Car Wash!!!!!

Hope to see everyone there!!!!

Dominoes with Mimi!

Jessy is playing dominoes with her grandma Mimi right now. Dominoes is great because she has to move each dominoes with her left hand. She gets to work on her fine motor skills by picking up the dominoes and putting them on the table where it goes. She also has to see the little dots which is good to strengthen her eye!

Rummikub with the Family :)

Jessy is playing Rummikub with the family! This is a game she plays in therapy to help her with her left hand. It makes her use her left hand to move around the pieces and concentrate on what her next move is going to be.. The exercises she learns in therapy are great and could be used at home so she is constantly working on getting better! :)

Jessy loves visits!!!

Jessy loves having visitors over!!! It really makes her feel better and gets her up and going out of her bed! Here is a picture of Jessy with her friends Zuramy and Laura.

Date with Dr. Siomin!

WAKE UP SLEEPY HEAD!! Jessy woke up bright and early today to go see her neurosurgeon Dr. Siomin. They discussed different things about her ear and eye. Jessy can't hear through her left ear because of the trauma from the tumor. Dr. Siomin suggested she go see an ear specialist (not sure what they call those). She has to get that done ASAP so she can be able to hear through that ear again. He also told Mary (Jessy's mom) that it is very important to continue with the treatment on her eye. Applying the eye drops and leaving the patch on her eye is the only way the eye will heal so it doesn't have to be stitched for two weeks!

Keep in mind people, the tumor in her brain was very big, so removing it caused a lot of damage to her brain which is why her left side is the way it is right now. The electric shocks to her face she receives in therapy is what is helping her gain the feeling to her face. Hopefully her eye, ear and hand all fall into place right after!! :)

They also removed that extra stitch that was left on her scar! Dr. Siomin was able to remove some of the flakes on her head and suggested she could use baby oil to remove them on her own. He also mentioned she can use any shampoo or hair product on the scar and it won't be affected.

Stay tuned for more info on the exercises Jessy will be doing at home over the weekend! She doesn't stop her therapies even when she's at home.. That's what we call dedication! :)

20 minutes standing up exercise

Jessy is doing an exercise right now where she has to stand up for 20 minutes or until it hurts that she can't stand up. She is watching Nick Jonas videos while standing. Although she goes off to the side while standing she is doing great!

Hard at work with Lida!

WHAT A WORK OUT! Today Jessy burned some calories with her best friend Stephanie at therapy! She had physical and occupational therapy. She took her best friend Stephanie to therapy with her. Stephanie did all the exercises with Jessy for motivation. In occupational therapy she was given math problems to solve. She had a new occupational therapist who apparently really likes Glee! He was really nice! In physical therapy she did different mat exercises. The bike exercises were exhausting! She also walked while being held by her mom and therapist Lida. She is keeping up with putting the drops in her left eye every hour, and her antibiotic drops twice a day, hoping her cornia gets better! She says her eye feels cold and she sees blurry... She has an eye patch to help the healing. She is also working on her left hand... She gave me a high-five today with her palm! good job jess!

By the way.. While washing her hair yesterday Jessy found a stitch on her scar that wasn't removed with the other stitches!!! She has an appointment tomorrow with her neurosurgeon... I bet he won't be happy about that!!

I'll keep you posted on tomorrows doctors appointment!!!

Yesterday's doctors visit

Yesterday Jessy went to the Opthamologist to get her left eye checked out. They had previously put in a clear contact hoping it heals her cornia. The Opthamologist said her cornia is severely scratched. Jessy can't close her left eye, so it gets dried up causing the damage to her cornia. If her eye does not get better by next week, the doctor will have to stitch her eye closed for two weeks to allow it to heal. Let's hope it gets better! Jessy is on her way to therapy now.. I'll keep you posted!! :)

For Starters....

This blog was created to record the progress in Jessenia's recovery. Jessy is a fun-sprited twelve year old whose life changed on Monday, June 28, 2010. Jessy went in to an Urgent Care Center with complaints of a headache, and was rushed to the local hospital after having a Cat Scan which showed a shadow in her brain. That same night, at the hospital, they did an MRI on Jessy (she asked for them to play Y-100 in the MRI machine.. NO JOKE!) which showed that she had a tumor in the cerebellum part of her brain. On Thursday, July 1, 2010 Jessy went into surgery for a Craniotomy to remove the tumor. Jessy's spirits were always high before the surgery, joking and making us all laugh to release the tension, and she was sure that she was going to be okay. The hospital staff was so impressed with her attitude about all of this, considering her age and the severity of the surgery. Before surgery she gave us (her family) a code for when she got out of surgery, she would say something so we know she is okay. Her code sentence was “Nicky boo-boo, where are you?” (Talking about Nick Jonas). After her surgery, we asked her for the code sentence, and she said it, and gave me a thumbs up. During her second MRI, only HOURS after her surgery, she asked the MRI technician to please play Drake for her inside the MRI machine. This showed how high her spirits were even just HOURS after brain surgery. She was then put in a recovery room, where she was monitored and began therapy to gain back the fine motor skills she lost during surgery. Jessy was later transferred to the Rehabilitation center, where she had three different therapies everyday (physical, occupational and speech). She is now working on gaining back sensation on her left side, ability to walk, patching her eyes to strengthen her vision, working on the movement and coordination of her left hand, her balance and so many things we think are easy for us, that are now difficult for her to do. Jessy was just allowed to go home on Saturday, but she has a long road ahead of her to recover. She will be attending numerous costly therapies throughout the week as well as being home-schooled until January. Jessy has had such a great attitude throughout this whole process. She has kept her family strong and united. She is always joking around and making us laugh when we think things are the toughest.

Stay tuned for more on her recovery and how you can help!