A Close Call...

Mom and I had a very close call this week. I took her to St. Anthony, Idaho which is about 3 hours from here to see where she and dad wanted to have their ashes spread. It is in a place called "Hog Hollow". Both my parents grew up there and mom shared many fond memories with us of her childhood in the early nineteen hundreds. My two brothers, my two aunts and my two uncles (who are like my second parents) went with us. When we got out of the car at my aunts house I knew we were at the right place because of the wonderful smell of homemade bread. Hog Hollow is a beautiful place where my dad duck hunted, my parents spent a lot of time, where both their parents had homesteaded and where there is a beautiful view of the Grand Teton mountains. It has changed with development, but not too much for mom to remember land marks. It all made me realize how fast life goes and how special times with family are. It was truly a memorable day! I even got to see two of my cousins that I was fortunate enough to spend many fun days with when I was small. We had some good laughs!

On the way there, though, I received a phone call from Chris saying Jess had not opened his eyes since we had left the house that morning. Brandie had called him from school. I wanted to turn around but he said he was going to take him to the doctor and would call as soon as he knew something. Of course, your mind wanders to the most awful places...had he gone back into a coma?? No, he had an eye infection. He is much better now. It is always so frightening because Jess cannot tell us what is wrong or where it hurts.

On the way home, we were following a pilot car and a wide semi truck with a large flatbed trailer on the back carrying some kind of large machine on it. We were going through the lava beds at over 60 miles an hour when all of a sudden I heard a sound like a shotgun had gone off in our car and large pieces of debris were flying right towards our windshield. I swerved to keep a huge section of rubber from hitting us and realized we were headed into the lava beds so turned the wheel back and felt the car bounce back on the wheels. My little Toyota Corolla had come off the ground, scraped the front bumper on the ground, wore off part of my tire and landed back on the ground. All of this happened in a second. I drove 20 miles an hour for 10 miles in shock that we were still alive. I know now what terror Jess was going through in the car he was in, but unfortunately he was not as lucky as mom and I. I realize now that the only thing that saved us is the (click here for info) ESC - electronic stability control that is on my car. Paula (from People Safe in Rollovers) informed me that all cars manufactured will be required to have that on their cars soon. Thank goodness!

The Cleveland Clinic called to verify they had received Jess medical records and that the team of doctors would be reviewing them and we will hear from them soon.

I also want to mention that Curtie's mom, Linda, had some very serious surgery and is doing well. Please send some good thoughts and prayers her way for a quick healing and safe trip home. We send our love your way, Linda!

Thank you everyone for your comments. It is good to hear feedback. I have not gotten another hug from Jess but he has given his dad and I a few cherished smiles. We continue to wonder, wait and try to find the good things in each day.

A Good Cry!

Mom and I had a good cry this afternoon. Jess was lying on the couch on his side and I was in the kitchen mixing his dinner...always with one eye peering out checking on him. I stopped what I was doing to watch him moving his left arm and hand in very different motions. I decided to let him know I was watching his movements and that it was wonderful to see. So, I leaned down on my knees next to the couch and looked him in the eye and told him how great it was to see him moving his arm so different. I asked him if he thought he could raise his arm around my neck and give me a hug. He raised his eyebrows like he always does when he is pondering a request. It took him a few minutes to wiggle and turn his hand but sure enough he raised his arm and plopped it right around my neck. I started to cry. He knew I was crying and he squeezed a little tighter which made me cry more. After I composed myself and told him I had waited 3 years for a hug, we tried it again and he did it again. To make sure I wasn't dreaming I asked mom to come in to the living room and watch and he did it again and she cried. There is nothing like tears of joy! Every minute of every day we watch for something new and different to surface from Jess and when we see the littlest thing it gives us reason to wake up one more day.

