Pictures that tell the story -- not for the faint hearted.

 Shannon asked me to post some pictures but added some of her own before I did this.  But I wanted something more to show the beginning to the present...



This picture was on May 13th, the day after the accident.  Her eyes were so swollen and bruised. 








This is also on the 13th of May.  Lots of tubes and pumps and and and....

This picture was on the 17th of May.  Look how much better her eyes 

 are looking already.  It's really hard here to tell just how swollen she is.

 The 19th of May...so much swelling has gone down.  This picture was taken when they were making sure that the brace was not causing bed sores and to make it stay fitted as the swelling continued to go down. They are in the process of putting it back on her.

 Some of Shannon's first movements were a "crack up"!  This one shows how she lifted her left leg up over to rest it on her right leg.  At this point, she is still very much out of it. 






Most of the tubes in her head are gone.  It's May 25th here, 13 days since the accident.  Notice that we have her ipod playing in her ear? :)  Her left eye is taped shut because of the drying issue.  It was so red and the lower lid was terribly swollen when we realized that we were having a problem with those big baby blues not closing completely when she slept.










Also on the 25th we were beginning to get smiles!  It was so incredible to know she was in there!!  At this point the left side of
her faced seemed to have some paralysis.  That was scary!

Thumbs up!

'Thumbs up' have never had such significant meanings as when Shannon started using them to converse with us.  This is the 27th of May.

 26th of May!  We are moved to the NTU--Neuro Trauma Unit.  This is Shannon's second time up out of bed.  She was never out of bed without the helmet.  The plaid shirt therapist is holding her up while the black shirt therapist is lifting her foot to take a step!  She could do none of it alone.

 This is in the therapy room on the 28th of May.  She has started to do a shuffle kind of walk but it still took both therapists holding her to keep her safe. 

 Sleeping peacefully in her room.  This is the 30th of May.  She slept when she wasn't in therapy or when we weren't trying to get her to eat.  She still has her feeding tube because she couldn't chew and did not swallow right.

 June 4th-- Her smile is getting bigger but it is still weak on the left.  Her left eye is still not responding as well as the right.

 Here is a prime picture of Shannon wearing one of her pairs of wild socks.  Everyone in the hospital knew her for her wild socks, wild toe and finger nail polish colors and she loved it!  Her cousin Tawny is with her here.  She still has her feeding tube which means her caloric intake has still not reached the minimum criteria.  June 9th






Below is the second wheelchair Shannon had.  The first one laid back and she could even sleep in it.  The therapists decided that was too easy for her.  She was sad to lose her old one.  But she's been in this one long enough by the time this picture was taken that she is actually doing a bit of the pushing on her own!  June 10th...29 days since the accident.

 To the right is how long Shan's hair has gotten by the 13th of June.  It all looks really good.But this is 2 days before they replaced the bone in her skull.










June 15...  The bone is replaced in her skull.  It's hard to tell but they didn't shave her head but rather just where they needed to insert the bone.  Her eyes didn't swell as much but you can still tell that they were affected.

See the next posting for more pictures.  I can only figure out how to do so many at a time.  I need my sweet daughter in law to teach me a thing or two about blogs!  Pheobe