Friday, October 28, 2005

Update 10/28

Hello All—

Well, it has been essentially 1 month since Kari entered her current mental state and at the moment I can’t say that we are any closer to coming out of it.  Right now she is almost exactly the same as the first night.  Shaking her head back and forth, yelling out a mix of syllables and complete nonsense, and trying to bite her hand and lip.  A few times I had to yell at her because she got a hold of one of her fingers and chomped down on it as hard as she could.  Most of the time during the day she is able to answer the standard “What’s my name?” and “Where are you?” questions, during the night she is much less stable.  Tonight she seems worse than normal as she is completely confused—not able to answer questions or even follow simple commands.  The spasms are particularly bad.  Every minute or so, she will throw her arms up and shake her head back and forth violently 15-25 times and then stop.  A few minutes ago she was screaming “no!” over and over again at the top of her lungs, pausing only to throw her head up and down on the pillow.  She has had two different periods of 1 hour of sleep today, but other than maybe an hour or two yesterday, that’s all the sleep she’s had since Monday morning at 3am.  That’s really all the news I have, I wish there was more.  Everybody says that they know that Kari will get better, but the facts are that even the doctors here aren’t sure what is exactly going, nothing has worked so far, and she isn’t any better than she was a month ago.  I am still hopeful, but unsure of if and when she’ll come out of it.  

Aaron.

P.S. I’m coming home Nov. 5-7 to look at apartments, so if anybody has any suggestions of places near Redlands, email them to me.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mr.G,
My thoughts and prayers are with you, too. I miss you a lot, do you think there's any way I could see you sometime when you come back to look at apartments? If not or if it'd make things harder for you then I totally understand, but I do wanna see you (and I know I'm not the only by far). Anyhow, I hope (and pray) that things will get better for you soon.
Love always,
Tricia Turton

The Guz said...

To all that read the comments--I'm going to try to be at some of the Lester Oaks competition on Sat, so I sould see some of you there.

Aaron.

Anonymous said...

Mr.G,
Everyone at school misses you so much (especially me)! We all pray for you and I have my whole church praying. Everything will get better eventually, you just have to be patient. It is all in God's hands. I want to see you so badly! Love always,
Alix H.

Anonymous said...

Mr.Guzman,
Brittany Lyell and Mom, Denise, Know that are reasons to doubt and feelings of hopelessness. It saddens us to share this jouney with you and want you to know that everyday we share your pain. Since learning of the accident we have become faithful viewers of this website and are looking forward to the day we will rejoice together with all of the well wishers and of course your family. We are very sorry you are hurting.

Gods Blessings,

Denise and Brittany

Anonymous said...

Aaron,

May God the Father give you courage and strength to handle this horrendous mess every day. I pray for you often, and remember, God answers prayer!

Dad

Anonymous said...

My thoughts & prayers are with you both all the time, I have just went through a serious of extreme depression I tried medication the one that helped alot was a antianxiety & sleeping pill trazidone & clonipin sucks to be on these drugs but I dont sleep with out them the anxiety is extreme at night!!! I also tried hypnosis which I got some great relief through that it is amazing what our mind does to us!!!!!! I know it is real hard on you Aaron to watch her go through this & not being able to help but really you are helping just being there!!!
May be suggest hypnosis??? I don't know how the doctors will respond but you would be amazed how it helps!!! Nothing ealse seems to be working it just might help!!
I wish you both the best & hope this stage passes real soon. It really hurts to hear all that your going through
Love you both
Blessed Be
Donie

Anonymous said...

Hey Aaron,
I'm sorry for the last comment I sent no I'm not a doctor but anxiety is some thing I have been dealing with & depression, just wanted to share some things that have helped me.
take care
Donie

Anonymous said...

Aaron,

I also have been following this website almost daily and have been praying for you and your family. You are going through an absolutely horrendous experience and I cannot begin to express my sorrow. Another suggestion, if I may ... Alternative sources of healing might work for you as per the above listing. You might want to think about acupuncture for Kari's spasms. When you get home I know of a good acupuncturist in Riverside. Dr. Mackie - a pediatrician in Riverside - anyway, his wife is an acupuncturist and I have seen her help other patients that have been injured similarly to Kari. It's worth a shot and can't hurt. I continue to pray for you.
Love/Peace/Strength

Anonymous said...

I also am among the many who watch and pray for you and Kari, following this blog and thinking of you every day. I am sure that we all want to be able to step in and take away all of this pain and confusion, to end this nightmare for you. And we cannot. So we pray, and we wonder why our prayers seem to be unanswered, and why the nightmare continues and we send bit of advice, and attempts at encouragement because we don't know what else to do. I just want to add my voice, so inadequate, to the chorus of people who are saying that we love you and Kari so much, we don't understand why this is happening, we pray and watch and wait and stand in solidarity with you in this long vigil in which hope is sometimes elusive. May God's peace be present with you.

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad to hear you are getting a few days away Aaron. You need give yourself a reprieve every now and then. A personal retreat. Probably more often than you are. It's great you are gettin a piece of normalcy back for a few days. Don't feel guilty about leaving. Let this be a time to breathe, get some rest, and get reenergized for your return. Kari would want this for you. You continue to be in our prayers, as so many. Peace brother!

Anonymous said...

Mr. Guzman,
Since July, we have been keeping in touch with you and all that has happened through this web site. Please know that we are thinking of you and as lots of other people are feeling, we wish we could or knew of more to do other than pray and have positive thoughts for you both! We check the web site once to three times per week! Please know that we are thinking of you and hope that you can somehow find time to take care of yourself. Remember, by taking care of yourself, you are ultimately able to be more and do more for Kari. Easier said than done sometimes!
Thomas is learning some tough timpini parts! Wish you could hear the band play! Hope to see you soon! Michelle & Thomas Gross