Continued...

Well, it has been a while since I posted. Between going to doctors and trying to get back to work, it has been a wild road. The problem with writing about what happened in San Diego, is that I can remember, however, the memories are not very vivid. All those close to me don't talk about it very often and when we do talk about what happened it is usually about how lucky I am to not have more damage. But I will try and take a shot at it.

Arrival in San Diego

We had a choice to take me to either San Diego, California or El Paso, Texas. We decided on San Diego. I was admitted to the Intense Care Unit at Scripps Hospital. We were luckily enough to have my Mom's brother live in San Diego and allowed my family to stay at his house. He also had an extra car and allowed my family to drive it while we were there, making it nice to not have to rent a car or get a hotel.

When we arrived in San Diego my Dad called my fiancees dad. He did not call my fiancee because he felt that he would not be able to keep it together long enough to tell her what had happened to me. Her Dad called and told her the news of my trip. With the news she and her Mom had made arrangements to catch the first available flight to San Diego.

Sheila and her Mom joined my Dad watching over me. My Mom and little sister, Heidi, would join but would not be able to arrive as soon. Mom and Heidi had to get back on the cruise ship and catch a plane at the next port. Luckily, Mom works for an airline who were willing to work with her once she explained the situation. They thought they would have to fly stand by to get back, but luckily her manager pulled some strings and got a confirmed seat. Everyone took shifts staying at the hospital with me to be able to send any news if needed.

Three days after the accident I began speaking and comprehending what others where saying. It was hard for me to believe that I had been in an accident and was now in San Diego. I kept asking to see my Uncle Bob to give me proof that I was in San Diego. I had short term memory loss, so would not remember conversations that I had the day before. My dad says one of the first things I asked the nurse was, "What do I need to do to get better?" Five days later I was moved off the ICU floor to the regular hospital.

Everyday 3 hours were spent in therapy. Physical, Speech, and Occupational Therapy all devoted and hour a day to help me get better. At first walking was very hard as I had lost the use of the right side of my body. I knew how to walk, but could not get my body to work the way I needed. Along with this my right hand was very weak and uncontrollable. Luckily, I am left handed so I did not have to worry about writing. When I first started speaking, I knew what I was saying but was unable to get it to sound like I was actually saying words. These reasons are why therapy was every day. Everyone had gotten off the cruise ship and had come by to see me in the hospital. Sheila and her mom went home, Sheila went to finish the final week of teaching. I do not remember seeing them or any other family member that did not stay. Heidi went home and Trisha stayed in San Diego.

After 4 days I was moved to rehabilitation where more therapy was to be spent. Rehabilitation is the point where I can remember the most things. The first thing I remember was being moved from the hospital to rehab, I had to take an ambulance. When I was not at therapy I spent many hours sleeping and my awake hours not at therapy we played games together. Sheila finished school and came back to spend see everything was ok. At this point my good friend Aaron flew stand by to come and see me. Had he come earlier I would not recall him being there. So, I am grateful he waited to come out. Again, more games were played and they joked that even with a brain injury I still had my competitive nature.

While there my cousin Dave came to see me after he was out of work. It was very nice for him to come and see me more then once as he married into the family, but this also was interesting subject for him. He graduated from medical school and is becoming a neuro surgeon. His wife and kids, Calvin and Claire, came to see me twice. I played games with their kids, Candyland was Calvins favorite game and he won every time and I was not even letting him.

The therapists there said I was making great progress, faster then a similar kind of injury. I think that being able to have my family and friends close to me helped speed up my recovery. Having a good attitude towards also helped me have a speedy recovery. The nurses commented that having the good attitude and being able to joke was not a normal reaction. The doctors were glad as many head injury patients develope bad tempers and are angry at the world. This was not the case for me. The therapists released me to come back to Salt Lake City one week after arriving at rehab.

Before we could get a flight out, we stayed at Dave and Denises and their kids. By the end of the three days we stayed there Claire had opened up and was very friendly with me. Before we flew back I had my first break down. This was the first point that I felt helpless and did not understand why it was so hard for everything to get back to normal. We got to the airport and we were all worried about flying as I still had a perferated ear drum. When I got back to Salt Lake I had to make a Rehab, Neurologist, Ear Nose and Throat, and General doctors appointment.

Cabo San Lucas May 27 2008

Cabo San Lucas

After the days at sea the ship was going to spend one day at Cabo San Lucas. The guest could get off the ship first thing in the morning. In order to get off the ship a tender had to be taken. The last one to get back on the ship would leave at six that evening. The cruise ship waits for no one, so if the tender is missed the guest would have to find transportation home or to the next port. There was a couple guests that would be those that missed the last tender.

After breakfast, the family was going to take a boat to land and spend the day at the beach. Grandma and Grandpa Dahlquist, Grandma Jorgensen, Lea, Ronnie, and Louise decided to stay on the cruise ship as the tender ships were be to hard to get on and off. In order to get on the tender ships there was a line as everyone wanted to go see the port. The family placed themselves in line, which was pretty far back, to get on a tender ship.

