She's Here!

Sorry this post is late but a lot has gone on in the last 2 months.

But it is now my pleasure to introduce Miss Conner Rose Coffman.   She was born on April 15 2014 at 1:17 am.  She weighed 7 lbs 9 oz and was 19 1 / 2 " long.

After we got home we spent much needed time as a new family.   The day after Shane went back to work i was admitted to the hospital with an infection and spent 4 days ... including my 1st Mother's Day then was home 2 days and went back to the hospital with pneumonia and stayed 5 days.

The last 2  weeks have been filled with doctors appointments of all kinds including a new rehab doctor who will hopefully get me back up and running with my therapy. So the future is bright!

Update on our Little One

It has been a few months since my last post.   I apologize.   A lot has changed in our family.

In November we found out that our little bundle of joy was in fact a girl!  Shane and I decided on the name Conner Rose Coffman.   Conner was my (great grandma) Nana Bessie's maiden name.  She was very special to me.   She passed away just a month before my accident.  Rose is another family type name: My Gimma's name is Rosa, My Aunt's middle name is Rose (Myrtle Rose), but most importantly Conner's Auntie Amanda's (my sister) middle name is Rose.

The week before Christmas Shane was laid off from Terminix.   Thanks to our good buddy Patrick he quickly got a job offer from Great Lakes Dredge and Dock.  There was an upside and a downside to this job.  The upside was that it was a great paying job with great benefits.   The downside he would be traveling a lot.  We weighed the options and talked it out with my parents (who graciously agreed to take on not only more responsibility with me, but also took on the responsibility of my 3 chihuahuas!) and in 4 short days he was off to his job.  Location: Miami :(

This now brings us to January.   Everything is going great with my pregnancy and Conner and I are getting great reports from the doctors.   I then get a call from one of my doctors and in a round about way told me that New Hanover wasn't comfortable with handling my delivery due to my injury - Thank God it was nothing related to Conner!  The doctor then told me that I would be delivering at Chapel Hill.  This is the first time my whole pregnancy I was scared. 
The doctors were scared about labor and delivery causing Autonomic Disreflexia (AD).  AD is a condition that occurs in spinal cord injury patients when there is some sort of adverse stimuli below the level of injury.  This causes a number of symptoms including the onset of severe high blood pressure, throbbing headaches, profuse sweating, nasal stuffiness, flushing of the skin above the level of the lesion, slow heart rate, anxiety, and sometimes by cognitive impairment.  All of this happens within a matter of seconds to minutes and if not treated immediately can lead to a stroke or death for me and/or Conner.

I am now grateful that the doctors refered me to UNC with the least doubt on their part.  So with that and lots of prayer the appointment at UNC was made for February3. 

Now we are up to this past weekend!  It was a big weekend for the Cofffmans: 3D/4D Ultrasound,  Conner's 1st Baby Shower,  & The appointment at Chapel Hill.

◆The 3D/4D Ultrasound was amazing an amazing experience.   We got to see her facial details so vivid.  We got a recording of her heart beat and a video of the entire ultrasound!   I am so glad I got to experience this with my family.

◆The Shower was hosted by the women of Tar Heel Baptist Church and was simply amazing!   Conner is stocked and ready to go.  A big thank you goes out to everyone who helped and bought a gift!

◆The appointment at Chapel Hill was very informative.   I had my mind made up going into this appointment that I wanted to be put to sleep and have a C-section.  My reasoning behind this was  I had movement in my lower body and didn't want to jeopardize that with an epidural.   After meeting with the doctor I learned that what I wanted was the riskiest for Conner and myself.  If  they put me to sleep that also means putting Conner to sleep and she would have to immediately go to the NICU for support.   After speaking with an anesthesiologist and the head of anesthesiology at UNC Women's Hospital I feel like the  risk of further paralysis from an epidural is no where near the risk of being put to sleep. So I will have an epidural an have a baby like everyone else :).   ALSO ... for precautionary measures I have been scheduled to be induced at 8 am on Monday,  April 14th, 2014.

Please keep us all in your prayers!  

Big News!!!

Sorry it has been so long since my last post.  A lot has gone on since then... which leads me to this post!

