Coming Back to Life

Neuro Fitness Foundation Speech

2011-04-12T18:01:00.007-05:00

I will be sharing my story at the Neuro Finness Foundation Golf Tournament, Monday, April 25th. Please come if you can, but if you can't here's what I will be sharing.

-Daniel

I’ve been coming to the NFF a little over a year. I would not be alive today if it were not for my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Let me tell you a little about my accident, and what the NFF has meant to me. At 5:15 a.m. on January 17, 2008, as a result from a drug overdose from taking Xanax, Ambien, and Methodone, my mom found me unconscious in my bed, covered in vomit, barely breathing. I was totally unresponsive and barely alive.

The paramedics who answered the 911 call had to work on me for 45 minutes to bring me back to life. I was rushed to Harris Methodist HEB Hospital. My doctors didn’t think I would live through the first shift. But I did. They didn’t think I would live through the first day, or the first weekend, or the first week. But I did. I was on a ventilator; I had aspiration pneumonia, brain injury, liver and kidney failure. I had six or seven dialysis treatments before my kidneys started working again. I started waking up after several days, but my doctors thought I was just having involuntary responses.

During the next several weeks I underwent many procedures to keep me alive. I had a chest tube, a stomach peg, then a gastrointestinal tube, a tracheotomy, permanent catheter for dialysis, PICC line, an arterial line, a central line and an intravenous filter for blood clots. Several of these procedures had complications that led to further procedures. I lost 70 pounds and received 17 units of blood in 2 months.

Eventually all my organs began to function and I was able to stop dialysis and begin getting off of the ventilator. However, I was receiving a certain medication that was causing Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome that was slowly killing me. It is very rare and has symptoms that mimic those of a brain-stem injury. If you combine that with my anoxic brain injury and stroke, it took a while for my doctors to realize that some medications were killing me, and the offending medications were discontinued immediately.

Eventually my body stabilized enough to be transferred to a rehab hospital. For the next few months, the staff worked with me to get me breathing on my own, eating solid food, drinking liquids, and started physical therapy. I could barely sit in a chair and could no longer stand or walk, and I couldn’t use my hands.

I had many months of therapy, and many interventions such as surgeries on both of my hands and feet, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and Botox. You name it, I had it.

I believe all of those therapies served a purpose in my recovery, but I think it was the NFF that helped bridge the gap between that phase of my recovery and moving toward more independence. Since coming to the NFF I not only have gotten much stronger, but I’ve been able to quit using my walker. I did my first 5K walk this past October and started back to school in the Spring. The progress that I have achieved this past year has been made possible, in part, due to the help I have received from the many great people at the NFF. I look forward to coming to the gym every week. I have met many nice people and have made some friends. I continue to get stronger and I am still making progress.

I know I still have a long way to go, but I am looking forward to the challenge and the new opportunities that lie ahead. I thank God for my second chance. I know that He has given me this chance for a reason. I have a purpose in life! It will be a privilege to help someone else, even if it’s just one person, to not make the same mistakes I have made.

I'm Free!!

2010-07-06T22:45:00.004-05:00

As of this week, I have basically stopped using the walker!!! The only time I'm using it is at the gym, and hope to stop taking it there soon. Now I can walk all over my house by myself. Yesterday, I went to CVS to pick up my prescription, walked all over Home Depot, all over the grocery store, and finally went out to eat with my family at On The Border.

Obviously, this is thanks to more healing from Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior! I've also been slowly reducing a muscle relaxer I have been taking for two and half years. My doctor thinks my body may not need the amount I have been taking since I'm healthy now. Those two factors combined have let me break out of my “cage” as my mom and sister called it.

Thanks for all the continued prayers and support. I very much appreciate it!

Information Overload

2010-05-21T19:44:00.006-05:00

Hello all my loyal blog followers . . . I did not know there were so many of you out there, so I'll be updating this more often.

Since my last update, I graduated PT and Speech at HEB. I still go there for Occupational Therapy where I work on my fine motor skills, handwriting, and other things that have to do with my hands.

