Good News

Sort of off-topic, but something that may help you look forward to the future. And encourage you to keep up those therapies.

Last week, I went to my niece’s wedding. It was a beautiful and tasteful ceremony, with over two hundred friends in attendance. She married a really nice guy, a heavy-equipment mechanic from her home town, and they have a lovely little old cottage in the same town.

What makes this special is that my niece has had two major head surgeries. When she was born, they kept her in the hospital extra long because she had severe jaundice. Checks revealed that her skull bones had fused too fast and if she were left untreated she would have a deformed skull and possible retardation. So at less than a week old, she was operated on to separate the bones, and a Teflon plate was inserted over her brain. She grew up normal and bright and healthy, with a very slight lisp that fell quite in the normal range. She was social and happy and did well in school. Unfortunately her schools didn’t do equally well by her — the kind of system whose answer to any kind of challenge was to drop the course and do something easier. But she did get a diploma and spent a year in junior college. Then she was driving in winter and hit a white-out snowstorm coming off the Great Lakes. She had severe head injuries and was in a coma for over a month; we thought we were going to lose her. The effects of the plate already there in her brain were unknown. When she woke up, at first they thought she would be in a wheelchair for life. Then she moved up to a walker, and then a cane. Her speech is still imperfect, but understandable, and she’s back in a local college. Her fiance stuck with her throughout, and last week she walked down the aisle on her own. The physiotherapist recommended no train, a smart move, and she wore brand-new sling-back running shoes, but she walked. And danced at the reception.