Day 14 -- Progress Continues

We were all thrilled with the events of yesterday and from the comments on the blog, that joy was widespread. Today has been a continuation of good things. Her vitals, pressures and other numbers have stayed stable since she came off of the ventilator. Her responsiveness has been really good, even to the point of sticking out her tongue at the night nurse, Nate, when he made some comment she didn't like.

She went down for another CT Scan this morning to she if she was ready to have her EVD tube removed. This tube has been monitoring and regulating pressure in her brain since the surgery. Things have been stable enough and the results of the CT Scan were favorable enough that the tube will be removed in the next few minutes. They are also about ready to remove the arterial line that has been monitoring her blood pressure and allowing frequent blood draws for blood gases. All this is in preparation for a move out of the PICU (intensive care unit) into the Rehab Unit, which will probably happen later today. The doctors here in the PICU are really pleased with her progress, especially in light of the fact that when she was admitted 2 weeks ago, not many people expected her to survive. Her recovery has been miraculous. We are grateful for the many miracles that have brought Shannon to this point and cannot express to you all how grateful we are for your faith and prayers which have sustained and strengthened us. We'll share more of the days events later.