Glenn Posted June 9, 2010 Share Posted June 9, 2010 Wednesday, June 9, 2010 3:29 PM Jerry had a Grand Mal seizure about ½ hour ago. He is on his way to Mat-Su Regional Hospital by ambulance. I am leaving now. He was moving and breathing but not cognizant when they left. PRAY!!! I will update once I get there and when I know anything. Am taking the laptop. -Deb Definition By Mayo Clinic staff A grand mal seizure — also known as a tonic-clonic seizure — features a loss of consciousness and violent muscle contractions. It's the type of seizure most people picture when they think about seizures in general. Grand mal seizure is caused by abnormal electrical activity throughout the brain. In some cases, this type of seizure is triggered by other health problems, such as extremely low blood sugar or a stroke. However, most of the time grand mal seizure is caused by epilepsy. Many people who have a grand mal seizure will never have another one. However in some people, daily anti-seizure medications are needed to control grand mal seizure. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From August 1, 2020 in another post. Put here for reference. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sept. 28, 2009 I was cutting firewood. I'd taken down and bucked up 4 nice birch already and decided to take a leaner that was getting close to uprooting in a wind. I'd kept it when I cleared the land. It was a beautiful white birch that forked about 40' up the trunk and was a good 70' tall. Unusually large for a birch here. The real reason I kept it was the lean, a good 40* almost due west and with the mature white birch forest behind it the whole looked like a sculpture. Well, with all the trees I'd taken to clear for the house, barn, shop and drives it didn't have a wind break and after a decade the root mat started bounding when the wind blew. Time to take it down. <sigh> I brushed the area around it so I'd have clear running room if need arose and had a good spot to take cover in a close by stand of birch. I threw a line over it gave it a good pull and snubbed it off to the pickup truck. Then I notched it so it'd roll to the north and not hang in stand of birch I didn't want to fell too. I HATE dealing with hangers, hence the rope and rolling notch. I'm not sure if I actually remember the prep for the fall, I think so but I had the basic plan made up when I left it standing in the first place and brushing clear running room was standard for tricky trees. I THINK I remember starting the cuts but that's iffy, probably not. I became aware and started building memories again about 2 weeks later in the brand new head trauma ward on Providence Hospital in Anchorage. Changed hospital units twice, finally a special recovery facility where I went through a lot of therapy, learned to talk, swallow, walk, etc. The day they let me go to the bathroom by myself was a landmark and the day they let me take a shower was cause for celebration. I came home Dec 23rd. I've been recovering ever since. Everything that lined up in my favor from the time it happened to I left was nothing but one lucky thing after another. Hence my sign off here. The Iforge gang kept Deb sane through the ordeal, members from our local club hardly let her be alone. Deb suffers PTSD from the crap I put her through. June after coming home I wasn't too unstable on my feet and with the ice gone I started looking around. First place I went was to the barn, Libby our rescued Great Pyrenees guardian dog was instrumental in my survival, when the tree hit me she went ballistic. If you know dogs you know the: happy, MOM/DAD is HOME, somebody's here, somethings going on and last but not least the, THE WORLD IS COMING TO AN END COME QUICK!! bark. Two other dogs were in the isolation pen getting out of Deb's hair and they were in full blown emergency alert too. Anyway, the last time Libby saw me was being tied to a stretcher by strangers who took me away, then Deb left. When I was mobile enough I walked out to to the barn, sat on a spool in the doe pen then hugged and thanked her for my life for a while. I still tear up. There were kids on the ground, too young to go out in the pasture yet so Libby was in full supper mother Pyr mode and didn't know it was me when I opened the door and walked in. I can't describe how much her expression changed, it went from adore the babies to interest in the door to shock and overwhelming joy. Lord I loved that dog and she didn't have to save my life. The tree leaning almost due west had hit the ground pointing almost due east. No it didn't spin on the stump, it was leaning WAY too far I figure it stretched the rope like a rubber band and when it hit the ground the rope snapped it around. In the process it batted me into a stand of trees. Fortunately Deb was drawn out by the dogs quickly and when she came into sight, I'd crawled out of the woods but was trapped by the down tree across the driveway. Station 62 is about 3 minutes lights and sirens from us and they stabilized me enough to life flight me to Anchorage. I was seriously busted up, broke all the toes on my right foot, broken right ankle, broken ribs on my right side, broke most if not all the ribs on my left side and punctured left lung, compression fractures of my #1 cervical vertebra and occipital condyle a fractured left orbit. I survived a severe Traumatic Brain Injury and a lot of extra nerve damage to the left side on my head, ear, eye even my left sinus is kind of wonky. Corrective lenses help but nothing will make my vision clear on the left, the majority of my retina isn't connected to anything, just a ring around the outside. It's funny, my peripheral is better on my left, sort of clear even. Anyway, that's what happened and why we laugh and make birch jokes. Also the origin of my sign off. Yes I'm lucky to be alive. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John B Posted June 9, 2010 Share Posted June 9, 2010 Sorry to hear that Glenn, Thoughts and Prayers go out to him from this side of the pond Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmeineke Posted June 9, 2010 Share Posted June 9, 2010 Prayers going up from Ohio. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chyancarrek Posted June 9, 2010 Share Posted June 9, 2010 Hang in there Frosty - We're all pulling for you!