Once getting on the tender ship there was about a 15 minute ride to shore and then the decision came to decide what would be done all day. After walking along the beach for a little while it was decided that wave runners would be rented. The best wave runners were at a little beach side shop, actually the only place to get wave runners is at the beach front property.


Going on the wave runners kept the fun adding up. Each rider on the wave runners changed often, the question was even asked to Mom if she wanted to take someones place on the wave runner. Her answer was no, so the six of us, Dad, Trisha, Me, Heidi, Ty, and Sarah, continued driving around the ocean. There wasn't enough of the ocean from the cruise ship the view was much closer from the wave runners.

The arrangements ended up being, Dad driving with Trisha, Me driving with Sarah, Ty driving with Heidi, on the machines. The next moment is a blur to everyone. Dad and I crashed into each other. Luckily, Dad and Trisha were just thrown from the wave runners, and Sarah had a bruised knee from the accident. On the other hand, I had injuries enough for the four of us.

I had a laundry list of injuries. The ones we know of are: fractured skull, bleeding of the brain, my right ear was almost cut off, and a lacerated liver. The whole right side of my body was bloated almost to the point of nonrecognition. Luckily, after hitting the wave runners I landed in the water next to Trisha face down. If I had not had on a life jacket I probably would have created a new home at the bottom of the ocean with my sunglasses at 11:30am on May 27, 2008.

Trisha was able to flip me over so my face was not in the water. Ty and Heidi brought over the wave runner he was driving and my family got me to an ambulance and on to the hospital in Cabo. While in the process of getting me out of the water Ty took on his own injury, he was stung by a jellyfish.

Well, before I was allowed to fly to San Diego the Mexican hospital and life flight had to be paid for in full. The problem was my parents and no one around had enough on their credit card. Heidi and Sarah went back to the cruise ship to find everyone else. Luckily, everyone was in their rooms and easy to find. After we finally were able to round up enough to pay for everything. By the time everything was taken care off the last tender to the ship would have gone. Someone from the cruise was kind enough to know the whole situation and made the last tender wait for everyone to get back on the cruise ship.

Dad and I took another route, we took the life flight to San Diego. When we first got in they started taking out the drugs that Mexico had put in as Mexico had put in more drugs then needed for the situation. At this point I was unresponsive to everything around. Once we reached San Diego my Dad was a mess but was able to call my Fiances Dad.

For some reason Mike had left his cell phone on the night and was able to answer his call. My Dad did not want to try and call Sheila because he was not sure he could hold himself together. Mike then called Sheila. She and her mom, Micki would be on their way to San Diego the next day. Mom and Heidi were able to join them the next day as well, while everyone else stayed on the ship as it would have been to expensive to fly to me.

Next post will be the time in San Diego.

My Mexico Adventure

I have decided to blog on my experience in Mexico. The problem is there are three weeks in my life which I cannot remember. So, what am I going to blog? That is a good question, and here is the answer. I will blog what people have told me. The stories all match with each other, so I am confident that no one is changing their story. Really, there is no reason to change anyones version of the story. So, lets start at the beginning of the whole thing and I will add more blogs with more details. It will probably take a few blogs for me to tell the whole story. If you read them all then great, if not I understand that it is along time to get to the point of my story, where you really could just call me and get the whole story in less amount of time.

The beginning

Trisha (my older sister) was preparing to graduate from medical school. The family was getting ready to celebrate! A choice was to be made, go to New York for the graduation OR go with the rest of the family on a cruise to Mexico. Well, after much contemplation, the decision was easy, have a week of fun in Mexico as apposed to having four days in New York with a few family members. Now granted graduation is important but Trisha said if the choice was to be made choose the cruise over the boring graduation. In fact, that is exactly how she explained the graduation, boring.

Mom, Dad, all the siblings, Grandma and Grandpa Dahlquist, Grandma Jorgensen, Ronnie, Lea, and Louise were all getting ready to go on the cruise together. Vacation was set for May 24th through June 1st. Everyone would stay in Los Angeles for a night before getting on the cruise ship. The night was spent taking it easy, preparing for the fun that was to come.

The next morning we got on the cruise ship and joined the festivities of the All Aboard Party. This was the beginning of an exciting trip. The night was spent dancing the night away. Music was played and all types of dancing took place. After the dancing the first dinner of the cruise was to begin.





Dinner was like a show. The waiters were very practiced in displaying the meal in a way that everyone, even if the dinner was not liked, would enjoy it. Dinner was followed by a show of singing and dancing. Shows like these would take place every night. The first two nights were the best because these days would be spent at sea. The first day arriving in Mexico was May 27 in Cabo San Lucas. This would be the start of our trips inside of Mexico.

The days at sea were spent finding activities to do. It was not hard to find something as every minute of the cruise was planned by the crew. Everything from rock climbing to scrap booking was available. A rock climbing race was bound to take place. All those who liked rock climbing would take part in the fun.





After rock climbing, there was sure to be a card game. Everyone was invited to participate and try to win the championship, just to try and defend it at the next card session. These games were to continues until it was time to get ready for the formal pictures. This was to help have the great memory of coming on the cruise and being able to dress up in the best clothes that had been brought. Pictures were taken and another night of shows were seen and the next day was going to be spent in Cabo San Lucas!