Adventures

Brains; the most interesting, powerful organ of the whole body. Our bodies control center. From controlling body temperature to movements, thoughts and actions. Unbelievable, really. I'm guilty of taking this specific organ for granted every day, even now. The problem is we don't know what we have until it's gone. Quite unfortunate really. There are more things in life like this. We feel sorry for the people who have to deal with loss any any way, shape or form for a while then we fall back into the real world. Sadly, after everything Troy and I have been through we still are guilty of this. We tend to lose sight of what is important to us and what things are not. I'm ashamed that I have fallen back into this thinking. Knowing how quickly things can be taken away and how quickly life can change should be reason enough to always live life with a thankful attitude.  

Don't get me wrong; I'm extremely greatful for Troy, his life, his brain, everything about him. I just wish I wouldn't forget that. I wish it didn't take horrible things to happen for me to be reminded of that. There are and will always be things to work on in life. We all have our own strengths and weaknesses. 

In the last two months Troy has had a (more than usual) additicive attitude. Golf specifically. Most everyday he is swinging a club, setting up his mini course in our basement, going to the range, cleaning his clubs. Anything that has to do with golf, he is doing it. It's not a bad thing but I got the feeling of almost an obsession from him. My mind went to; he is totally bored out of his mind, this is what bored out of your mind looks like. On the other hand I thought, I wonder if this obsessive, addictive attitude is a result of a TBI. We had seen Dr Vandenberg the other day and I asked. He said that it's probably a mixture of both; knowing Troy he said, "he is go go go - all the time". But, it's common for brain injured patients to become obsessive over things. Their brains are realizing something is off, memory isn't what it used to be so they become obsessive to try and train their brains to remember. He has also been obsessive over plans. Which, thank you Lord, has gotten better since starting work. I couldn't do much more; " what is your plan, when are we going, we need plans..." Holy smokes. 

We ventured out to visit some friends from Kalamazoo Ave Rehab today. It was so fun seeing his therapist he first started with. The first therapist we saw said, " HEY!! Troy!! We were just talking about you today! So good to see you!!" What are the chances! Troy doesn't remember anything from this stop. I'm glad because this is where he struggled a lot. Being alert enough to know something was wrong but not vocal or processing enough to understand what or why. It was a very exhausting stage for both of us. There were a lot of sit down, "you can do this" chats and "this is what happened" chats which never went well. He was sure he would never have gotten onto that dirt bike because it had scared him too much before. It took weeks for him to process that. He was angry he couldn't work angry he couldn't walk or speak well enough for others to understand. It was really hard to watch. 

We then thought, let's try and catch Nature (a nurse from Spectrums Neruo ICU). Well, we didn't catch her but we found one of our other favorite nurses. Angela. She spent so much time with me talking and helping time pass by. She even came in early to visit us when we were moved to a different floor. She was helping a patient in the same room Troy was in when she caught our eye. She came running out with her face in her hands and in tears. She told me she didn't believe it was actually him. She was so excited and couldn't get over how well Troy was looking. Soon enough we had a clan of people checking out the new and improved Troy. She took a picture of us for the board of successes to show Dr Hagelberg and others who helped Troy get to where he is today. I love going back to show him off. They often say they don't ever see the end result of their patients and they love it when they come walking in to say hi. Well, we love being there (not as patients)! It's so strange introducing Troy to all of HIS nurses. I do love it when we have an hour drive home and he asks me lots of questions about his stay at all the places.