December

December 8th
I had an appointment with my chiropractor today and the relief from pain is so great:)  And I bought a pillow from him that fits my neck and will support it while I sleep.  The  neck pain is what is causing my headaches most of the time.

I continue to slowly improve on the elliptical at the health club.  As long as I keep improving, I'm happy.

The neck pain and headaches were back in full force 4 days later.

December 15
I wiped my forehead hard with a towel at the health club at noon, and it has been causing me pain all day. 

My nose still has that healing itch, this time on the left side, and the nostril is so small, it is impossible to itch.

My mouth continues to be swollen and now I can't smile again since the tissue has grown back on the inside of my mouth next to my tooth line on the left.

I can rarely smell things. The neck pain and headaches come and go, which is an improvement.

December 17
Wednesday
MOUTH  REPAIR SURGERY REPEATED
My  lip healed too well.  It reattached to my gum line. So Dr. Richard Lee repaired my lip and mouth again. It doesn't seem fair that I'm waiting forever for nerves in my face to rebuild, and my mouth heals where I didn't want it to.

  Here I am ready for church on Sunday, December 21, 2014.  I'm always afraid to smile for picture for fear of looking like Frankenstein.

 

December 23, 2014
Check up with my surgeon today.  I felt happy all day.  I had an appointment with my chiropractor yesterday afternoon, and my neck pain and headaches are gone (I wish for good).  My mouth started to reheal again despite all I did to prevent it. But I am happy, my lips and mouth can move better than it did last week. I can put lipstick on my lower lip and I feel my whole lip :) It still feels funny on part of it, but a smaller part than it used to be, so that is good. Very tiny improvements, but improving all the same.  It will be 16 weeks on this Friday. Not surprisingly, I have no desire to go horseback riding again.

Dr. Lee and I talked about the plans for my nose surgery on January 12th.  He will not be cutting any skin at this time, just working on the inside so I can breathe through both nostrils.  He told me that my nose may be 90% repaired at the end of the upcoming surgery, but that we need to wait longer to complete all the repairs. My expected recovery time will be 2 to 4 weeks. Things are looking up.
Merry Christmas to everyone!

 Christmas morning at Nancy's.  I this is why I try not to do a happy smile.  But, I have to say, my mouth and face is SO MUCH better than it was.  It is really beginning to heal now and beginning to move better.  It is such a slow process.

 

Steps backwards and tiny steps forward

12 weeks later
Well, people tell me I look great (ha ha), well in comparison.  The swelling continues to shrink a little bit.   The numbness still affects the left side of my mouth and nose.  I see itsy bitsy improvement so I have hope to be back to and feel normal again someday.  The bridge of my nose is still very tender - that is where the plate and screws are.
And my mouth still doesn't work properly.
My nose began to itch this week - I just love that healing itch.

Stepping back on Thanksgiving Day
Unfortunately I spent 7 hours today going to special Christmas sales.  By 9pm I was so miserable; my bad headache was back and my neck stiffness and pain which continued for days.

Saturday: Our Thanksgiving Day celebration
By the time everyone left at 9pm I was in so much pain.  I literally could not move the rest of the evening.  I have a horrible headache and neck pain.

December 3rd
I am confused quite often, and I can't remember a lot of things. I have trouble remembering things too.

13 long weeks later on December 5th
The bad headaches and neck pain have continued since Thanksgiving.  I have been battling depression.  The mouth repair that I was so excited for, was not totally a success.  Yes, it did help my mouth move more, but part of it has grown back in.  Probably because it is still numb there on my left upper left.  I am so disappointed, and I feel like I let my surgeon down.

The scar from my nose to my mouth is healing nicely.  My lower lip has more feeling.  So many times I just wish I could feel and look normal again, and so I have to remind myself of all the miracles I have been blessed with, to be grateful for the things on my body that do work correctly.  It's hard.  But I think I've finally accepted that when my doctor says "a year", that is what he means.  Now I can look forward to next September.

Recovery During Week 10

November 9, 2014, Sunday
At church today Ken (I can't remember his last name) told me his uncle was out hunting with some men on horses.  A 74 year old man fell from his horse and he died.  He said he thought of me and my accident.  I am certainly blessed that it was God's will that I live.

