Resilience

Resilience by definition means having the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties, to bounce back into shape; toughness. Such a small word with such a huge meaning huh? Well maybe for some of us it means moving mountains and to others moving hills. For me, resilience was life changing. I would not be where I am today if I wasn't resilient. I wouldn't be walking, running, snorkeling, working out, or doing any of the activities I love so much. Yesterday something inspired me and made me pretty emotional thinking about my own experiences I have been through in my life and how I have over come them.

I was lucky enough to attend a function last night with my best friend. Her company sponsored a table for the occasion. It was an award show for all the best athletes in the counties around where we live. What really had me sold was Matt Ryan, the Atlanta Falcons head quarterback and almost champion of the Super Bowl, was making a speech. Me loving football was super excited to see and hear what he had to say. Very inspirational man, but what really inspired was something quite different. Towards the end of the event they announced a courage award. A video played and a young boy came on the screen. We were told that he was diagnosed with a tumor in his brain that could not be operated on. This young high school boy was told he would have a year left to live. The video proceeded and we were soon seeing how open minded this boy was, how positive he was talking about his diagnosis. One line that he said in the interview really stuck with me, "the doctors told me I have one year to live, but I believe anything can happen". With tears in my eyes I had many flashbacks that night of my own tragedy and how I overcame so much as well. This young boys name was Kayne. Keep him in your prayers as he enters this part of his life. I know I will, and I hope he does get his miracle as I got mine.

The flashbacks I have of my injury, the moment it happened, that first year I was in a wheelchair and in and out of numerous doctors offices and spending hours in physical and occupational therapies, usually bring out the pain within me. Last night was different. As I sat there thinking about this young boy and how amazingly positive he was, it made me think about how positive I was too.

As you guys know, if you read my previous posts, by now you know what happened to me so ill skip a lot of the accident and focus on what happened next. Where I will talk about my resilience just like the young boy above showed. The very first day, the day of my accident, I was told I might die. I could here it around me, the concern in the ambulance, on the life flight, and in the doctors faces before they put me under. But I didn't, I woke up and I fought the next couple days to stay alive. After I was stable many doctors came in and talked with me every day telling me all sorts of stuff. They would all come in and comment how strong my body was and how much of a miracle it was that I was alive after losing 3/4ths of my blood. The day came that I will never forget, after evaluation and having 0 feeling or movement from my upper thigh to my toes they concluded that I would never walk again. That I would be bound to a wheel chair the rest of my life. The moment I heard that was very rough. Being an active person it was a blow to the face. Instead of accepting that and becoming depressed about what I couldn't change, I became resilient. I never accepted that I would never walk again.

I was transferred to Brooks Rehabilitation center in Jacksonville, Florida because they could no longer take care of me in New Smyrna Beach, I needed intensive therapy. I lived there in the hospital for months working extremely hard every single day to move my hand again and be able to function without my leg. Still determined I would walk again. I slowly regained almost all the feeling in my hand and full range of motion. I worked all day every single day to be able to do normal every day routines without one leg and I learned how to maneuver in a wheelchair. One day I told the therapist I wanted to stand up and that's where it started, the determination .. the drive. I pushed harder and harder every single day. Set new daily goals and weekly goals, I was always positive. I had such a great support group around me to keep me motivated and they did. Part of the reason I wanted to walk so badly was not just to tell the doctors they were wrong about me but for my amazing family and friends who had done so much for my family and I along with prayer. I almost felt as if I needed to pay them back.

And then the second miracle came. I walked.
I took my first step in a pool. Building from that to different walkers and numerous braces helping me get up and walk what would be my only form of normalcy. By the time I was out of Brooks Hospital I was able to walk with a walker putting light pressure on my foot.

Without resilience and determination I would still be in a wheelchair today, my entire life would be different. I decided I wouldn't settle for that life, that I believed in miracles. When I think back to those rough days where I thought I wouldn't make it to the next day, to the thought of not walking again, the thought that the pain I was having was going to kill me, I think back and I think about where I am today and it's a special feeling. A special feeling that only some people can understand. I could sit here all day and try to explain it to you but unless you've been through something so life changing and literally witnessing a miracle happening, it is not understandable.

