The milestones

May 2005 Jan and I met at Linda's birthday party hosted by Joy.

September 2005. We had the most incredible wedding in the company of the most incredible people: friends and relatives.

February 11, 2006. An aneurysm, that probably Jan had since birth, ruptured in the left side of her brain. In two operations within two days, she lost the area that controls speech, math, problem solving skills and the movement on the right side of her body, as well as some short term memory.

March-May, 2006. She has to start from square one: wearing diapers, eating baby food, unable to walk or talk. In four months she is walking without any mechanical help and regains about half of her speech ability. She is diagnosed as having mild to medium aphasia and right neglect.

May 2006, the plastic surgeon puts back the left flap bones in Jan's skull without realizing that they are dead after more than 3 months in the freezer. Jan has the first seizure hours after the surgery and starts antiseizure medication, which reduces her speech, comprehension and energy levels. Jan completes rehab therapies, the hospital decides that she is too well to stay any longer as an in-patient.

June 2006, Jan comes back home. She continues to work hard on her speech, can walk wobbling, can eat by herseld solid food, and weights 112 pounds. Continues as an out-patient.

November 2006, Jan sports a big dent on the left of her head. The flap bones have been reabsorved by her body. She starts riding her bike a bit unsteadily and refuses to ruin her hairdo with a helmet.

March 2007, Jan continues to improve in her language skills and mobility. Aphasia is still noticeable, she can understand more. She is swimming and more mobile. Struggles with the side effects of anti-seizure medication, she is on number 4 or 5. By this time we noticed that the seizures come once every three or four months.

June 2007, Jan ends in the hospital for a week because of side effects of the medications. She has been receiving NUCCA, a special physiotherapy from a chiropractor. She also continues with a special treatment of glyconutrients.

September 2007. Plastic surgery to correct Jan's missing flaps. The surgeon puts a hard mesh made out of polymers to replace the lost bones. Jan's head is back to a nice round shape, however, the surgery leaves a dent where the muscle on her left temple atrophied.

October 2007 to February 2008, She continues to improve in her aphasia, her conversatins are clearer and her energy level is higher. She starts treatment with an accupuncturist from China.

March 2008 to date, she is seen by a female neurologyst who orders an MRI but the radiology dept at the hospital refuses to do it because Jan has a clip in her brain. We ask the neurosurgeon to send a description of the clip and a statement that it is safe for Jan to have an MRI. The radiology department in the other hospital still declines the service requested by their own neurologist! Months later Jan has the MRI in the first hospital...

Latetly she feels tired and unsteady. It's almost three months since she stopped altogether the medications after a failed attempt with number 12. Her speech continues to advance. She reports a quantum improvement since she stopped her medications.
After and has a