One of the most aggravating things is that I gained 14 pounds during the first 8 weeks of recovery.

And I think I'm giving up on denying that I've had any brain injury.  My black church shoes were muddy this morning when I went to put them on and I have no idea why they are muddy.  And I  know for a fact that my brain wasn't working right last week.  I don't understand, I still play my Lumosity Brain Games, and my scores keep going up.

Monday
I felt pretty good today.  My forehead has really been itching a lot the last few days.  And it is painful when I itch it.
This morning I realized my headache may be from clenching my teeth from the back and neck pain.

Tuesday.
MOUTH  REPAIR SURGERY WITH MY SURGEON DOCTOR 11/11/14
My doctor thinks I am doing very well and healing great. He is very pleased with my recovery
I've been so looking forward to this day.  The repair on my mouth only took an hour, my doctor and his nurse just used lidoaine shots to deaden the insides of my mouth.  I haven't looked in a mirror since the procedure, I'm afraid to; afraid that my mouth and lips still won't work properly.  My doctor said to go home and take pain pills and ibuprofen.  To rinse my mouth with salt water at least 3 times a day.  To use my tongue to make sure the surfaces stay separate.

I was totally miserable for the next two days.  I surprisingly had teeth pain again and I had to have just liquids again.  But on the second day, horrible of horrible - I came down with a cold.  So I was really miserable for the whole next week.  Take someone who can't get a breath very well anyway, give them a cold with congestion, and it is disaster.  I couldn't sleep and I coughed all the time trying to breath through my mouth.  It aggrevated my asthma and settled in my lungs.  So at my next appointment on 11/18/14 with my surgeon he gave me an antibiotic so I could get better.

On 11/13/14 I went to see a good chiropractor (I was referred by two people since I have such severe neck pain.)  Oh my goodness, what a huge difference it makes.  I have been to see him every week now.  It helps so much with my neck pain and headaches.

On my third trip to get an MRI done on my throat, it was finally compete.  My surgeon would like to remove the nodule, but I am resisting.  It crowds my throat just a little bit.  We will be watching it closely to see if it grows.

The scar leading from my nose to mouth was itchy, that is a good sign of healing.  And great that it isn't too painful to touch part of my own face.

During week 9

I think I hit that plateau my doctor was talking about.  But there was an additional bump on my forehead and scab today, November 1, 2014.  And I had trouble with dizziness today, and I thought I was done with that.
Sunday: I was dizzy again.
Monday.  I felt more normal.  My whole nose tingled like crazy all last week, now it itches.
Wednesday: I can touch the lower half of my nose without extreme pain. And my headache goes away sometimes.
Thursday: I postponed the thyroid MRI because I can't breathe any better than I could last week.  I can only breathe through the right nostril so I tend to breathe through my mouth which causes a lot of movement in my throat.
Friday: I had sharp pains in the bridge of my nose.  My forehead is itching and painful.  I tried to do yard work on this beautiful fall day.  I had to lay down on the grass many times because I felt unbalanced and had facial pains.  I am so tired of all this, the accident was 9 WEEKS AGO!  I  felt really crappy from 4:00pm and on.  I was feeling REALLY bad, I should of taken a pain pill.  Mark and I did a lot of errands.  It was 8:45pm when we got home and I went straight up to bed.  I feel awful, I have back pain, neck pain, and a really bad headache.  

8 weeks later - MRI for thyoid

As this week began I was able to wash my forehead too, without being in a lot of pain.  I could wash the sides of my face last week.  Again, these are baby steps, but improvements all the same.

My neck is still really sore, and hurts me.  I had a rough week, not feeling good at all, and taking naps each day.  My nose is tingling though, which I guess is good.  The right side would itch, the healing kind of itch, but if I tried to itch, I would be in a lot of pain from the left side.  It is impossible to blow my nose.  And I cannot sit a pair of reading or sun glasses on the bridge of my nose.  And one other good thing; I drank out of a cup with without dribbling on my shirt.

