Megon Phillips Aesch - I Tied My Shoes Today: Recovering from a Hemorrhagic Stroke

I TIED
MY SHOES
TODAY

RECOVERING FROM A
HEMORRHAGIC STROKE

MEGON PHILLIPS AESCH

Copyright 2016 Megon Phillips Aesch.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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ISBN: 978-1-4808-3654-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-3655-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016914347

Archway Publishing rev. date: 10/25/2016

Contents

For everyone, but especially for Mom and Dad and for Jim.

(Sung by Celine Dion. Lyrics and music by Diane Warren.)

You were my strength when I was weak

You were my voice when I couldnt speak

You were my eyes when I couldnt see

You were the best there was in me

Lifted me up when I couldnt reach

You gave me faith coz you believed

Im everything I am

Because you loved me

Thank you, Jim, for taking our marriage vows so seriously and for more than I can ever thank you for. It has been a long, difficult road, and I thank you for not only believing that I would survive, but could recover.

Mom, thank you so much for everything. For the laundry you did, the beds you made, the meals you cooked, the miles you drove to therapy, and even for feeding the dogs!

Thank you, Dad, for all of those trips to Ballston Spa. I still think we could handle three ice cream cones! (I did notice that was the only time we went to therapy alone!)

Thank you Mike, for your behind the scenes help. Thanks, too, for introducing us to Dr. Jenkyn!

Dr. Jenkyn, thank you for answering my many questions, for writing the eloquent forward and for taking my case, in the first place. It truly is because of you, that this has been written. I thank you for that and for treating my entire family with the dignity they deserved.

To Helen without whom this book would really not have been at all possible. Saying Thank you isnt enough.

Medical Record Note: Megon Aesch, 23 August

Problem List:

Cerebellar AVM

SP/VP Shunt

S/ No New Symptoms

O/ Going Home 9-4

A/ Miracle

P/ RTC prn (return to clinic as needed)

With this entry into her medical chart, my tenure of neurological care for Megon Aesch ended (or so I thought). My office SOAP (Subjective/Objective/Assessment/Plan) note from that August day reflected, in one word, the achievement of this remarkable individual in her monumental struggle back from coma and persistent vegetative state to life again at home. Miracle, period.

I first came to know Megon on 4 January, when she was transferred to my care six months after her brain hemorrhage. It was through the determined efforts of her neurosurgeon and her Neurology Ward Team, the ministrations of the dedicated caregivers in our hospital including the Neuroscience Nursing Staff, the Social Services Staff, and the many Physical and Occupational Therapists of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, that Megon began her long journey of recovery. This journey would take Megon to the Greenery in Boston, Massachusetts and Wesley Health Care in Saratoga Springs, New York, before returning her to her home in Cambridge, New York.

The unflagging devotion of her husband, Jim, her parents, Gail and Ed, and her brother, Mike, are chronicled here in her memoir. The support of her extended family, her Physical Therapists and friends, Tammi (she never gave up on me!) and Judy (she convinced me to work hard without my ever realizing what I was doing.) and her rehabilitation supporter and co-patient, Glen (my cheerleader at Wesley), among others underscore what caring humans can and will do for each other.

Megon lost her memory for close to two years of her life. Jim provides us with insight into this lost time with his recount of Megons day-to-day medical problems, which render her unaware, probably blessedly so, of those circumstances. Fragments of those memories would only later be recovered, as Megon put it, when the penny dropped.

Megon describes her first walk on a South Carolina beach, the pungent smell of moist potting soil in her horticulture class, and the arduous process of relearning to talk and swallow as landmarks in her recovery. Her need to be with others (I just did not want to be alone.) and the support she needed most from her caregivers and loved ones (the most important thing that I can think of would be encouragement.) are also poignantly described here.

Megons brother, Mike, wrote to me, It is our belief now that, knowing Megon as we do, one day she will thank you herself.* From being a Rotary Exchange Student to Sweden, to graduating from Cornell University with highest honors, to starting, and very successfully running her own greenhouse operation! It has to be that spirit that is keeping her going through this nightmare. We are all praying that someday Meg will be able to show us some of that independence again, if it is physically possible, and she will do the rest!

And she has. Read how the penny dropped for Megon Aesch.

*Megon did when she personally emailed me.

Lawrence R. Jenkyn, M.D.

Section of Neurology

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center

Lebanon, New Hampshire

This is my story, but it cannot be told without my husband, my mother and father, and my brother. It is about love, growth, disaster and renewal. The story begins much earlier than the events recounted here.

I was born in potting soil! I helped my mom and grandmother with chores in their gardens as far back as I can remember: important chores like running and fetching. When I was old enough to decide such things, I knew growing plants would be my lifes work. From then on, I carefully cultivated my dream of owning my own greenhouse business.

During high school, I worked for a retail greenhouse, learning all that I could about growing and caring for plants, and about talking with customers. Loving every minute of it, I learned important things, like the customer is always right! (Within reason, of course). No matter what happened, we were always supposed to show that whatever our customer wanted was the right thing. I was exhausted every night, but it was a good kind of exhaustion -- just bone weary from hard physical work. I was doing what I loved, and knowing I was on my way to college, I was also very happy.

I was accepted at Cornell University and graduated high school, but I deferred attendance to Cornell to realize another dream. I spent a year in Sweden as an exchange student, living with a family that became very dear to me.

I went to Cornell, and I received a bonus while standing in line at registration. I heard someone call my name and turned around to find Jim, a friend from home whom I hadnt seen for a while. Jim, as it turned out, was starting his senior year as an Environmental Science Major. The renewed friendship soon became romance. Here was a guy who loved the outdoors as much as I did: Someone with whom I could share my goals and dreams.