I have had a lot of unfortunate events happen in my life, extremely bad days and nights, but I never let that stop me. One foot forward, every single day. I still have many challenges to this day but I remind myself there are so many people who have it way worse out there and to not complain, to love life and accept changes while also changing what you believe can change. Never hold back guys, never take no for an answer from the doctors. Live every single day as if it is your last. Believe me, I do. Who would have thought that 11 year old girl who was suppose to be wheelchair bound the rest of her life would be jumping off abandoned ships, snorkeling with sharks, working out everyday at the gym, and walking with only a small brace as support.


Be tough. Be brave. Be determined. Be resilient. Be your own hero.


Thank you so much for reading, I know I haven't wrote in a while.
Give it a share or a like if you enjoyed it. And I always love when people will let me know what else they would like to know about what happened to me.
<3 Lexie         

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy- A Chamber of Hope

Regaining Nerve Growth

This blog is a little funny and odd. Let me start out with yes, I sat in that weird chamber above and I spent many many hours in there.

As you know in my previous blogs, I had severe nerve damage and at the time I was doing hyperbaric oxygen I wasn't walking or moving my leg at all. I did not have any nerve growth from my severed sciatic nerve in my right leg.

Let me talk a little about the hyperbaric oxygen chamber. Most people have never seen or heard about them and that is probably more of a good than bad thing. They are used for healing, healing severe injuries. They work by breathing in pure oxygen in a pressurized room or in my case it was a chamber like in the pictures above and below. In the chamber, the air pressure is increased three times higher than normal air pressure. Under the conditions in the chamber your lungs can have more oxygen than would be possible with normalized air pressure. So your probably asking why were you in there?

Well, I had a doctor that was what you could call "out of the box" and one day he showed up and really expressed my need for trying this so called chamber out. So I did, you are willing to try anything when you feel like you have nothing.. With breathing in the pressurized oxygen through your lungs, it gets carried to the rest of your body, therefore promoting stimulation of cells. And for my sciatic nerve it was worth a shot to walk again and achieve nerve growth.

What it is like in the oxygen chamber

First you go in and sit down, they put on.. the best way I can explain it is a rectangular oxygen bubble over your head, which gets hooked up to a a few different hoses that give you the pressurized 100% oxygen. In a sense you are "diving" down under, but really not moving at all. Yes, it is a very weird concept for people who have no idea about it. I would sit in this chamber for hours and hours a couple times each week, and I use to dread going. I hated it. I didn't understand the meaning of it at 11 years old. You just had to sit there for hours in this small chamber with a couple other people. The good thing about it was I caught up on all the movies out during that time frame of my life. They would put in a 2-3 hour movie and by the time it was done we would be pressurizing back "to the surface" or really just back to the normal air pressure outside the tank. Very interesting concept huh? But it was a huge part of my life, a huge part of my healing and nerve growth.

Something special happened in the tank

People who think this type of medicine doesn't work, are very very wrong. Something happened my first time in the tank that I will never forget. Mind you, since my injury this was probably 6 months post operation. I did not have any feeling whatsoever below my incision which was in my upper thigh. I could not feel or move my entire leg. In the hyperbaric chamber at a certain depth of the pressurized air, my foot would start to tingle. And this was special, this meant my nerves were stimulating... This meant my nerves could STILL have stimulation. The tingling was one of the best moments when afterword it was explained in such a miracle type of matter. That the first time I tried the chamber, it was working.

Can I blame my entire nerve growth and stimulation on this chamber? Maybe. If not 100% it definitely had a huge impact on my recovery!

Good Doctors

The doctor I had, could have saved my leg. Never turn away from those "out of the box" doctors. Always try new things, and never lose hope. I know some people can get very discouraged with doctors now a days and how they approach you or your issue with what is going on, but I promise you there are some good ones out there. My hyperbaric oxygen doctor was one of them. This guy is tattooed in my memory and someone I will never forget. This man did so much for myself and my family. And I owe him a lot. One day I will return to Jacksonville, Florida in hopes of still finding him in the same office or somewhere else, but I will show up and he will see what a special case I was that not only do I walk, but I run, I workout, I formed a life that is no longer bound to a wheel chair. Yes I have limitations, but I live a somewhat normal life. 

Again, Don't take anything for granted

Life is beautiful, YOUR life is beautiful. So many critically ill people are out there right now in hopes of regaining their lives back like I did mine. I am very humbled and grateful of where I am today and overcoming the long journey of how I got here. Just always remember, there are so many people out there that have it so much worse than you do, they are fighting every day just for another step, another breath, another form of stimulation to keep them going.

I hope you enjoyed this read. 

Thanks as always for reading and following.

LIVE BEAUTIFULLY.