Hi!

OK. I'm back to blogging. But not exactly. I still don't remember anything from before and still call it my website sometimes. BUT I will get better. Because I have been called by God and to get where HE wants me to be, I need all of my brain cells.

Aside from that though, it's still hard.
It's hard when mom says something that has happened in the past six years and I don't remember it. This also makes me sad.
It's hard when I need to sleep for 16 hours a day.
It's hard when I am so dizzy.
And it's hard when there is not a lot of progress.

But I'm complaining. Mom says that each bump could send me back to the beginning. Or worse.

So I can be thankful.
I can be thankful for each step of progress.
I can be thankful for the good moments I remember from when I was eight.
And I am back to blogging. That is a step in the right direction.

For starters, I am going to begin doing a scrapbook of things that I do remember. I will backdate these things, so they are in order like a scrapbook. And a journal, because mom thinks it will help me to get my feelings out. Then they are not all boxed up.

FigNewTon-GONE!

FigNewTon left yesterday morning for camp! She is going to a camp that I went to 2 years ago. This is her first time at camp because when I went, she was too sick to go. Now we've traded places! There are 2 differences though:

1. Our brain issues are different

2. She will go to 2 camps instead of one

The first one our church's camp. She will be there until Friday. The next one is a camp by the Salvation Army. I have not gone to the Salvation Army Camp.
In FigNewTon's bag for the first camp, Mom put several different snacks with a little "I Love You" note. I wrote her notes, one for every day. I'm sure She will have fun.

How It Happened....

Today, I will tell about my brain injury and how it happened.

Mom had broken her foot and was unable to go any where. Autumn was visiting along with Songbird and Mighty Mouse. That day they had gone to visit friends. After doing daily chores, FigNewTon and I asked to ride our bikes to the Splash Station. The answer was yes! On the way out of the door, we heard Mom call "Wear your helmets girls!" because I had recently started thinking it was uncool to wear my helmet. On the way there, the ride was fine, and we had a fun day at the Water park. Leaving, I was again unsure about my helmet and almost didn't put it on, but I knew FigNewTon would give me a hard time like she had done with Songbird the day before, so I put it on. Riding home, it seemed like FigNewTon was kind of crabby and tired, so I started a game with her. We would go and cross in front of each other with our bikes. Then one time, our wheels caught and our bikes fell over. The next parts are unclear, so I will give you everything I have pieced together from what people have told me. Falling off of the bike, I was hit in the back of the head and knocked unconscious. When I woke, there were a bunch of people looking down at me. One happened to be a pediatrician. I went to the hospital and was then transferred to Children's Hospital with the doctors saying I had fractured my skull. I was released the next day and got a lot better. Mom said that I got better for a while and then it seemed to plateau until Christmas, when I got worse.

After the accident, I had a lot of headaches and what I called "bugs." "Bugs" were when I felt like there were bugs crawling all over me. I was also very dizzy and could not usually think straight.

In January, I was at Basketball practice and got hit in the head with a basketball. Mom said I had "bugs" for two hours and was disoriented when she called the doctor. All together, I had bugs for four hours before they finally stopped. Mom took me into the emergency room and they hospitalized me for two days.

I am now doing much better. I think, feel, and react anywhere from 8 to 14, usually around 10. I don't have bugs very much any more, thanks to Dr. S, my chiropractor. Also thanks to Dr.S, I have very few headaches. I still sleep a lot and am not allowed to do anything that has any risk involved, like any sports or climbing. And youth group events usually involve something I can't do. I cannot be left alone for any period of time, which means that Mom cannot work.

I see a neurologist (Dr.R), my pediatrician (Dr.D), and a neuropsychologist (Dr.W). I am scheduled to have a lot of testing done by Dr.W. in August. This will tell where we need to go from here. I used to see a neurosurgeon, but I don't see him any more, because there is no need for surgery.

It took me THREE DAYS to write this post, people!

Family

OK, here goes. My family is small. There is Mom, FigNewTon, and me.

Mom is great. She understands when I don't remember something she said 2 or 3 days ago. She is Gentle yet firm in her teachings, and brings us up in the way of the LORD. She tries her best to understand what it is like to have a TBI ( Traumatic Brain Injury) or Dain Bramage. :)

Yet nobody can quite understand unless they've had a brain injury. With my recent brain injury, I think and respond like I'm anywhere from 8 to 14. Usually around 10. Yet always FigNewTon is 12. She is not used to being the oldest yet.

FigNewTon is younger than me. Yet in many ways, she seems like the older sibling sometimes. FigNewTon is a quiet yet complex young lady. She enjoys ice skating and is very social with friends. She chooses her friends very carefully. At this point, she is homeschooled. This was so that it would be possible to continue ice skating. Read Mom's view and how she got the name here:

http://www.abitmorethanajournal.blogspot.com/2009/05/fignewton.html

Me, I'm not popular, but not unpopular. I like to hang out with our family and have a family night together. Before the brain injury, I participated in all kinds of sports. That's not allowed anymore. I also got straight A's without trying. Now I struggle a lot in school and it's hard for me. I get A's and B's in school and I try my best. Mom says that's enough. Read Mom's view and how I got the name Butterfly here:

http://www.abitmorethanajournal.blogspot.com/2009/05/butterfly.html