But I had another failed MRI appointment.  For an hour and a 15 minutes they tried to get picture of my thyroid lumps.  But I can't hardly breathe through the right side of my nose, (and the left side is useless) so I tend to breathe through my mouth, which causes my throat to move too much.  Anyway, they were not happy with me and want to try again next Thursday.

Health wise, it was a bad week, and I think I would of stayed in bed most of the time. My headaches were bad, and I had facial pains. I was sad that I felt such a set back in my improvements.   But a few commitments and my daughter Nancy forced me to get out and enjoy life.

7 Weeks later

I have had a busy week.  My energy is back, yippee and I just feel better.  I am able to do everything in my schedule; like today I left the house at 8:30am and I got home tonight at midnight (it's not usually that extreme).  I felt happy today, and realizing that made me feel even happier since it has been awhile.

As this week began I was able to wash the sides of my face for the first time with my usual face cleansing bar, scrub, and dry the sides of my face with a towel.  Baby steps, but an improvement all the same.

I was surprised to discover on 10/20/14  that a bad habit of mine is gone forever.  Whenever my fingernails became chipped, I would chew them even again.  When my fingernail tore today, I was unable to bite it off.  The repaired 7 teeth, 4 on top and 3 on the bottom, are too thick, and rounded.  I guess that is a positive thing.

I attended my FFL fit for life class on 10/20/14, where we lift weights, do floor exercise, and yoga.  I have to be careful about moving my head quickly, I have trouble balancing, and I have to support my neck with my hand.  Then, I went to Apple Athletic Club, which was my usual routine before my accident.  I walked on the elliptical for 20 minutes and didn't get very far (so I don't want to say what a short distance it was).  Before my accident I was jogging, but hey, it's a start.

APPOINTMENT WITH MY SURGEON DOCTOR 10/21/14
My doctor thinks I am doing very well and healing great.  He reminded me that I had severe facial trauma, which leads me to my next discovery; I wanted him to do surgery on my mouth this Thursday.  And my doctor said, "I put stitches there in your gum line on purpose.  It was necessary, the damage from the outside was actually a hole clear through to the nasal area.  I had to gather tissue inside your mouth and attach it above the hole, which was just above your teeth on the gum line.  It wouldn't be too great to have liquid come out your nose every time you drank liquids." Therefore he wanted to wait 3 to 4 weeks before attempting to fix this problem to allow more time for tissue, nerve, and bone growth.  So I have an appointment 3 weeks from now to see how it can be improved.  Because I have been healing so well, I forgot how severe the damage was.  It was kind of hard news to take, but I have to be thankful to have all my teeth-so far.  The 2 teeth cracked through the root have not died, and the couple of loose teeth have tightened in my gums.  I think the most damaged areas are what is still swollen, most of the left side of my mouth/lips, the bottom half of my nose and the area leading from my nose to the left corner of my mouth.  My surgeon did a great job, and I have been healing incredibly.  It's just hard to be patient and not have a normal face.

He reminded me that my full recovery will take a year to 18 months. 

My doctor also talked to me about staying out of the sun for the next YEAR, to always wear a hat and sunscreen.  Holy cow, a year.....that is a long time.  When I left my doctor's office I went to Macy's and bought a new hat.  Mark made fun of it, said I looked like the flying nun.  The salesgirl helped me choose it, and I got the one with the widest brim, because my leopard hat brim is not very wide and I would have to tip my head to keep the sun from falling on my lower nose.  Oh well, think positive.  I saw my primary care doctor yesterday and she told me she has another patient thrown from a horse a couple years ago and now the woman has epileptic seizures and other problems..

So my health update is: my headaches aren't as bad, not much changed with my face (and my doctor told me to expect that), and now that I am more active my neck is really sore and is bothering me.  Overall, I feel like a walking miracle. 

During Week 6

On Saturday, October 11th,  the left side of my mouth began to move. I was so excited!  That means I don't have permanent nerve damage :) And my doctor had said it could take up to a year.

 

On Wednesday, October 15th, I could turn my head to the left!  Previously to look to the left, I would have to turn my whole body to the left.

