Saturday evening, 7:30 pm

Wow! Can you ever tell that I didn't write the last couple of entries! This is Pheobe. We have a number of family members in the medical field who will really appreciate the details that only Aaron can give with his medical background. For those that know Shannon but not our family, Aaron is Shannon's oldest brother that lives in North Carolina and is just ending his 3rd year of residency in general surgery. (Hence his entry.) Udell is Shannon's Dad, Pheobe is mom. Shannon has a brother who lives in Seattle who is a systems engineer for Amazon (a computer geek--yes he lets me say that:)). Both brothers are married to 2 of Shannon's favorite "girlfriends". She loves her sister in laws especially since they gave her, her 4 nieces and 1 nephew! Shannon has 3 other sisters, Annika, Kate and Tonya. Most of Shannon's friends know Tonya. Kate and Shannon have always been like "two peas in a pod" even though they are 10 years different in age. Annika lives in the basement apartment with her best friend MaryAnn. That is just for those who don't know Shan's family.

Tonight Aaron and Udell have gone to the temple so I am updating the blog in my language! Aaron will return and give you the medical details again later! :) We are so very pleased that Shannon is holding her numbers down low. They have the sodium levels coming down slowly like they want. Having Shannon's pupils respond is still a concern to the medical people. But because of your prayers and faith, I am not. I keep telling them that tomorrow she'll have her pupils respond for them. Then I whisper in her ear and say "Ok Shan, tomorrow's the day just to show them that YOU are in control!!" I believe in miracles. We are seeing little ones daily. With your faith and prayers, we will continue to see these little miracles that are going to add up to one that will be faith promoting for all us. I am just counting on that and I hope you are too.

I don't think I have told you about Shannon's eyes. I guess it is pretty typical with a brain injury like this for the eyes to turn black, blue and purple even though they were not directly injured. So when I first saw her, her eyelids looked like they had been painted red, black, blue and purple! They were very swollen but her eyelashes and eyebrows which I could see gave her away. But by the next morning they were so swollen that you could hardly see any of her lashes (which means they were very swollen considering the length of HER eyelashes). The bridge of her nose was swollen so much that it looked like it nearly went straight across from eye to eye and the end of her cute little nose was certainly not it's normal size. But the amazing thing is every time I go back in to her room and look at her face I can see a huge difference. Now the left eye hardly has any black and blue marks left and the right eye has only about 1/2 the eyelid still "painted". The coolest thing is that it seems every time I go in her room that her eyelashes have grown---but it really is because the swelling has gone down so much that you can see more of them each time! The bridge of her nose is back to normal and that cute little nose of hers is just as cute as it ever was. The body is really an amazing miracle in and of itself. I hope I painted a picture for you to see the progress our sweet Shanny is making in some of the simple things when the big things are taking so long.

I certainly don't mean to minimize the seriousness of what her condition still is. We have a very very long road a head of us. But as I said, I believe in miracles. I believe in the power of prayer and fasting. I believe in the power of the Priesthood. I believe in the power of unity of faith. Each of you with your prayers, fasting and YOUR faith is making a difference. I can feel it as I sit here. My heart is so full of gratitude for all of you. It continues to be so humbling to see the far reaching influence of this one young woman. It seems to have no end to the boundaries. Thank you all. Tomorrow will be one more step (whether it is big or small) towards our miracle. Pheobe