Although I used to love listening to Casey Kasem’s weekly top 40 countdowns, this isn’t about the song topping the charts. This is about nursing school! In 97 days, 14 hours, and 20 ish minutes, my “adventure” begins. I use that term lightly knowing it will likely be full of tears, sweating anxiety, and mass quantities of coffee. But I digress.
The past nine months, therapy has been my focus. I no longer get dizzy when walking and can walk in a straight line without veering off to one side. At times during PT, if I close my eyes, I still can’t find my center so we’re working on that. Speech therapy has helped improve my word recall and memory, though I still have work ahead of me to continue to progress. Measured progress can be seen years out from a brain injury, so we continue to push forward. Pat asks me questions such as naming five fruits or five things that play music, for example- while I am completing another task. My executive functions are what we’re focusing on; multitasking, prioritizing but also coping with overstimulation. I still have some brain “glitches” where words stumble out of my mouth and get mushed up, but my brain is a work in progress and trying to sort this all out.
In other news, I got the go-ahead to start driving. It’s been around a year since I last drove, and to be honest a total pain in the ass. I am grateful to Pat and all my friends that have helped get me to my numerous appointments this whole time. It’s the piece of independence I’ve been craving so badly.
This term I’m taking one of my last two math classes (can you feel the excitement?!). I hate math. Hate is a strong word I usually reserve for spiders and a certain other orange someone. Math has been a challenge but somehow, I’ve almost made it to the finish for that line of classes. Next summer I’ll take statistics and be completely done. Taking a class now is a good way to dip my toes back into the shallow end of the pool before I’m thrown into the abyss in the fall.
With that said, if I could draw a party with Jason Sudeikis doing the running man over in the corner, D-Nice spinning tunes, and a disco ball in my head-that would still not capture how excited I am to start nursing school. I’ll need some accommodations but I’m fine with that. Whatever gets me there.
With regard to my heart and the event (whatever it was) that was last month, I’m seeing a wonderful cardiologist that is setting me up for tests to help determine what may have happened. They attempted to do a cardiac scan (calcium scoring test) last week but my heart rate was too fast for it. Since I’m already on a beta blocker, they are trying to determine how to proceed. The plan is, if my calcium score is high, we’ll proceed to an angiogram. If not, we’ll go from there. Stay tuned. I’m trying to learn as much as I can while doing all of this. Can’t take the student out of the patient.
Lots of changes but it has given me hope. I’d be lying if I said it was all sunshine and rainbows. I’ve had some pretty dark moments this past year. Some days it’s an album of Adel but more often than not now it’s a round of Dr. Feelgood.