head.

We are still having some issues with raised blood pressure, but that is likely due to the fact that she will be more agitated and stressed the more she wakes.

I was pretty depressed this morning (I am SO impatient), but had a little more sleep (in which I dreamed about my dad coming through the doors to her room on a horse) and my friends bought me Thai food. I also cried a little bit and now I feel much better.

It is still a really long road, but she seems to making some big and important steps. I am really proud of her and also really really impatient.

Thank you to everyone who has continued to think about her. The response to her accident has been extremely humbling and overwhelming. I wish I had touched as many people when I was 10 years old, as she has. It is an amazing thing to see.

[Deb aka Resume Lady]

Thanks again for the update, Folsom500.

This is all such excellent news. I can understand the impatience, but things seem to be progressing very well.

[gm2005]

thank you for the update.

So, about the fundraser, maybe we could put together some kind of an event like a carwash or bake sale or similar to raise some money.

[supermom]

thank you for the update.

So, about the fundraser, maybe we could put together some kind of an event like a carwash or bake sale or similar to raise some money.

Has the family sat down and figured out what the insurance will pay? Will they need a fund? On the other hand I can't imagine how hard this is on the sibling. Will the family need to start considering child care as one parent will need to go back to work? These are hard questions and I don't know the family personally-so I don't know if these are even valid questions. I know that there are lots of people who know this family. Many would like to help.