I am still going to Goddard Sports Therapy in Coppell where I still get ASTYM treatment, work on core strengthening, flexibility, and walking without the walker.

I've started going to a gym where I work out three days a week. It's called the Neuro Fitness Foundation. It's a gym for people with brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, or people that have had a stroke. The equipment is set up to accommodate people in a wheelchair or you can just use it normally. The gym also has staff on hand to help you if you need assistance. So like for me, I need help getting from one weight machine to the other, and adjusting the weights.

I recently got another round of Botox in my arms and hands. Every time I get another round of injections I make significant progress. I don't have much spasticity left in my hands and arms, it's just a lot small things now. My OT made a splint to help stretch out the tendons in my right hand.

About a month ago I went to see my hand surgeon for a one-year follow-up. He is very pleased with my progress. I have surpassed all his expectations; which seems to be the case with every doctor I've had. Anyways, he and I discussed the possibility of another surgery for each hand. We both can see things that he can fine tune, but he is hesitant to do surgery until I have stopped making progress in rehab.

My PMR doctor does not think I need surgery. She thinks I need serial casting (which is where they cast my hand in the position you see above for about a week). My OT thinks that it's a bad idea to do serial casting and that surgery might be a good thing. My neurologist thinks surgery might be in order a year or two down the road, but not while I'm still getting well and making progress, and he doesn't like the idea of serial casting. So ultimately I have the consider all the expert opinions, and see what works best for me. I have to figure out what I'll be able to do after surgery that I cannot do now, and decide if it's even worth it.

If any of you would like to see some photos of my recovery you can either click on my Facebook link at the top right-hand side of this blog. Or for those of you who don't have Facebook here's the link to My Recovery.

Med Changes Update/New Stuff I Can Do

2010-03-10T20:34:00.004-06:00

After many weeks of trying to tweak my medication, my doctor and I came to the conclusion to just go back to what I was on before all this happened. I'm doing much better now - I have stopped falling. Every once in a while though, I'll still have some anxiety and take a tumble, but for the most part I'm back to where I was before all this happened. Thanks to everyone out there for your thoughts and prayers.

It seems like every day now I can do something new that hadn't been able to do before. I am now able to write the whole alphabet from A to Z, I have started shaving with an electric shaver (I never would have had the control to handle that even two months ago), and finally sitting down at the piano and trying to push each key down with each individual finger. My doctor says even if I can't push a certain finger down that that is due to weakness, and just the act of trying to push the key down is strengthening my fingers. I will keep you all up to date on any new changes.

Med Changes

2010-01-15T18:51:00.003-06:00

It has been a frustrating start to the new year. I've been going through some medicine changes, and it has been causing me to be very shaky and fall a lot. In the past couple of weeks I've probably fallen over 20 times. I even fell in the bathroom and knocked a hole in the wall. To look on the bright side, thanks to the imprint of my backside in the wall we get to redo the whole bathroom. Even as I sit here at the computer, it is very hard to even control the mouse. Sometimes it just goes flying in the air. Please pray for me. I just want to feel better!

Fulfilling My Calling

2009-10-28T21:56:00.005-05:00

Today, I spoke to the kids at Winfree Academy in Grapevine. It was a very fulfilling experience. It was the first time, outside of rehab, that I've gotten to share my story with people other than online. I was very nervous, and wasn't sure how the kids would receive me. But I had nothing to worry about because they were very gracious, and listened intently to what I had to say. I believe God spoke through me, and used my story to touch some people.

I want to thank my aunt Susie for inviting me out there to speak. And thank all the kids for being so kind, and listening to what I had to say.

Winfree Academy Pictures

I am truly blessed!