I had a great week.  October 11th was our 17th anniversary.  We had a nice dinner out with my sister Pam and her husband Danny in Logan and later we played a dice game together.  Then we headed for Las Vegas.  My sister and her daughter Chloe went with us at the last moment.  It was wonderful.  While Mark spent 3 days in classes, I had someone  to spend time with, challenge me, keep me going, and swim with.  I loved the pool at the hotel, it had a shark aquarium in the center.  And I enjoyed napping by the pool with my hat over my face.  I wear a silly hat outdoors, because the sun can affect my facial scars.

The swelling seems to get a little less each week, I was less dizzy this week, but my headache rarely disappears. While driving to Las Vegas, I wore a pair of sunglasses, but it caused a blood blister on my tender and sore nose.  I try to focus on the miracles I have been blessed with, and how much I have improved.  And I am thankful for all the support (sometimes literally) that my husband, Mark Van Sickle, has been giving me.

More Dental work

 Well, I was wrong.  My dental work wasn't finished.  After they fixed my upper 4 teeth that are damaged, I realized that there were 3 teeth on the bottom that had been damaged and slightly chipped.  So today the dentist fixed those.  But, we also made a discovery; my mouth, and lip area are still swollen, numb, tingly and so we hadn't realized, but on the left side, the upper left lip healed to the gums just barely above the teeth.  So even if I could feel the left side of my mouth, I couldn't move it properly or smile correctly.  So now I need surgery to correct that.  bummer.

I've really been struggling this week with dizziness.  I'm hoping it's because I was feeling better, more normal, and wanting to be up doing things and going places.  And the headaches haves been terrible.  But I'm good, my face is slowly healing each day.

 I never did post a picture of my face.  This was taken when I was prepped for surgery on Septmember 5, 2014.

 And this picture shows one of the chipped front teeth. One of the other damaged teeth was chipped worse than this one.

Thyroid Nodules

Well, I went in for an MRI on my thyroid on Monday, and after spending 3 hours there, they couldn't get a clear picture and decided their machine was malfunctioning.

Mark and Amber wanted me to get a second opinion about my thyroid so I made an appointment with Amber's doctor, Carl Vance, M.D., who specializes in the practice of Endocrinology with a focus on Diabetes and disease of the thyroid, including thyroid cancer.  So on Tuesday I had an appointment with him.  I'm so glad that I went and I feel much better about things.  He told me the biopsy was only done on the large nodule which is 2cm and the biopsy was O.K. At this time nothing more will be done about my thyroid.  He wants to watch it with an ultra sound every 6 months to see if it grows. I had an ultra sound on 9/6/14 when the biopsy was done. He also told me my surgeon, Dr. Richard Lee,  is one of the best.  The reason we don't just go ahead and remove the nodule is because 5 to 10% of the time (when you have a good surgeon) the vocal chords can be damaged or paralyzed.  25% chance when you have a poor surgeon. So thank you Amber and Mark for urging me to make an appointment with Dr. Vance.

So I am still slowly healing, can't get rid of my headache, and worried about being in the sun.  Sun is bad for healing incisions and scarring.  So I got out my old leopard old today that I bought in Disneyland years ago.  But the great thing is -I feel like getting outside in the sun.  I talk to my friend Patty Christensen quite often, which makes the trials I have on a daily basis seem trivial.  She had a double mastectomy on September 15th and she starts chemo next week.  I tried to nod my head today while talking with some one, and holy cow, I can't even do that without it causing pain and dizziness. It is hard being patient while my head and body recovers.  I am excited to go with Mark to Nevada next week.  We leave this Sunday morning.

Dental complete 32 days later

I'm feeling more like myself today.  But the headache is still with me.
I had my dental work done today, I'm thrilled, my teeth feel and look better and I'm done with my teeth :)  Worst case scenarios did not happen, it's just that I can't bite things like "frozen snickers" as the dentist put it.  It was the upper 4 front teeth that were damaged. And two of the teeth aren't solid yet, still a little loose, but that should improve.  I'm glad he was able to do the work, the left side of my mouth is still really swollen.

