Decapitation recovery

Sorry its been a while you guys! I've been pretty busy. Many school projects and whatnot!


"As reported by Fort Worth’s CBS 11, “Jordan Taylor was in a car accident that separated his skull from his vertebrae. Doctors call the injury an ‘orthopedic decapitation’ and at the time gave Jordan a one percent chance for survival. ‘It's a miracle. It's a miracle from God,’ said Jordan's mother, Stacey Perez. ‘And it's a miracle of this hospital.’”Seems like this extraordinary miracle has caused one CBS reporter to, well, lose his or her head over it: “At Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth, Jordan shouldn't be playing air hockey. He shouldn't be moving. He shouldn't even be alive -- not after the type of injury he received. Three months ago Jordan was in a car wreck that nearly took his head off.”Listen, we get it. Really. It’s a miracle that he is still alive; even the most cynical doubter would have to file this one in the “miracle” folder. Also interesting: according to the patient’s mother, at one point “at least 20 churches” were praying for her son. Maybe crowdsourcing prayer does work."


This man. This lucky man. I'm not sure if it was this story, or another story just like this that I heard. But this was the gift of life from God. It really was a miracle. This man gives me much hope. Can you imagine? Being someone close to him, knowing that his head was pretty much unattached from his body? Almost waiting for his life to end? Could you imagine how this man felt when he figured out what had happened? He is the luckiest man on Earth!
What I wonder is if he ever has to have check ups since this accident. I hope he's doing well today, and has given me so much hope.


Thats all for tonightt (have to finish up a project!)
Until next time,
Skylar : )

Speaking in Strange Tongues

CindyLou Romberg of Port Angeles, Wash., has always lived in the U.S., and the only other country she's visited is Canada. More than 25 years after she suffered a head injury, she began speaking with accents that sound German, French, Russian -- and sometimes Swedish and Hebrew. Her diagnosis: a rare condition called Foreign Accent Syndrome.


Can you believe this? I can, but its hard to wrap your mind around it. I personally hate when people try to speak with different accents, but this lady cant even help it. I deffinately don't have anything against this case, so don't take it the wrong way. This lady has probably been through so much, especially with her head injury. I'm proud of how strong she was, but think about it.
You know when you loose your voice.. and you have that scratchy voice that you don't recognize? That is probably how this lady lives on a daily basis. She must have been freaking out when it first started, considering it was 25 years AFTER the injury. I'm curious as to how often her accents change and for how long they occur for.
I don't really have much else to say about this story, I just thought it was pretty interesting : )


Well, thats all for tonight.
Until next time,
Skylar : )


(ill post a picture of CindyLou tomorrow)

Doctor's Remove Many Objects from a Man's Stomach

"A Sebian man had surgery to remove some unusual objects from his stomach, including eight nails, a knife, a pen, a screw, a spoon, and a clothes-peg. There were also several other smaller objects in his stomach. Doctors were amazed that he had swallowed so many items without causing damage to his insides. A relative of the man had apparently reported him.

I have so many questions about this. How does a knife wind through your digestive system without causing major damage? What happens when he goes to the bathroom? Did he make clanking sounds when he walked? Was his wife's cooking reallys so bad that he'd rather eat the silverware?

"The identity of the patient has not been revealed. The doctors said he had suffered no major damage to his internal organs, and was successfully recovering." "


Now.. I'm not really sure where to start. Keep your kids away from things they can swallow. Or at least supervise them. I'm sure everyone does, but with this story, I feel like when I have kids, I will never be able to let them out of my sight. The thing about this is... is that this isn't even a story about a little kid. It's a story about a full grown man. Now if this guy doesn't have a medical problem... how on Earth could you do something so crazy like this? He's lucky that the knife or nails didn't cut his stomach open and could have died of internal bleeding.

However; I've actually seen a show on Discovery Health that dealt with a woman with a disorder like this. Although I can't remember the name of the disorder.. she had swallowed many different things and went to the doctor. While they were wheeling her into the OR, a nurse had been swapping out batteries for a remote and had them sitting on a table outside of a room. While wheeling past the room, the lady grabbed the batteries, popped them in her mouth, and swallowed them... right before the doctor's eyes. This lady knew what she was doing, but couldn'd help it. I truely feel sorry for people that have crazy disorders such as this one, and I hope they can make it.


That's all for today,
Until next time,
Skylar : )

Addiction or No Addiction?

I actually picked out my next story last night, however today in my health class we happened to be talking about nicotine. This brought up my memory of yesterday reading through different stories and came across one about a man who gave up smoking easily.