2009-09-22T15:19:00.004-05:00

I just got home from therapy about an hour ago. As you probably can guess, I cannot drive YET. So therefore, I use Red Cross' public transportation to get to and from therapy. Today they picked me up from therapy, but instead of going straight home they had one more person to pick up. So we pulled into a doctor's office, and the driver went to go get the other patient that would be riding with us. As the driver came out with with this young lady in a motorized wheelchair my heart just broke. As she came up the wheelchair lift, and the driver helped her back up into the bus I could see she had some of the same issues I once had. She could hardly hold her head up, one of her wrists was contracted like mine was, and her speech was barely intelligible. I should have ended up in that position if you go by what all doctors say about my injury. BUT I'M NOT! And it's only for one reason. And that is Jesus Christ healed me from head to toe!

I just wanted to share that with all of y'all, and please pray for all the ones who are not as fortunate as I am.

The next step in my long journey.

2009-09-02T15:49:00.003-05:00

Monday, August 17th, was my last day at Pate Rehabilitation. I would like to thank all my therapists and techs who helped me along the way. It has been a long journey. I was there for almost a year, and they have helped me so much! So again, many thanks.

The next step in my journey will be outpatient therapy two days a week at Harris Methodist HEB Hospital at their physical medicine and rehabilitation program.

My first presentation

2009-08-05T20:23:00.002-05:00

This past Friday I was given the chance to share my story with a group of people from my rehab facility. It made me feel very good to have this opportunity to not only get my story out there, but get the experience I will need to eventually speak at high schools and youth groups.

I got a great response from my therapists and fellow patients. Some were moved by my presentation. This does not surprise me at the least. It just makes me feel good inside to know all I went through can maybe help someone, and now I'm seeing it actually coming to fruition.

Birthday Reflections

2009-07-19T14:05:00.008-05:00

About a year ago this week I was having tendon lengthening surgery on both legs, and each finger on the right hand. The day after my surgery was my birthday the 17th. When my mom walked in the room I just started crying because I was in so much pain. Now we fast forwarded just one year later, and it's hard to believe all the progress I have made! I think Jesus for His miraculous healing by Him, in the wonderful surgeons and physical therapists he placed around me. Then on August 28th I had to repeat the whole thing over again on the left-hand. Not as painful, but still very uncomfortable.

After the surgery I had to wear casts on both feet for six weeks. Then after that I had to wear ankle foot orthotics for six months. I could not use my hands or bear weight on them for at least six weeks. Then I had to relearn everything you might take for granted like eating, bathing, brushing your teeth, personal grooming... you get the picture. And I have a wonderful mother to thank for all this! As I said in the last post every day presents new challenges, but I do my best to overcome them!

Coming Back to Life

2009-07-15T21:27:00.009-05:00

I am a miracle and I’d like to share my story with you. At 5:15 a.m. on January 17, 2008, as a result from a drug overdose from taking Xanax, Ambien, and Methodone, my mom found me unconscious in my bed, covered in vomit, barely breathing. I was totally unresponsive and barely alive. Let me tell you how I got there.

I grew up in a Christian home with loving parents. My parents took me on vacations every summer. They taught me the importance of having a relationship with God. As a teenager, I played in the church orchestra and even lead worship for the church youth group. Throughout high school, I made A’s and B’s in my classes. I was also an active member of my high school band, playing percussion and competing in prestigious competitions.

From 2003 to 2008, I became addicted to drugs, which ranged from meth, marijuana, heroin, cocaine and prescription drugs. I made several attempts in those five years to stay clean, but I would always get back into drugs. My dad passed away suddenly when I was 20 years old. His death took a hard toll on my family and my life. So, I used drugs to cope with the pain of my dad’s death. I felt very lonely. Even though I had family and friends to support me, I used drugs to numb the pain.

The choices I made had a lot to do with the people I hung around with. Late in high school I started smoking marijuana with some friends. It was their idea, but I wanted to try it. Then a band friend invited me to try meth at a hotel one night, and I wanted to try it. That was the only time I tried meth for a year.

I began classes at Texas Christian University in the fall of 2003 majoring in Music Composistion. I had long, stressful days and resorted to drugs for relaxation. A lot of the time I smoked marijuana with the drumline.

The summer after TCU, a group of my friends, from my church, began smoking meth and I wanted to do it, too. I never worried about whether it was right or wrong. I never worried about any consequences; I never wanted to quit until well after my dad died.

