What I have been up to..

On Saturday, January 23rd I went to my little sister, Rachel's cheer competition. She is on her High School Varsity Squad. They did really good! Above is a picture of me and her after she had competed.



Last Sunday I taught the lesson to the yw laurels class in my ward. I made Valentines Day cookies for all the girls. I am so glad because last Valentines Day I was stuck in bed, unable to talk, walk, or move at all so ANYTHING will be better than last Valentines Day and making some cookies would be near to impossible! During the surgery to remove the AVM they had to remove a part of my cerebellum. Here is a little health class for ya, something I never cared about before until now. The cerebellum is located at the base of the brain and controls balance and coordination. The right side of the cerebellum controls the right side of the body and the left controls the left side unlike the rest of the brain that controls opposite sides. The cerebellum is unique because it’s actually is considered its own brain and is called the “small brain”. Since a part of my cerebellum was removed, all my motor skills were affected and since it was on the right side my right side was even more affected. During the first months after the operation I had severe ataxia. My right arm was super shaky and uncoordinated. I remember in the hospital I tried to open a wrapper and kept dropping it because I could not hold onto it. Then one time I tried to clap my hands but missed them both completely. I remember the first time I tried tying my shoe it took me a ½ hour because I couldn’t hold onto the shoelace. Well, I wanted to just give you a little piece of my experience so hopefully this gives you an idea.

It is ME and im now updating everyone on my recovery!

Hello everybody! For the first time it is ME, Heidi, writing to you all about my recovery. Ever since my accident has happened I’ve had my family do the blog for me because I did not care to have a blog. Now, since I have the energy to update my blog I figure I should be the one updating my blog. So, from now on, just know you will be hearing from me. January 26th is my year mark for when my accident happened, FINALLY! It seems like time has gone by super slow but it’s coming slowly but surely. The reason why I’m so excited about my year mark is because more time gone by is the more I’ve progressed. So, for those of you who had forgotten, I’ll give a short summary of what had happened and I’m really sorry if I repeat something because I have no idea what is on here already. January 26, 2009 around 10am I was preparing for a test in my ballroom dance class at BYU-Idaho when I started to get this horrible headache. I passed out and then was flown to the nearest hospital where they did an emergency surgery. The surgery lasted for 6.5 hours. They removed something called an AVM (Altravenous-Malformation) which is similar to an Aneurysm but it was a birth defect and really rare. A piece of my Cerebellum was also removed which controls all the physical movements of the body. After it was over the doctor came out and told my parent that I wouldn’t make it through the night, and if I did I would be a vegetable the rest of my life. It has truly been a miracle because I started to progress and I’ve been recovering ever since. Someday I’ll make a full recovery and I know this because I had many priesthood blessings saying I would. I would like to say thank you to everyone that prayed for me and all the support. I know every little thing has helped me get this far now and continues to help in my recovery. Right now I’m doing very well. I still get off balance at times but my walking has been getting a lot smoother. My talking is still really slow so I can pro-nonce all the words efficiently. My right side (it was the side affected) is not as shaky and uncoordinated as it was in the beginning. My eyes are doing a TON better, I now only see double at some angles in the distance and double on my sides. I have a goal to run a 5k in August and my physical therapist is really positive I can do it. Well, I’ll update from now on and sooner next time!

Heidi spending time with the family!