Shane and I have big news to share ( sorry for some of you this is old news):

WE'RE HAVING A BABY!!!!

Yes, you read that correctly.  Our Miracle is due April 21, 2014.

I know that a lot of you have opinions and concerns.  That means you love us and care about us.  We do ask that you do not voice those to us... believe me every possible bad scenario has been played out in my brain.  We know that God let this happen for a reason and we know that He is not going to put more on us than we can handle.   We found that out April 24, 2012!

We are excited for this little Miracle and this new journey in our lives!

If you see my mama (Lisa) congratulate her on being a GimGim and if you see Shane's mama congratulate her on being a Mamaw again!

Brave Then ... Braves Now

Ok so this post is out of order of sequence of events... but this is a fun post and a new tradition. 

As many of you who follow me on Facebook or Twitter know that Shane and I went to Atlanta and Chattanooga this weekend.   Friday was exactly one year since I was released from The Shepherd Center Inpatient Rehab.  I celebrated this anniversary by a visit to the Shepherd Center.   This was awesome I got to see a lot of the people who took extra special care of me: Darvin, Paul, Jo, Megan, Katie, Dyan, Sheila, and even the happiest custodian I've ever met who's name is also Jo. 

Everyone recognized me right away and were blown away by how much I have improved.  They also couldn't believe that it had been a year.

Two days before I got out of inpatient, so August 14, I had the privilege to go on an outing to a Braves game.  For those of you that do not know I am a DIE-HARD Atlanta Braves Fan!  This was right up my alley!  So I thought It was only right that I also commemorate this as well with a Braves game.  Who am I kidding I NEVER need an excuse to go to a Braves game, especially if I'm in Atlanta.

We had a great time but got a little wet at the beginning but who cares I was I was at Turner Field!  Even better the Braves beat their new rival the Washington Nationals!

Shepherd Center Part 2

While at the Shepherd Center I was on a ventilator.  The lung specialist told Shane, Mama, and Diddy that I would never come off the vent.  Of course they didn't tell me this.   Mama said she looked at the doctor and said "You must not know my God. He's the Great Healer."  With a vent comes a lot of extras.  Your body secretes a thick mucus in your lungs which was called secretions.  Several times a day they had to go in and suction out the secretions with a mini vacuum type pump so they wouldnt settle in my lungs and cause me to quit breathing.   This was a lot on me with the vent and trach.  It caused me to have severe panic attacks.   This scared everyone because I had never had panic attacks before.   Well the longer I was on the vent the stronger my lungs became.  After about a month I started being weaned off the vent I started with 30 minutes a day and worked myself up to 20 hours.  I'll have to thank my Diddy & Mama for pushing me and not letting me give up!  After 3 1/2 months I found myself in an overnight stay in the ICU for my first full night without the vent. (ICU was for precautionary measures and observation).  I remember the day I posted on my Facebook page that I was vent free.  I think I had over 100 likes and comments.  My parents then told me what the lung specialist said.  My response was "My God is bigger than medicine."

Not only did I have a trach and vent, I had a halo, feeding tube, a catheter,  and a knee immobilizer.   With God, prayer, hard work, and prodding and encouragement from my family.  I was able to shed each of these assistance devices.

The diagram below shows the possible levels of spinal cord injuries.   My level was C1 which is not on the chart because 99% of the time that is a fatal injury.   I'm happy to say I'm the 1%!  If you look I also overcame the C2-C5 effects of spinal cord injury.

Shepherd Center Part 1

On May 16, 2012 after 3 weeks in STICU at NHRMC I was airlifted to The Shepherd Center,  the TOP SCI (Spinal Cord Injury) Rehab hospital in the nation, located in Atlanta.  I am so thankful to my doctors at New Hanover for referring me here.  This was a life changing experience.

When I arrived it was later that night.   I was evaluated and it was decided that I still needed to be in ICU.  I stayed in ICU another week where a blood clot was discovered in my right arm.   Immediately I was placed on a high dosage of blood thinners which accompanied my other concoction of medicine.  ICU was scarry for me.  I was used to having at least one if not both of my parents with me around the clock,  and they were not allowed to spend the night.  I had an amazing ICU nurse named Beverly!

