How do you get through something like this? A great support team!

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LA Chargers visit

How did we survive the last year? We had a huge group of people that helped my family and me while we went through this journey. We are so extremely thankful for the support and prayers from all of our family and friends.

The medical team who took care of me for 48-plus days in the hospital:

Dr. Loudon my neurosurgeon and his team.

Dr. Arrieta from infection disease and his team.

Dr. Wehbi from urology to take care of my kidneys.

PICU team – at least 20+ nurses and the attending physicians and residents.

Pre-surgery and post-op recovery teams.

Ruth McCarty, M.S., L.AC and her acupuncture team at Open Mind Modalities .

Especially Mike and Pam Monahan and M&M Physical Therapy – I’ve spent a lot of time dancing with Mike an they have played a huge part getting me back on my feet and giving me a shot at playing football, rugby and getting back to normal physically.

Support staff at CHOC such as patient advocacy, child life specialists (they get you movies), PT and OT, volunteers – LA Chargers players, Ducks Players and especially the therapy dogs – don’t think one  minute they don’t matter because they help you as a patient, and brighten up the staffs day too.

ZR Rugby wristbands

Family and friends.  At first you think you can handle it all, but in reality, you need help.  From the friends and family that bring you lunch and dinner in the hospital to the families and friends that bring you food when you are home.  Also the friends and family that just show up to say hi or sit in the waiting room to give my mom and dad a quick break.

A huge thank you to the people that donated to my GoFundMe.  Aside from what insurance pays, you don’t know how much it costs to go through this and little things add up  big time. Mileage and gas to and from the hospital, food while you are there, co pays and a lot of them for every visit to every Doctor, things that are not covered by insurance like Acupuncture, Eastern Medicine treatments and supplements, vitamins and things you have to try just to see if you can get better faster and back to normal.

Any help you can get will make it easier and a lot less stressful. It sure did for us. Visits from friends were the best too.  I got several visits from the football and rugby players and a few friends we could sneak in.  During flu season you are only allowed to have immediate family visit.

The JSerra Football, Rugby and school families have been super supportive.  They rallied and brought us food and groceries, got a cleaning person to help keep the house clean, and offered a ton of prayers. The JSerra High School administration, teachers and staff have worked with my class schedule to help me get back into school and handle the work load.  You don’t realize that the brain really has to heal and part of the healing takes time to relearn how to handle a ton of stimulation.  You don’t realize your brain has to re-figure out how to handle a crowd or go from a quiet environment (classroom) then in the hall with 100’s of kids.

The football team has been especially helpful in getting me through this too.  They’ve made me feel like a part of the team last season even though I didn’t’ play, and the countless texts and calls helped me stay focused on getting better and motivated me to keep pushing when it really got tough.

If you do have do go through something like I did, ask for help! It will get you and your family through it, with a lot less stress.

 

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