Category: My Healing Journey

August 2, 2017

Muscles in my back hurt so bad that I want to cry.   I’m taking muscle relaxer so I can go to sleep.

 

August 3, 2017

8.52am – Woke up in much pain and my head hurts!

10.58am – Saw my Dr. today.  Dr said I was making small improvements (that’s good). My blood pressure was 171/11 & temperature was 95.  I’m in a lot of pain today.  I may have some nerve damage.  He’s referring me to Neurologist. Given Rx for pain & muscle spasms.  Dr says it’s going to take a while to heal. Nerve damage can take several months to heal.

Thankful that I’m still kicking (not literally).  Going to try to keep pushing forward as I’m able to encourage healing.  God’s got this.   You’re continued prayers are appreciated.

11:00am – Stopped in to see my Mom (she works at Chiropractor’s) to say “Happy Birthday”.   Dr. Shouppe has not treated one (1) lightning strike victim in 31 years of practice (I’ll be his first)!   Dr. said asked me some questions.   My mom has also been talking about me.   Dr said I suffered nerve damage and that takes the longest to heal from several months to more months.

He encouraged me to stay active as I can endure it to encourage healing.  Suggested I play card games and multi-sensory activities.

 

August 4, 2017

8:48am – Long night.   Woke up feeling like someone punched me in the back.  Left eye is blurry.

2.41pm – Not feeling well.   Feel like I’m gonna hurl.   Left eyes still aches.

6:11pm – Thunderstorm going on.   Laying in bed with my eyes closed. Saw a blue streak of lightning and it scared me!!!   Body immediately tensed up!   This is not fun.   Lord, please help me.

11:13pm – Blood pressure is extremely high.   Took Epsom Salt bath, BC powder, and a second blood pressure pill.

 

August 5, 2017

10:57am – Cried myself to sleep last night.   I feel a little better than yesterday, but still feel yucky.   Blood pressure is still up 140/95.

6:00pm – Finally got my blood pressure down after eating fruit, taking magnesium 500mg, fruit smoothie with diatomaceous earth, and ¼ aspirin tablet.

Tried to make dinner, but only got half way through before my back pain was too much.  Had to ask for help.

July 30, 2017 – Woke up dizzy and not feeling well.  Got into argument with Joe over the days of us taking Jakob to college.  Began crying because it was all too much.   (Our eldest son, Jakob, was getting ready to leave for college for the first time.  I so was not ready both physically and emotionally, but I knew in my heart that he needed to go.)

I’m getting another headache.  I think I need to find something to balance my hormones.  I don’t understand why my emotions are all over the place.

Noticing that I can do some math problems a little faster in my head, but if I try to think it out I get confused.  Thoughts seem to be sporadic.

I’m wore out and extremely tired.  My neck hurts and muscles are twitching sporadically in my back and legs.

July 31, 2017 – Drank Vera (Yerba) Mate Tea this morning.  Took B-12 & multi-vitamins today.  Seemed to have a little bit more energy than I have been.  Also, a little more clarity of thought.  Back muscles periodically spasm throughout day and muscles ache all over.

Still feel unbalanced.

Have headache at end of day.  Took BC powder.  Also, took magnesium, ginger, and losartan (Blood pressure was extremely high).

August 1, 2018 – 4:00 a.m. – woke a little before 4 am with heartburn and stuffy nose.  Muscles ache and have feeling something was wrong.  Took Tums and Benadryl.  Fell asleep praying.

2:52 p.m. – Tried to help clean Lawana’s (an elderly friend’s house).  Managed to wash dishes.  Helped some with laundry.  Dezirae and Jordon did rest of jobs.  I’m now hurting all over and exhausted.  Muscles in between shoulder blades are burning!

7:40 p.m.  – Joe told me to use heat 20 minutes then ice 20 minutes to ease muscles.

When he got home from work, we put tens units on.  It hurts!  He told me to take it off after 15 minutes.  I thought I was turning it off and accidentally turned it up!!! Now I’m hurting worse.  Ugh!!  I’m not using that again.

8:05 p.m. – Hurting worse.  Took a Lavender Epsom Salt bath.  It helped to ease the pain a smidge.

10.21 p.m. – Muscles between shoulders and lower neck feel like they’re burning.  Took muscle relaxer – hope to be able to go to sleep soon.

At this point, my sleeping patterns were all mixed up.  It was hard to fall asleep at night because of the pain.  I was taking several naps a day as I had no energy and every little thing I did seemed to really wear me out physically and mentally.  I was just thankful to be alive.  I was also thankful because it was summer so school was out, but I knew somehow I was going to have to get school plans prepared soon – but for the grace of God, I was doing much of anything right now.  I was thankful that my kids were older and could help me around the house and help take care of me while Dad was at work.