"I'm a person who walked away from smoking forever about eight months ago and now I can't help but ask this question. I realize that everyone on the television, radio, and internet claims that nicotine is addictive, but is this really true or are they simply trying to get you to buy into the hype so they can get your money? I have to tell you, as a person who smoked for fifteen years and walked away without the aid of any gum, patches, pills, or anything else, I have to tell you that I honestly believe it's all hype!Really, if it were true and there are actually withdrawals and the like associated with quitting smoking, wouldn't I have experienced some of them? Were there times I wanted a cigarette? Of course, but my conclusion is that it was because I was used to sticking cancer sticks into my pie hole for fifteen years, not because I was addicted to anything. I was just used to smoking. I mean anything that you engage in for 15 years is bound to feel like "normal", right?The conclusion that I came to is that I wasn't actually addicted to anything and that it was all hype. So I decided not to buy into the hype any longer. Anytime I heard about being addicted or how hard quitting smoking was going to be, I simply said to myself, "I don't believe that, it's going to bee easy to stop." I did this while I was still smoking. When I was by myself smoking, I would look at the cigarette and say the same basic thing directly to the cigarette.And do you know what. Within a couple of months of doing that, I went in my pack to grab a smoke only to find out that it was my last one. I looked at that cigarette and said, "this is it, I'm done." I proceeded to smoke that cigarette and haven't touched one since that day.It was literally as simple as that. I've realized that quitting smoking is what you think about quitting and not about being addicted to nicotine. You're addicted to nicotine if you believe that you're addicted to nicotine. It's as simple as that, and if you buy into the hype, you'll believe that you're addicted to nicotine. I'm simply telling you that you're not really addicted to anything you just think you are. You can do exactly what I did and be free of cigarettes and nicotine forever. Unless of course you believe that you can't."
-- Trevor Kuglar


Now, I somewhat agree with this man. I do believe that once you've done it so long, it comes natural. Like taking a shower or brushing your teeth, which you should do anyways for good hygiene, but anything you do over and over again, your bound to just keep doing it because it feels normal. I was thinking about this story the whole discussion today, but then the teacher told us how once you smoke your first cigarette, your body takes the nicotine and as you know, you just cough alot, your body doesnt know how to react to it, but once you smoke two or three more cigarettes, your body regulates the nicotine and it becomes a "normal" level of nicotine. Once your body runs out or lowers the level, that is when you go to reach for a new cigarette, to actually regulate the nicotine level.
Overall I agree that its not an actual addiction where your mind is what needs it, the only thing controlling the "addiction" is that your body wants to regulate the nicotine level.
So, what actually causes people to want to smoke? I know the normal answer would be "they think its cool".. but cmon.. do YOU think its cool? Who ACTUALLY thinks smoking is cool? I sure don't. I think it's the worst and nastiest habit. I would never even hold a cigarette for someone. I find them repulsing. So what is it that causes teenagers to smoke their first cigarette? Their second?(addiction hasn't yet kicked in) If we have been learning about the bad side affects of smoking since what.. third grade? Why would people want to do it? Now I know people think "but it won't happen to me".. but with me, well, I'm the "weird child" I've had many different medical conditions, I even had cancer at age 6. The side effects afterwards, I'm still overcoming, so, I believe that anything could happen to me. But any other teen? They may think it won't happen. But to most people, it actually does. You know, smoking a pack a day for a year puts a large jar of tar in your lungs? That is repulsing. Learning these things.. they make me wonder why on Earth someone would want to stick one of those sticks in your mouth, or even the chewing tabbaco. Yeah, maybe your friends are doing it, but why give in? With everyone as unique as they are, doesn't most everyone try to stand out amoungst the crowd? Well how about we stand up for ourselves and not give in, theres no actually pro to smoking or chewing tabacco. So why do people do it? Thats my question today... Why?


Well, thats all for today,
Until next time,
Skylar : )

The Musician Who Can't Stop Hiccupping.

Now I myself know how irritating it is to get hiccups, and sometimes it's really hard to get rid of them. Not only do they affect you, but the people around you could also get irritated. Think about what this man has to deal with on a regular basis.


"Chris Sands, 24, from Lincoln, hiccups as often as every two seconds - and sometimes even when he is asleep. He has tried a variety of cures, including hypnosis and yoga, but nothing has worked. Mr Sands thinks his problem stems from an acid reflux condition caused by a damaged valve in his stomach. "If the acid levels are severe enough they are going to do keyhole surgery and grab part of my stomach and wrap it around the valve to tighten it," he said.Mr Sands, who is a backing singer in the group Ebullient, said the condition has hampered his career as he has only been able to perform four times. In the next couple of weeks --as of the day of the report--, doctors at Nottingham's Queen's Medical Centre will put a tube into his stomach to monitor acid levels and decide if keyhole surgery is possible."


Now after reading this, thinking about when I would get hiccups, even the random one or two hiccups and they're gone, I will realize that it's not so bad. I researched a bit on how you actually get hiccups, what happens is that the diaphragm divides the chest from the abdomen which creates irregular breathing. Different ways this can happen is if you eat too fast or drink to fast, laughing too much or gulping down a hot drink over and over. I found it interesting that one of the ways to get rid of hiccups is actually breathing in carbon dioxide. The link I found this at said to cup your hands over your mouth and breathe in and out several times, huh, I guess I will have to try this one out next time I get hiccups.

Anyways, this actually is starting out as a project for my biology class, maybe if it goes well and people are actually reading it, I'll continue to post.
I'll try to post every day or two, so keep coming back for more stories : )

Until next time,
Skylar : )