All Steps Forward!-wait..WOW!!

Shannon does have her favorites! One of the main nurses she has is named Jamie. It seems that the next step forward always comes when Jamie is here! Jamie came on and that's when all the cool stuff earlier reported started to happen. And she continues to be successful! We have had several more good signs! Shannon is coughing with nearly every suction and some times without the stimulus. We need the coughing to continue to break up the pneumonia. This may be just too gross to know but when they suction, they are sticking a small suctioning tube down in to her lungs, in her throat and mouth. The more Shannon coughs the more of that junk they get out. They suction her about every 2 hours. When Jamie was suctioning in her mouth a little bit ago, Shannon was moving her tongue all around and it is back to that cute resting spot that you can see when she is concentrating! :) So although we feel bad for her when they suction her, because of what we see, we really don't feel too bad!

Aaron mentioned that after a person withdraws from the pain, then the next step is going to the pain. We're there! When the doctors came in and pinched her, she reached for the spot they were pinching! She almost crossed midline which is another little step. She is also consistently moving her arms and her legs with the stimuli.

Jamie just changed the pads on her cervical collar. It has a front and a back to it. A skilled person holds her head and neck, they remove the front, take out the pads, put new ones in and then replace the collar. While they were doing that Shannon started moving her head back and forth! She grimaced when Jamie was wiping a sore spot! She's coming awake!

Shannon wears a cervical collar because her neck has not been cleared which means all accident patients wear the collar until they get an MRI or a clinical exam to ensure that there was no injuries to the neck. So not to worry.

They have started to wean her off the ventilator and she has started taking a few breaths of her own. The ventilator is such a sophisticated machine that it can tell when she draws in air and how much, then it compensates to maintain the correct amount of oxygen. The same process for breathing out. Amazing!

Another good sign is her pupils are now reactive! So MUCH in one day! What a miracle in and of itself. Shannon is still very much unaware of what is going on around her but we are headed in the right direction.

Interruption...

Just got the report in that her pentibaritol level is now at a 5! So they have decreased versaid down to a 1 and a couple other adjustments to continue the waking up process. So it has been a very very good day. The doctors are very pleased and we have been elated to see so much happening in one day!

Interruption...

Holy Cow!! I can't get this written before there is more exciting news to share! Jamie said to Shannon "I am going to suction you out again." Immediately Shannon's right eyebrow went up as if to say, "you're what?" Then Jamie asked her to look at her and we saw the slightest movement of her one eye. Then she told her to look at me and we saw a definite turn of the eye in my direction!! Her eyes are partially open still because of the swelling but when Jamie said "open your eyes, Shan", that right eye brow went up again! After the suctioning, Jamie asked Shannon to squeeze her hand and Shannon squeezed her left hand. After all of that, she then gave us an ICP level of 17! Down from the 20-22s we have had today--goal is below 20 and the lower the better.

It is so humbling to see these miraculous steps and to know that the Lord made these incredible bodies to function as they do. We have so MUCH to thank the Lord for tonight! Ours--yours and so many other prayers are being heard and answered. Thank you!