I talked to a friend at the Post Office today whose father-in-law was on the ride.  He told her that they had thought that I was going to die there on the mountain.  The group of 25 people I was with had to wait until the helicopter left before they mounted their horses to return to the stables.  And I've been told that I laid on the cold ground for 2 hours and I was shivering.  Then he said that they were afraid I wouldn't make it to EIRMC on the life flight.  I am grateful for all the protection and miracles the Lord has blessed me with.

3 weeks after hospital release

October 1, 2014

1:15pm I had a 2 week follow up appointment with my surgeon, Dr. Richard Lee.  We talked about my injuries and then about my thyroid, which he seems to be really concerned about. He told me to massage my entire face 20 times a day, that we need to get rid of the swelling.  Face massage should start at 4 weeks and go sometimes as long as 4 months.  My left nostril is healing, swollen, and still has stitches in it, and it is deviated.  That we would probably be doing surgery on my nose sometime in December.  He wants me to change from plain Vaseline to a Eurcerin ointment for my face.  That my headaches should go away at 4 weeks, but could last up to 4 months. That the nerve to the left of my nose, above my mouth may take up to a year to improve. My face has improved again during the last week: I can feel my whole bottom lip - although a lot of it is tingly.  At least it is not just numb.  My teeth have stopped hurting.  The scabs have done a lot of healing. And most importantly, for the first 3 weeks I felt constantly as if a truck had just hit me in the face, and that has gone away.

Dr. Lee said he thought we should do surgery on my thyroid, to do a partial removal and get rid of the lumps.  I said nothing, so he decided the best thing to do was MRI with dye next Monday.  I need to go in a couple hours early to get blood tests done.

So the story with my thyroid is:  During the CT scan on the day of my accident on September 5th they saw a large lump on my thyroid.  A FNA biopsy was scheduled for Saturday morning.

Fine-needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy. Nodules are often biopsied to make sure no cancer is present. FNA biopsy helps to distinguish between benign and malignant thyroid nodules. During the procedure, your doctor inserts a very thin needle in the nodule and removes a sample of cells. Often, your doctor will use ultrasound to help guide the placement of the needle. The samples are then sent to a laboratory and analyzed under a microscope.

Dr. Richard Lee suggested surgery because there is more than one lump:

Surgery. Occasionally, a nodule that's clearly benign may require surgery. Surgery is also considered for people with large multinodular goiters. Nodules diagnosed as indeterminate or suspicious by a biopsy also need surgical removal, so they can be examined for signs of cancer.

Amber’s suggestions: Get a 2^nd opinion from Dr. Vance (and Mark had already said he wanted me to get a second opinon).  Get copies from EIRMC from my first biopsy on Sept. 6^th.  Call to schedule a biopsy to occur at the same time as the MRI next Monday.  All this really worries me.

Horseback Riding Accident Recovery Day 19

I haven't used this blog very much, since I am taking so long to reach my weight goals.  So I will try to change the name of my blog and use it to write about my health.

Recovery Day 19
This week I typically get out of bed between 11 and noon.  Sleep helps heal, right? And it's less time for discomfort.  First I take an 800 ml. of ibuprofen.  In the shower when I close my eyes I lose my balance, so 3 times today I had to put my hands on the walls to steady myself.  I glance at my face soap and wonder when I'll need to use it again.  For now it is just clear, clean water for my face.  I do a nasal rinse before leaving the shower, my left nostril remains useless.  I wish I had straws upstairs in my bedroom because I have great difficulty trying to drink from my V-8 can.  My mouth and lips are still very swollen and I do think I will be delaying my dentist appointment that is scheduled this Friday to work on my teeth.  I search for a button shirt, since I don't like wearing pullover shirts that can touch my face.  My face has to air dry.  I do believe that today my forehead skin has healed.  As I'm writing I'm wondering, will a headache  be my constant companion from now on?  I have not left home since I went to sacrament meeting on Sunday.  But I must today, I have to get Katie's birthday present mailed.  I took pictures last night and realized it is best not to smile in the way I used to, that I need to keep my lips together.  Every time I start feeling down, I try to remember how grateful I am that I am alive and functioning as well as I am.

Trying to smile like I used to. 9-23-14

 

Smiling with lips together 9-23-14