Adam & Julie Stromwall Our Lives

Bon Voyage Adam!!! Day #1

Day #1.

Adam left for the SFC West Coast trip today. I went to Denver with my friend Val to buy my bridesmaid dress. It's SUPER cute! It's cotton! I thought it was going to be silky, but it's cotton! I love it! I'll be going home in May for some bridal showers and some wedding help... we'll be picking out fabric to make sashes for our hair while I'm there. I'm going to buy my flight home either this week or next week. We'll see how the rates are!

My concussion!!! I should share about this!!! So here's what happened... Yesterday I got off work at 11:30 and I was planning on riding with Adam @ Keystone before he left for his trip BUT they had to go to Denver to pick up their big van. After much debate in my head, I decided to go riding by myself. I HATE riding by myself but I really wanted to ride. So I went to Keystone, rode 3 laps through the park and then decided it was really boring by myself, so I went to just take some cruisers for awhile. Went down to Summit Express, then went to my favorite run off Schoolmarm. Everything was fine, I was going to head back down to Peru to take a lap down Go Devil, but at one point in the run it flattened out and I know for a fact I was looking up at a big orange sign that said "Ski/Ride Fast, Lose Pass" and KABOOM!!! I caught my heels and fell smacked my head, flipped 2 or 3 times and then finally came to a stop! I stayed laying in the middle on the run, on my hands and knees facing up hill. I feel like it was awhile before anyone stopped to see if I was okay! This one lady stopped and asked me if I was okay and I said "I think so, I know I'm okay if I can tell you where I am and what day it is"...... but she didn't ask me where I was or what day it was. At this point I KNEW I was messed up. I finally stood up and as soon as I stood up and looked around I couldn't remember where I was on the hill. I started freaking out because NOTHING looked familiar and I've been to Keystone HUNDREDS of times. I called Adam balling because I was so scared. I knew better than to tell ski patrol I didn't know where I was, they would have taken me to the hospital at the bottom--which is SO expensive!!!! I completely remember being SO scared because nothing at all looked familiar there. Adam knew where I had parked, even though I couldn't remember even coming to keystone! He helped navigate me to the mountain house base.... I was still really scared because I couldn't remember where I parked. I remember hearing Adam say he was on his way to pick me up! The last thing I remember was passing 4 slow-patrol people and then all of a sudden I "came to" in Adam's car (which I had driven there). The keys were in the ignition, the door was closed, my snowboard was outside of his car on the ground. My eyes were teary, my helmet, hat, gloves and goggles were on the passenger seat. I called Adam and asked him if I had called him earlier to tell him I got hurt!

It was SO weird. SO scary because of all the times I'd been there, I couldn't remember where I was at ALL!!! I think back on the ride down from where I fell and it was as if my brain was taking pictures of the ride down, I remember certain sections of the way down... I remember passing Montezuma... where I had been telling Adam on the phone "this looks familiar, but I don't know where I am!!!!!" It was sad. I was so terrified. After he picked me up, we went to Josh & Val's house, but when I got in there, nothing looked familiar. I couldn't remember ever being in their house before! I don't know how long we were there for, but I know I laid down on their couch for at least 30 minutes. Then things started to clear up and I knew where I was and who they were. I saw a picture of them on their wall and it came back almost instantly after that.

Such a weird concussion.... they must all be different because Adam's bad one he had 3.5 years ago was so different. He couldn't remember anything longer than 3 seconds. He couldn't remember anything that entire day, he still can't remember much of that day... where with mine I can remember almost everything except actually getting to the base and getting in his car. I remember the fear I had of not knowing where I was, and consciously knowing I hit my head and because of that, I couldn't remember where I was.

I took a nice long nap when I got home... don't worry, you can have a nap after a concussion!!!! Just don't sleep all day! My headache went away, but it's back today. I have a bump/bruise on my head, a bruise on my shoulder, a bruise on my elbow and a bruise on my hip. My elbow got stuck on my hip when I fell and then nailed my shoulder into my head. Ouch! After googling the spot of my head I hit, I believe my Cerebellum was temporarily bruised. Thank the Lord for creating someone who invented helmets!!! I am sending my helmet back this week because of a defect, hopefully they'll just replace it all together. If not, I am buying a new one for sure!

Time to take some advil and fall back asleep. Love you world.
JULIE