Apparently, my brain was too foggy to even think about journaling for several days.  I didn’t’ add anything for about a week.  Honestly, I don’t even remember anything during that time except that I was in extreme pain and had no clue what was going on or what to do.

Journal Entry July 28, 2017

I hurt so bad all over…almost like I got beat up within inches of my life.  My head hurts so bad.  Lights and sounds hurt my head.  I’ve lost muscle strength…I can’t even hold a gallon of milk without my muscles going to spams.  Forget even lifting a basket of clothes for washing.  I have no energy at all.  Every little task seems to wear me out quickly.  I’m so dizzy I can hardly walk.  I think I’d rather stay in bed for a while.

What’s going on with me?  Why so much pain?  Why don’t the doctors know how to help?  Kids and husband say I’m slurring my words. I’m having trouble spitting out what I want to say.  I’m so tired.

Dezirae did awesome job cooking dinner (Homemade Pork Stir Fry)!  Joe gave it an A+

Journal Entry July 29, 2017

7:57 a.m. – Woke up hurting all over.  Headache has eased, but it’s not gone all the way.  My comforter feels like lead and it’s hard to move.

9:15a.m.  I’m so sad…just feel like crying and don’t know why.

11:43 p.m. – Headache is finally gone about noonish.  My right thigh hurts like it’s bruised.

Took B-12 (Methylcobalamin) to give me energy.  I have none.  I don’t sleep well at night.

Took Magnesium 500mg to calm my muscle spasms.  Also took Ginger because my stomach is upset.  Took Elderberry because I’m not feeling well. Forgot to take my multivitamins again today.  I’m having trouble with my memory.

 

Thankfully I received good advise to journal my symptoms so I’ve been keeping a journal almost since day one of my lightning strike adventure.  I’m still trying to figure out and make sense of this blogging thing.  It’s been 15 months since the actual incident and I cannot figure out how to backdate so I’m going to periodically add entries from my journal with the dates of journal notations until at least I catch up to present date.  I know some of my entries will have misspellings and incorrect grammar, but I want to show how my mind was processing things as I go.

Journal entry July 19, 2017

Today, I still have the side effects and I feel like I’ve been beat up badly.  Praise the Lord I still alive to tell about it.  Definitely a scarey episode that I don’t want to repeat anytime ever!

Side effects include: entire left side is still numb and tingly, my brain hurts, I have a massive headache like I’ve never had before.  My thoughts are scattered.  Why don’t doctors study this out?  The lights are so bright that it’s hurting my eyes must wear sunglasses to shade the light even indoors.  Why is everything so loud?  I’m so tired but I’m having hard time sleeping.  I’m glad my kids are older so I don’t have to worry about bottles and changing diapers.  My muscles are cramping.  Why do I hurt all over?  I feel so weak.  I just need to sleep this off.

I realized that I almost forgot to share a blessing…though it may seem minute to some…my eyelashes are starting to grow back!!!

Right after my being struck by lightning my eyelashes were so brittle that they would break off if I touched them.  My eyelashes are blonde so they are hard to see anyways, but to have them breaking off to where I had none in some sections and very short in other sections was very embarrassing if I dwelt on it very long.  I couldn’t even wear mascara for quite a while.

Well, I remember somewhere reading that coconut oil would help strengthen and grow your eyelashes.  I decided to give it a try.  I took a small amount (a couple of drops), warmed it up, and dropped it into my mascara bottle.  I used the wand to mix it up and then shook it.  I applied the mascara as I normally would.  Nothing more.

I only wear mascara a couple of times a week so I didn’t really think about it much.  As I was getting ready for church this past Sunday, I was applying my mascara and noticed that my lashes were starting to grow!  I was so excited I made sure my whole family knew!

Finding blessings even in the smallest things!  #thankyouLord

“This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.
It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.” Lamentations 3:21-24

A peek in the window of a lightning survivor….

I have memory loss and have forgotten how to do many things. Knowing that I should know how and forgot is frustrating at times. And there’s no rhyme or reason as to things I can and cannot remember.

For example… I planned a simple dinner meal for tonight – Chicken Veggie Stir Fried Rice. I’ve made it more than a dozen times, yet I simply have forgotten how to do it. Thankfully, there’s the internet & Pintrest that I can quickly look it up.

Then there’s the issue that my upper body strength and stamina have dimishished so much that I have to ask for help stirring after a while because my arms wear out and I start hurting more than I can bear. Or I get side tracked easily and end of forgetting to add certain ingredients or mixing up the directions.