Jess had a good week at school with Brandie. He is taking a debate class and a class called Quest that is like the class he has taken in the past that is very interactive with the students in which they talk about real life situations, goals, problems and life in general. He also works on the computer and has OT and PT. He starts back horseback riding tomorrow after a 3 week break. We could use some volunteer help if anyone has a free hour on Mondays at 11:00 or Thursdays at 11:00. You basically walk around the arena beside the horse holding on to Jess. Tall guys are very valuable!

I sent all of Jess' medical records off to the Cleveland Clinic last week. Here is a statement regarding the procedure that I found written by Dr. Rezai:

According to Rezai, the procedure required much more precision when used for minimally conscious state. "You have to target specific parts of the brain with millimeter precision using various computer-generated brain maps and physiological mapping," he explained.

It sounds pretty technical and a bit scary. Keep some good thoughts and prayers going for the right decision to come through for our Jess.

I also had a conference call with the Elks Rehab in Boise as a result of our visit there. They were very complimentary of our care and our persistence in getting Jess what he needs but unfortunately they didn't give me that magic cure I was hoping for. They did have some good contacts for augmentative communication systems and some camps that might be fun for Jess to attend next summer.

I received an email regarding Paula Lawlor's visit to Washington D.C. Here is an article written about the event: Safety Crusaders Seek Political Action on Roof Crush Injuries. I can't wait to talk to her soon to see just how well she felt it went. Thanks again for everyone's help!

We sure would like to hear from you...I feel like I am always having a one sided conversation. Just click on the link below and leave Jess or us a comment. I like to read them to Jess. Love to all!

School Starts Tomorrow

The fires are finally contained, my friends are safe and back in their homes, our mountain landscape has regretably changed, but we are so appreciative to the hard working fire fighters that saved so much of our land and structures. It was an emotional couple of weeks for our valley. Emotions that were comparative to how Chris and I have felt for 3 years.

It's September and Labor Day weekend is over. School starts tomorrow after a week's delay. I always feel strange when Jess goes back to school. It is hard to let him out of my sight. I know he will be just fine and probably enjoys getting away from our constant attention to his every need. I'm sure he will enjoy listening to the kids talk about all the things that happened in their lives over the summer. Just being around young energy is a wonderful thing for him. I don't know what we will do next year. I guess no one knows what they will do next year. Life can change in an instant.

We did hear from the Cleveland Clinic. Jess is one of 34 chosen to be evaluated for the brain stimulation surgery. I have to send in all of his medical records which luckily I have on CD's because of our lawsuit. We are a little nervous about the surgery but will go through all the steps to see if Jess could benefit from it. Here is a statement I found from Dr. Rezai the head surgeon:

"According to Rezai, the procedure requires much more precision when used for people in a minimally conscious state. You have to target specific parts of the brain with millimeter precision using various computer-generated brain maps and physiological mapping," he explained."

Everyday I still think this is all a strange nightmare and I'm sure I will wake up and see Jess getting ready to go back to college, laughing, running outside to shoot a few baskets, sitting in front of his computer chatting with his friends or raiding the refrigerator at all hours of the night. It is still so hard to believe this is real. You would think after 3 years it would get a little easier.

We have a conference call with the Elks therapists in Boise this week. They will give us recommendations for things that might help Jess communicate better, I hope. Now that the hospital is opened again, I think we can schedule a time to have Jess' widom teeth removed. He will have to stay in the hospital to make sure he doesn't aspirate. We will be glad when that surgery is over.

Until next time...good-night!

Wildfires!

There is so much to tell you I don't know where to begin. At about 7:30 p.m. this evening they just announced another evacuation of over 1,000 people in our mid valley. A fire started from lightening over a week ago and we now have over 1200 fire fighters trying to keep up with it. We had strong winds today and are expecting more tonight. It is so smoky here and everyone is very worried. We have many friends that have had to leave their homes. The house Chris was doing a remodel on was also evacuated so he is out of work temporarily. We are quite a few miles south of the fire but we are watching what is happening very closely. Here is the website we are watching: www.blainecounty.org

Jess, Brandie, my mom and I took Jess to Boise on Tuesday night. We stayed with Jamie and Jahara and they took such good care of us. We had a van packed full of "stuff". It is not easy to take Jess out of his comfort zone. The first night he and I only got a couple hours of sleep. I don't know what I would have done without Brandie helping me to get Jess to all of our appointments. I sure appreciated her willingness to go with us.

