My problems felt big
A trip to the ICU
My problems feel small
My contribution to today's @baffled #HaikuChallenge #big
My problems felt big
A trip to the ICU
My problems feel small— Carl Setzer (@CarlSetzer) June 3, 2019
Blog
6/2 Braeden Update: Memorial Day Week From Hell
We’ve been home four days now. B makes progress every day. He has been out of the house several times this weekend, but still tired easily. Mom & Dad are trying to help him keep things in perspective. This will be a long road and we don’t want him to push too hard, too fast. He’s bored, but that’s what his brain needs to heal.
Tomorrow we meet with his pediatrician. Hopefully we can get some questions answered to help B understand what the process is.
Our discharge paperwork says can can begin returning to school this week. He really wants to go back. Research shows that teens heal better from concussions with social interactions. We will start slowly – 1 or 2 classes – with minimal academic requirements. We will increase time/cognitive demands as B can handle it.
I guess I can retired the “Memorial Day From Hell” subject line, as we’re both past “Memorial Day” and “Hell”. For which I’m rather thankful.
Saturday, June 1: Gratitude
Under this sunshine
Pondering fragility
And life’s strange graces
Such a strange week. Monday afternoon my son crashed his skateboard, ending up with a significant concussion and “mild” bleeding on the brain. Monday night & Tuesday were spent talking about many possible (and frightening) scenarios. Wednesday we’re talking about leaving and Thursday we made it home. Friday we joined some friends for dinner. Surreal, in the end.
Now, we only just started this journey. 45 minutes at dinner with friends exhausted him. He spent most this morning’s energy at our eye doctor’s simply getting glasses adjusted.
We’re home. His mind is mostly intact, and healing quickly. Doctors believe we’ll have 100% recovery. Looking at the possibilities, I feel deep gratitude. We escaped some brutal stuff. I’m grateful for that.
Saturday Morning, June 1st
Crow conversation
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A Friday Night #Haiku
My son is sleeping
As night has taken over
This long week ending
Tonight’s Haiku: A Spring
I lay here at night
Delighting in the calmness
The air refreshes
A Haiku About Rest’s Healing Power
My son is sleeping
Night’s healing power acting
As we move forward
Update on The Memorial Day From Hell (Memorial Day Week)
Braeden Update:
Well, we have one full day back at home. Plenty of ups and downs. The biggest up: a significant increase in appetite. Loss of appetite is one of the major challenges of concussions. Nowhere near what a teen boy needs to be eating, but so very much more than he could eat yesterday. Also, it’s so much quieter than the ICU. It’s also nice to have the ability to close the blinds as he is light and sound sensitive right now. Dizziness and nausea are slowly retreating, too. And he was awake far more of today than any other day this week.
On the downs: he’s still in a fair amount of pain. Plus a few other aches and pains have materialized. Still have nothing on his head, though. Light and sound bother him a lot (nice that our little house is in a rather quiet neighborhood…though I was pretty angry with the garbage trucks this morning). That was blessedly short.
It is SO nice to be home. I didn’t realize how hungry I was until last night. A friend brought by a Papa Murphy pizza. Not feeling hungry, but realizing I should eat, we heated it up, and I grabbed a slice. Then ate three more! Far more hungry than I thought. And I slept until around 10:30 am, which made me realize how little I slept at Harborview.
Sheri returned to school today. She made it through, but is now thoroughly exhausted. Along with her classes, she attended part of the track end-of-season party. Several students asked if she was going to be there after missing their final meet on Tuesday.
We have felt all of your prayers and positive thoughts. Please keep them coming. This will be a long journey with many ups and downs.
A Memorial Day From Hell
An ICU Haiku:
At the very top
A view south of Seattle
The ICU’s noise
My family came home yesterday evening after a few days in Seattle’s Harborview hospital. This is the highest level trauma center for a good portion of the western US. My son’s skateboarding accident Monday afternoon resulted in a skull fracture, bleeding on his brain and a concussion. Hence our stay at a level 1 trauma center.
We’re home now, really just starting the long road of healing before us. It’s amazing to many of us how quickly we got here. A huge help: his helmet. The trauma was significantly mitigated by it. Several doctors and nurses told us it saved his life. Talk about sobering.
As we continue down this I will keep in mind how close we came to life altering calamity. When I feel frustrated about the caregiving, his surliness (a warning from the nurses)…all the elements of a head injury with months/years-long recovery, I will focus on how close we came to losing everything. I’m lucky: I brought my son home.
Waking in Terror While Resting in the ICU
How do I describe the feeling of bolting upright a little after 5am this morning with the first significant awareness of how serious this was. How badly this could’ve been. That we went right up to a line that, once crossed, you don’t come back from. It’s terrifying, sobering and humbling.
Braeden and Sheri are asleep. We’re moving forward. Very likely we’ll head home today. But this road is long. I feel deep gratitude that I won’t be alone.
Now I’m going to wipe away some tears, watch the sun rise, and embrace this sense of gratitude. And think about some breakfast.