I made several attempts to quit and it worked for a while, but I was always trying on my own and would never let anyone help me. I started stealing expensive items from my family to pawn. I even pawned my own things. I would go to any lengths just to get that fix that drugs gave me.
Once, I was making a trip back from picking up drugs and driving under the influence of meth. I wrecked my mom’s car and left it on the side of the highway. I called a friend to pick me up because I did not want my mom to find out. I was oblivious to what others saw. I wouldn’t even get out of bed to go with her to have the car towed to a repair place. I was always mad at my mom no matter how insignificant the issue was.

My mom kept giving me chance after chance, but I kept letting her down. I was letting myself down, too. At one point, I agreed to go to rehab, but I stopped going after the first week. I thought the program would not help me, and I thought I could do it on my own. I was wrong. I checked myself into inpatient rehab again about a year later, but left after two days, because again, I thought I could do it on my own.

In between those times, I had a couple of good jobs. I even moved into my own apartment in Grapevine for a few months. But each time when things were going well for me, I would hook up with the same old friends, thinking I could control the addiction, but I would end up going right back to the drugs.

At this point in my life I wanted to experience something different. I began using heroin. The other drugs were not giving me the intense high I wanted. First I snorted it. Then a “friend” taught me how to shoot up and it felt really good – so good that I can never go back to heroin or any other form of drugs because it made me a terrible person. I believe God has delivered me from my drug addictions but I know I will always have to be careful and rely on Him.

Along the way, I did poorly in school, I lost good jobs, and I got arrested and spent a night in jail. After that, I started a methadone program because I wanted to quit heroin. Then a friend got out of jail and we were both addicted to meth, so I was tempted and started doing it again. She was my “partner in crime” and we were negative influences on each other. I was doing great until then, but I started on my last downhill slide. I don’t really remember the weeks before my catastrophic accident.

The paramedics who answered the 911 call had to work on me for 45 minutes to bring me back to life. I was rushed to Harris Methodist HEB Hospital. My doctors didn’t think I would live through the first shift. But I did. They didn’t think I would live through the first day, or the first weekend, or the first week. But I did. I was on a ventilator; I had aspiration pneumonia, brain injury, liver and kidney failure. I had six or seven dialysis treatments before my kidneys started working again. I started waking up after several days, but my doctors thought I was just having involuntary responses. Over the next few weeks there were many medical complications.

Eventually all my organs began to function and I was able to stop dialysis and begin trials off of the ventilator. And, eventually my body stabilized enough to be transferred to Ethicus Hospital. For the next 80 days, the staff at Ethicus worked with me to get me breathing on my own, eating solid food, drinking thin liquids, wean me off pain medications, and started physical therapy. During this time I was bed ridden and lost the ability to perform normal physical functions such as walking or holding things. I received a muscle relaxation treatment, which finally allowed my tightened muscles to stretch out and I was able to sit up, and then stand up! Standing up brought tears to my eyes and I wanted to scream because it hurt so bad. I was finally ready for Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation (BIR).

At BIR, I underwent two surgeries to lengthen every tendon in both of my hands and feet. After a very painful recovery, I started learning to stand, walk, balance, and many other normal, day-to-day things. They worked with me on my speech and cognitive skills as well.

Currently I am at Pate Rehabilitation where I work on cognitive skills, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech therapy. They got me from a wheelchair to a walker, and I can now walk without a walker. I can roam independently with my walker, indoors and outdoors. My goal is to ditch the walker all together and have no assistive device at all.

Now after a few months at Pate I am finally home and just going in for daily outpatient rehab. I know I still have a long way to go, but I am looking forward to the challenge and the new opportunities that lie ahead.

I thank God for my second chance. I know that He has given me this chance for a reason. I have a purpose in life! It will be a privilege to help someone else, even if it’s just one person, to not make the same mistakes I have made.

Out of everyone listening – if you just take away one point from this – please DO NOT make the same mistake I have made. Ask for help!