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenn Clif Posted June 9, 2010 Share Posted June 9, 2010 Thoughts and prayers going from Tennessee!!,clif Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul42` Posted June 9, 2010 Share Posted June 9, 2010 Some from Ontario, Canada too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HWHII Posted June 9, 2010 Share Posted June 9, 2010 My prayers go out for him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainely,Bob Posted June 9, 2010 Share Posted June 9, 2010 Healing light and energy being sent from Maine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainely,Bob Posted June 9, 2010 Share Posted June 9, 2010 Healing light and energy being sent from Maine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Parker Posted June 9, 2010 Share Posted June 9, 2010 Frosty you are a friend and an inspiration to us all. I will say a prayer and add you to our church’s prayer list. Get well soon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Lumpkins Posted June 10, 2010 Share Posted June 10, 2010 Prayer sent from PA.. and I will continue to pray for Jerry. Please keep us posted.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewOC Posted June 10, 2010 Share Posted June 10, 2010 Every bit of good luck and best wishes to ya Deb and Jerry. Thinking of you both. A. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monstermetal Posted June 10, 2010 Share Posted June 10, 2010 Hang in there buddy... We need you... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmy seale Posted June 10, 2010 Share Posted June 10, 2010 prayers from west texas, jimmy & mary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larzz Posted June 10, 2010 Share Posted June 10, 2010 Prayers and best wishes from Minnesota. I am at a loss of what else to say. Hang in there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim McCoy Posted June 10, 2010 Share Posted June 10, 2010 Prayers going out from Las Vegas ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted June 10, 2010 Author Share Posted June 10, 2010 Wednesday, June 9, 2010 11:46 PM For those of you getting two copies of this, I apologize. The only way I could be sure it went to everyone I initially wrote to earlier today was to copy the Bcc list. Frosty is home from the hospital after a BAD SCARE. The doctors believe the seizure was caused by an infection he didn't even know he had in his body, but which may explain at least in part the lousy way he's been feeling for weeks. They said the CT scan shows no changes from the last one (months ago), which is good. TBI survivors are at greater risk for many things, from seizures to stroke and more . it was a very graphic "wake-up call" reminding us that this boogie-man has not yet finished with us. Jer will be on seizure medications for a while . maybe always, I am not sure. This is a huge setback to him, to put it mildly. His appointment in two weeks for his driving evaluation isn't going to happen. It will be six months minimum before he could even be considered for resuming driving now :-( In fact, the six months may well start counting when he goes OFF the seizure meds. I don't know. Any of you know how that works? <big sigh> We both came home late this afternoon and immediately took a long nap. The experience zapped both of us. :-( Thank you for all the prayers . I think maybe we need them to continue. Hugs and love, Deb PS: Sadly (and yes, we considered the possibility that the stress may have contributed), we lost our hero Great Pyrenees dog, Libby, today. Dr. Beck was in the midst of gently and humanely euthanizing her with her head in Jerry's lap (she was suffering from bone cancer - we were keeping her going on pain meds, but it was time to let her go in peace.) when the seizure hit Jerry. The doctor at the hospital felt the infection was the main trigger, but she didn't rule out the idea that the emotional stress could have played a part. They felt that it would have happened anyway. So sad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trying-it Posted June 10, 2010 Share Posted June 10, 2010 Knee mail your way! Get well soon Frosty. Stan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithgartner Posted June 10, 2010 Share Posted June 10, 2010 Frosty, my best thoughts and prayers are with you. This is just a set back to be overcome. I look forward to your posts and replies, going to anything with your name on it first. Your wit and humor is surpassed only by your knowledge and guidance. Come back to us quickly. Sincerely, Keith Gartner Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K. Bryan Morgan Posted June 10, 2010 Share Posted June 10, 2010 Thoughts and prayers for you both.... I'm so sorry to hear about Libby.. I was hoping she would be here with us alittle longer...I really liked her alot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DennisG Posted June 10, 2010 Share Posted June 10, 2010 I hope you start to feel better soon Frosty. Mrs. Frosty, stay strong, hope you have some family and friends close by to lend a hand with the day to day runings, wish I was close enough to lend a hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John B Posted June 10, 2010 Share Posted June 10, 2010 Thanks for the update, good news and bad news, our thoughts still with you both, and hoping for more of the good news Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Dean Posted June 10, 2010 Share Posted June 10, 2010 We are praying for you. HE is STILL GOD ALMIGHTY!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
divermike Posted June 10, 2010 Share Posted June 10, 2010 Frosty, I lost my dog a couple years ago, that is enough to cause any number of maladies, I'm sorry to hear about your setback, but maybe it's because you were going through withdrawels from not forging! sic! anyway, I will be praying for you and your sweety! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted June 10, 2010 Share Posted June 10, 2010 Deb; take care of yourself and Frosty. Driving after such an incident can depend on what type of medication he is taking---some are pretty powerful and he might even want to avoid power tools for a while while on it. (This can depend on how the individual reacts to a drug as well and how that changes over time. It mostly depends on what the Dr is willing to commit to paper when it comes down to regaining privilages. My *younger* brother had 2 strokes while in his 30's and is back driving and doing hard manual labour in his 40's. Remember that this is stress on you as well and you need to be extra special careful of yourself too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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