We had an appointment with the Elks rehab doctor on Wednesday morning. She has not seen Jess for 3 years. She complemented us on how well Jess looked and on all of the things we were doing with him. We talked about stem cells, drugs and the brain stimulation at the Cleveland Clinic. She warned us not to go to China for stem cells but hopes like all of us that our country will realize the importance of doing more research here as soon as possible. She did think we should pursue the brain stimulation but warned there could be risks. (Jess is still on the list to be evaluated for the procedure.) She also told me to check into the University of Pittsburg because they seem to be on the cutting edge of new brain injury research.

We had an appointment later with an oral surgeon to see about having Jess' wisdom teeth removed. He was a wonderful doctor that I actually found on the internet. He had read all of the info I sent and said he was going to see if he could do the surgery up here at our hospital. I couldn't believe he was willing to travel almost 3 hours to remove Jess' wisdom teeth! There are wonderful people in this world. He said they would have to watch him carefully for aspiration so he thought it would be better for us to keep him in the hospital over night so they could watch him closely. The only problem now is they have evacuated everyone near the hospital because of the fire.

We also met the next day with all of the therapists at the Elks Rehab Hospital. They evaluated Jess. I was hoping they could give us some miracle to bring Jess back but they just said we were doing more than anyone they had seen in our situation. They did have some suggestions and a contact for me to someone in Montana that is very good with communication devices that might be able to help us find a better way to communicate with Jess. The doctor and therapists will get together next week to discuss recommendations for us and will conference call us sometime next week.

We also visted the place where we purchased Jess' wheelchair and ordered a new seat and some worn parts on his chair. I took the van in to have the wheelchair lift looked at and they made some minor adjustments. It was a very busy two days.

We have all been busy getting petitions signed for People Safe in Rollovers. If you have any petitions to get to Paula please send them to reach California before she leaves for Washington D.C. on September 4th. She was able to get a billboard company in Boise to put a billboard up in Jess' honor and I think we almost have the $1,500 to purchase the vinyl billboard. Thank you to everyone for participating in this critical event. Paula did an interview with a radio station regarding the issue of safer roofs on our vehicles. The link is here. It is eye opening!

School is suppose to start Monday but I have a feeling it will be postponed until the fires calm down. It will be Jess' last year to be around his peers. He lights up when he is around friends his age. I don't know what we will do after this year. One day at a time! Pray for our fire fighters and everyone's safety. Mother Nature is very angry at us I think. There is a lot of tragedy in our world right now. We need to help change the energy!

"Please help!"

Many of you received an email from me regarding a very important issue that came to our attention this week. It is in regards to roof crush in vehicles. The roof of the 2001 Ford Explorer Jess was hurt in crushed! It crushed down on my beautiful son's head at a speed of 12 miles an hour. We are living with the nightmare of that fact every moment of every day.

There is a lady by the name of Paula Lawler who started a non-profit organization. Please click on People Safe in Rollovers! She has a video of her address given at the Emergency World Summit on Roof Crush in Washington D.C. in July on this website. Please, in honor of Jess, listen to this video. Read her articles and educate yourself and tell everyone you know. None of us are safe in American made cars. Who will be next?
The manufacturers know we are in danger and they choose to ignore it. She needs petitions signed to take to Congress by the 27th. Help us stop putting the people we love in jeopardy!

I have prayed for an avenue to help me alert the public of this issue and I finally found it. Will you help us? Joey has put the petition under Downloads on the right side of this website. Print it and get as many signatures as you can. We are also working on purchasing a billboard in Jess's honor to be placed in Boise. There is a flyer explaining how People Safe in Rollover's has partnered with a billboard company to get this message across the world. If you want to donate to the cause there is information on People Safe in Rollovers.