I’m not complaining in the least. Life has been much harder since the anomoly.  I am thankful for God’s faithfulness and that His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23).

I just figure since my type of injury isn’t studied enough because doctors don’t think it happens enough that maybe allowing others to take a peek at some of my struggles may help others know how to be more supportive with those who struggle with the same type of injuries as I do.

…now if I could only figure out how to publish this to share…

Today I was feeling halfway decent so I decided to try doing some chores around the house.  This house needs to be clean and there’s chores that need to be done.  I’m getting impatient not being able to do much without it either causing me pain or wearing me out.  Anyways…

I decided while my son and husband were away to burn the papers, make a cake for Sunday dinner, fold two loads of laundry, and sprinkle D.E. on the ant piles I keep seeming to step in and get myself bit up.  Well, I managed to do them but I ended up hurting myself in the process and wearing myself out. Ugh!  The clothes still need to be put away.  I’ll eventually get to them.  At least I got something done.

I’m looking forward to eating that cake.  Still have to make the frosting though.  It’s a Depression Era Chocolate Cake.  The weird thing is I don’t normally like chocolate cake, but I’m looking forward to this one.  It’s for Sunday lunch.  We have cake, but I have no clue what the main course will be.

Oh, I almost forgot.  While baking the cake, I decided to brew some tea for dinner (chili’s in the crockpot heating up). My husband kindly pointed out that I forgot to add the tea bags. Ugh!   Frustrating!  Oh, well If at first, you don’t succeed.

The homemade icing didn’t turn out too well. I added too much milk and don’t have enough powdered sugar. At least we’ll have cake…

Time for a break.  My head hurts and my brain is getting foggy with vision blurry.  Until next time….

So…I’ve been trying to work on setting up this website/blog since April to document my recovery in an effort to help others as well.  I have purchased a book, tried to read the book, watched youtube videos, etc. and it still seems like Greek to me.

I thought I was making a little progress today until I hit the wrong button and messed it all up. Now I’m trying to fix it, but I can’t remember how I did it in the first place even with the notes I’ve been taking. Ugh!

Right now I am just so frustrated and feel like crying because no matter how hard I try I just am not comprehending what to do to get what I want to be done.   In the sense of being honest (I forgot how the saying goes),  my mind is telling me that I should know how to do this, but my brain isn’t getting it!!!!

As I began trying to search for ways to help heal from being struck by lightning injuries, I struggled to find anything definitive on the internet to help.  Sadly, most doctors don’t think that this phenomenon happens enough to warrant studying this out to any extent.

In the months following, I have been able to learn that one in one million people get struck by lightning per year!   In our finite minds, we generally think that is great odds.  But if you sit and ponder it a little more…

There are over 7 billion people in the world.  With that in mind, an average of 7,000 people gets struck a year.  Of those that do get struck, 90% survive; and 80% of those survivors have lasting effects from their encounter.  I’m thinking that should be enough for some doctors and/or nurses to study this out to help the survivors that have long-lasting effects from their lightning strike encounters.

C. S.  Lewis wrote, ” We can ignore even pleasure.  But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.  It is for this reason that I have decided to try to document my journey to recovery hoping that maybe my findings can help someone else who may need help finding the light in a dark world.

“The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.” Psalm 34:18

 

July 18, 2018

Today marks my one year anniversary of my life-changing event of being struck by lightning!!! I am thankful to be alive!  I continue to thank God for His faithfulness and that His mercies are new every morning. Lamentations 3:22-23

It has been a year of ups and downs that come with the after-effects of the damage the lightning left behind – nerve damage, traumatic brain injury, PTSD, and migraines are among a few of the daily battles. This is something that you won’t hear on the nightly news media. Until recently, the only time you heard of someone being struck by lightning on the news was when a person was killed by the lightning strike. I have yet to see them cover how a lightning survivor copes with the injuries or struggles to find doctors that have dealt with this type of injury in order to get the help they desperately need. Sadly, most survivors struggle with depression after struggling to find either a doctor that is willing to help or even keep a friend that understands the plethora of symptoms that they struggle with on a daily/weekly basis.

We continue to pray that God will heal me completely. While waiting for God to answer that prayer, I am doing my best to learn how to use natural remedies as much as possible to aid in the healing process.

I thank God for the loving support of my family and close friends. I also thank God for the new friends I have made through my Lightning Strike support group. God has already opened doors for new friendships and has enlarged my coast (1 Chronicles 4:10) beyond what I could imagine allowing me to be able to help others. I look forward to how much God will extend that coast in the near future.