"Give Me a Break!"

Hi Friends!

What a great day . . . Kathi "showed off" a little for me and I was amazed at the progress in just the last 3 or 4 days. 

The first thing I did today was check her sleep log from last night - and she had slept the entire night. Praise God! When I walked into the room, Kathi looked at me and said "The doctor told me I would be in the hospital for a few more weeks." 

Now, the significance of this is 1) She finally remembered she was in the hospital. 2) She remembered talking to the doctor this morning and 3) She's right about the time frame. 

Kathi proceeded to tell me that she had walked in the hallway today with a walker and it was hard. She expressed amazement at the length of time she has been in the hospital and that she can't remember any of it. Her self-awareness was greatly improved today. The down-side of this self-awareness is now she recognizes that she has pain in her leg and some of her joints. 

I was shown some of her work from a few weeks ago when the therapist asked her to outline the letters "A, B & C" that were pre-written for her. She couldn't do it. Today, she wrote the entire alphabet without any problem. When she forgot her therapist's name, she said "Hey - I have a traumatic brain injury, give me a break!" What a hoot!

We sat for a while as she opened, read and talked about the various cards and notes she has received. She was flabbergasted that so many people had written her encouraging cards and had been praying for her over the last six weeks.

After 90 minutes of working hard, her ability to concentrate on the present started to suffer a little. She asked me to help her pack her things up so that we could get home. But today, that minor glitch in her thinking was the exception and not the rule.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

I thought I would just send out a picture of Kathi after she enjoyed lunch today. She has been upgraded to eating with three other people along with a monitor. Good improvement! It was so exciting to see her sitting and holding up her own head - because the last time I saw her sit up, she could not hold up her head. 
I was on a mission to deliver some clothes today, but was pleasantly surprised to be able to talk to one of her therapists. She wanted to give us all praise for putting Kathi's therapy ahead of our need to be present. She also said that Kathi was working "like a dog!" Right after taking this picture, Kathi insisted that I take one of the two of us.

She looked at me today and said "This body   -   it just won't do what I want it to." That was a very coherent statement. It will soon, Kathi, it will soon . . .

"Appointments For Tomorrow"

First of all, I want to say a big "thank you" to everyone who donated blood on Kathi's behalf last Sunday. There were 62 donors (42 at the church and 20 in BloodSource's office) - way above our goal of 24 donors. The people at BloodSource said that each donor has the potential to save three lives. If you do the math, 62 x 3 = 186 lives. You guys are great! What a wonderful gift.

I popped in to see my friend tonight while she was having dinner. Kathi is still on a soft diet and needs 1-to-1 monitoring while she is eating. This is because she is still not a strong chewer and swallower. 

She was delighted to see me, but basically stopped eating at that point to talk to me. So her nurse took her dinner away. This just reinforced to me that she really can not focus on two things at once right now. (I guess all those specialists are right . . . go figure!) 

Once again, she was very chatty and animated - but confused and fuzzy in her thinking. Innately a Type A personality, she feels the pressure to be accomplishing something. She was concerned about her "appointments for tomorrow" and wasn't sure that she will continue to be a full-time student, or work part-time. Bless her heart - her mind is just racing trying to fill in the holes. In case you wonder, we gently bring her back to the present, reinforcing where she is, what has happened, that she no longer is in college, and that her only job is to "get better." We assured her that we are taking care of all her appointments and ministry responsibilities. Someday she will recall all this on her own.

It was also interesting to watch when another person entered the room and began to talk to her. You can tell that she becomes easily overwhelmed and stops talking - trying to process all that is going on. I tell you this, because I want to be accurate and up front with how she is healing. Time is her friend in this "re-booting" of her brain. Thank you all for respecting the "No Visitors" restriction at this point. We all want what's best for Kathi.

Her leg is healing well, but sleep CONTINUES to be a problem. The doctor has tried various medications to help, but she still only sleeps an hour or two at a time. I asked her if she was out of bed today - she said yes, but that she is very weak and she doesn't understand why. So continue to pray for rest, strength and healing of those fragile connections in her mind.

Sunday Small Talk

I know for many of you, this is a lifeline to Kathi. So, I am diligently filing the latest blog even though there hasn't been much change, or things to report. I visited with her today for about thirty minutes, and she was exhausted from the beginning. We read her most recent cards - she enjoyed the riddles that were sent to her - and that just about wiped her out. I was informed that she still isn't sleeping well at night (only about 4 hours last night) and that is tough on her. 

She was gracious and excited to see me, though. We talked a bit and I commented on how her memory was a little fuzzy. "Really?" she asked. "Did I tell you that I recently married Robert Redford?" She gave me that famous grin, and then admitted that her memory was fuzzy. I'm amazed that she never misses an opportunity to make me laugh. 