During the time I had shut down this website we were going through a very emotional lawsuit against Ford. It took over two years to get to the court room. We wanted desparately to make Ford admit responsibility for the roof caving in on Jess. We could not get across to the jury or judge the facts that Paula states on her website. We lost our lawsuit against Ford but we have not lost the battle to help right a wrong. We need your help!

Cleveland Clinic??

Friday was an amazing day! After watching that video and reading the stories about the man in a minimally consious state who was helped by Dr. Ali Rezai at the Cleveland Clinic, I began my search to get in touch with him. I was able to leave my name with the Research Department and thought it would probably be months before they contacted me. I knew they would be overwhelmed with calls. Luckily, I also emailed the neuro department. Amazingly, I received a phone call from his assistant on Friday. She asked me numerous questions and at the end of the conversation she said, "Well, Jess made it through Round 2". We are still very much in the preliminary phase but they are sending me a packet of information and forms to fill out. They are only accepting 11 more candidates. They will need a lot of medical history but if they feel he meets the criteria we will go to Cleveland for an evaluation. Mom and I hugged and cried and thought...maybe we will get a miracle. The family has been discussing if he did get accepted how we all feel about it. We will just have to see if we make it through Round 3.

Not long after that phone call, I got another call from the Elks Rehab in Boise. After a half an hour of questions, the social worker said he thought they could get Jess in for an evaluation with their team of outpatient therapists within the next couple of weeks. They will be able to let us know if we are on the right track with all of our therapies.

I also came up with a great idea to have Curtie, Jess' best friend come over one hour a day and work with Jess on the computer. He is very smart and knowledgeable with computers and he and Jess have been friends forever. He met with Tracy, our speech therapist, and they worked out a plan for a daily session with Jess to work on a special program called Boardmaker. Curtie sets up a way for Jess to hit a switch to scan through options of things he would like to do. He not only can see the option but he also hears what choices he can make. It's a great way to stimulate his processing and also gives him a way to talk back. With practice I think Curtie is going to make a huge difference. Thanks Curt!

So, after a few weeks of frustration and dead ends all of a sudden we have some wonderful options. I did say, I would have good news soon...you put it out there, set the motion and look what happens. My concentration for the last month has been "where or what do we do next" to the powers above. Why don't I remember...you just have to ask!

An interesting day!

What an incredibly interesting day we have had. For all of you who did not see Brian Williams on NBC Nightly News check this video out. (You have to wait for the video to go through a short advertisement.) Thank you to everyone who alerted us about the news cast. We were watching it so we got a first hand view. I have already contacted the doctor at the Cleveland Clinic and also have my sister-in-law, Jenn, finding out more info at the clinic tomorrow since she is in Cleveland. Yeah, Jenn!

At the same time I was frantically trying to find out more info regarding that news cast, another news blast came on stating a bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis had collapsed. Chris and I were both trying to find Joey and could only get "the circuits are all busy". I was breathing in "Joey and Angie are safe" and breathing out "pure fear". We finally got a phone call from Joey saying they were all safe. Let's all send lots of prayers to all of those involved in the accident.

Early this morning our good friend, Barbara, called to let me know that Dick Hoyt from Team Hoyt was speaking in Boise. He is the amazing man that does all of the triathalons with his son who has Cerebral Palsy. I saw him and his son on Oprah. I really wanted to go to Boise but it was too late to make plans. Barbara had emailed Team Hoyt to find out more about the communication device Rick (the son) uses. I have angels everywhere. Anyway, they emailed her back with a connection to the doctor who is in Boston and is the guru of communication devices. He emailed us both very quickly. I will sit down tomorrow and hopefully have another option to help my beautiful boy talk to me.

Oh my, how things come in and out of our lives in many directions. All of this happened in the midst of feeding, bathing, dinner and 7 hours of work today. Whew! I am going to bed....good night!