I was transferred to a regular room the day before my 26th birthday.   This was one of the hardest birthdays.   I was having to deal with a new life while letting go of most of my old life.   I did get good news though... the next weekend I was going to get visitors!   My Gimma, my Aunt Wanda,  Amanda, & Andy were making the 6 hour trip to Atlanta to see me and we were going to have me a small birthday party. But...yes, there is always a but... the day before they arrived my parents had the worst job... they had to tell me that my PaPa had passed away on A May 9th.  I was crushed.  I was PaPa's girl.  I was angry at my parents and my husband for not telling me immediately.   Later, I realized it was for the best.   I had a great weekend with my family was the first normalcy I had had since the accident.  

When I was moved to to a regular room I was on the fifth floor in room 527 now known as the "Coffman room."  I was introduced to my medical and rehab team which was Team Bilsky which consisted of
Dr. Gerald Bilsky, his PA Darvin Foo, my PT Megan, and my OT Ginger.   I saw these 4 people 5-6 days a week from 8am-4pm.  They pushed me hard!  Many of you that know me know that I am very strong willed, very out spoken,  and if I don't want to do it then I don't.   They did not put up with that.   I hated them for that at the time, but now I am so grateful for them pushing me.

STICU at NHRMC

First of all let me start off by saying a big Thank you to to Mrs. Pam Roberts and her husband.  They were the first ones on the scene of the accident.   And who could forget Ms. Jeanene Green, Mr. Richard Johnson, Mr. Amos Bedsole, and Tar Heel Rescue Squad.  If it were not for these people, their knowledge and training,  and their quick decisions I may very well have not made it to the hospital!

Now to continue from yesterday!  I was in the Surgical Trauma Intensive Care Unit better known as the STICU with some of the World's best doctor's - my diddy has often said that he would put them up against any doctors that Duke or Chapel Hill had to offer.  They assessed my situation and right away every doctor I had started praying over me.  I had several surgeries I dont remember how many total but the outcome was that I had a halo placed on me, had metal plates in my head (and unfortunately I can not pick up any radio stations lol) and was fused from C1-C6 (the first 6 vertebrae under your skull), a metal plate and screws in my jaw, a rod fom my hip to my knee in my right leg, plates and screws in my right knee, another rod from my knee to my ankle in my right leg, a tracheostomy,  and a feeding tube put in.  I don't think I forgot anything.  All the while I was spiking fevers and fighting infections left and right.  I wasn't awake for most of this and I'm going on stories that my friends and family have told me.  They told me when I was awake that I would not let them turn the tv away from BRAVO and the Real Housewives of New Jersey (one of my guilty pleasures.)  I was in ICU for three weeks. For the better part of that 3 weeks I could not talk.  Made up a way of communication with me.  I would spell out things my blinking at letters as they recited the alphabet.   Im so glad they paid attention in Kindergarten because that game was a life saver.  Luckily I did not have any type of brain injury.  One of the first things I was eager to tell my family is that they had called me the day of the accident to tell me the dress for my sister's wedding was in and that somebody needed to pick it up.  I didn't let my high maintenance lifestyle go down hill while in the hospital friends and family washed my hair... did microdermabrasion on my face and Ginger and Emily even painted my toenails!

I don't remember at what point I realized I was paralyzed but I realized it on my own and luckily for my family they didnt have to go through telling me.  I realized it pretty early on but the reality did not set in until later which will come in another blog post.

All the while the out pour of support for my myself and my family was AMAZING!!! My work family from Verizon Wireless was constantly there.  My Church Family from Tar Heel Baptist were faithfully there and praying and providing my parents with whatever they needed.  The community in Bladen, Brunswick,  & New Hanover counties in general were tremendous.  I nor my family can not say "Thank You!" enough.  

The picture below is of myself, my parents, my husband and my 2 main doctors in the hospital Dr. Huffmon (neurosurgeon) and Dr. MacIntyre (orthopedic surgeon) and the head of the trauma unit that was assigned to my case Mrs. Karine Eason.