This begins week two of rehab. Please pray for her ability to get some good sleep - especially at night. Pray for strength and continuing healing of her brain. Praise God for her sweet spirit and sense of humor.

Evaluation, Treatment Plan & Blood Drive

Today was a big day - we met with the various professionals involved in Kathi's care and treatment. It was informative and helpful! 

We first met with her speech, occupational and physical therapists. They are bright, competent and compassionate people. They let us know that Kathi is doing great. Very constructive information was given to us, along with ideas to make this rehab be the best it can be. One of their basic requests was to decrease her stimulation as much as possible. She is easily distracted by sounds in the hall, a napkin in her lap, or a chipped fingernail . . . and then she can't focus on their training and instruction. So they asked that we discontinue any visitation except for her immediate family. They explained the energy it takes to "visit" with someone detracts from her ability to re-train her brain. As painful as that is for us (and you), whatever is best for Kathi is our focus. Thank you for your understanding!

Kathi's diet has advanced a bit, and she is enjoying it. She has been transferred to a special bed (a veil bed) to better protect her from injury or falls. The various teams told us that Kathi is such a sweet person - her kindness shines through to them. They warned us that with TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) we may find that she displays unusual anger or frustration, so don't be surprised. But at the end of the meetings, the speech therapist said she doubted we would ever see that in Kathi. It isn't in her spirit. 

We all want to know HOW LONG and HOW MUCH recovery will we see, right? I know that I want to know . . . and as you can imagine, the rehab teams won't say. It could be six months or two years - but they were very optimistic that she would have a "good" recovery. Just to remind everyone - Kathi sustained a horrible brain injury. We give praise to God for her recovery so far - and it is totally in His hands as to her further recovery.

This Sunday, July 20, there is an ability for you to help in a tangible way. The first week following the accident, Kathi needed a HUGE amount of blood products. So, Lakeside Church is hosting a blood drive from 8:30am to 12:30pm through BloodSource at the Lakeside Folsom campus. Your blood donation can be credited to Kathi's blood account which will go towards saving another person who sustains a traumatic injury. You can make an appointment ahead of time by emailing nancyconley@sbcglobal.net, or you can just walk in that day. If you want your donation to be credited to Kathi, just mention that to the blood drive staff. For additional information, you can call Lakeside Church at (916) 985-3245.

In closing, I want to give you a "Kathi-ism" - we were discussing styles of music today. One of us mentioned that we like a combination of old hymns and current Christian music. Kathi smiled and said "Aren't all hymn's old?" Hmmmmm . . .

Address for Kathi

For those of you who want to send cards or letters to Kathi, you can send them to

Kathi Sturgeon

c/o Lakeside Church

745 Oak Avenue Parkway

Folsom, CA 95630

"What Was I Thinking?"

OK . . . first some humor. This afternoon, Kathi was snoozing a little bit when the hospital chaplain walked in. He introduced himself and asked if I was family. I explained just a close friend and Kathi's medical contact. She opened her eyes and looked at me and said "Who made you in charge?" I came right back with "That would be you, Kathi." She gave me a cheesy smile and said "What was I thinking?" Oh my goodness - besides being very funny to me, it shows what great connection she is making in her brain. Is it always like this? No . . . but more and more often. 

She was cranky, in general, when I arrived today, but in a sweet way, and always with a smile. When I would reach for her hands that are always scratching and picking, she would smile and say "You're mean." She must have told me four times that rehab was hard. Yes, it is. I explained that she was used to hard work, having trained for huge bike trips. She said, yes, but she had never done rehab before. 

She discontinued her own NG tube in the middle of the night, (pulled it out herself) and the staff decided to give her a shot at eating pureed and thick fluids. So far, so good. She asked me why she couldn't have water and complained about "too many rules." 

I share all this just to give you a glimpse of how she is doing cognitively. (Great!) She is very much the reflection of Christ, as she complains with grace and humor. 

She was able to recall on her own today that she had been in an accident riding her bike. She is amazed that people are asking about her . . . and Rodger and Lynn Schmidt in Mozambique, she gave a huge smile to me when I told her of your prayers. In fact, everyone should know that we have read every card to her, and relayed the messages from the blogs. 

Prayer requests: increasing strength and endurance for Kathi; continued tolerance to feedings; healing of her leg wound; wisdom for her doctors. 

As I was leaving Kathi asked if we should make plans for lunch tomorrow. I explained that I wouldn't be there for lunch. She said ok, then said . . . "Shouldn't we make plans for lunch tomorrow?" I'll give her that one.