Saturday (day 65)

Good evening all. I'm starting to feel like a broken record, but if its broken its still good because Shawna continues to improve by God's blessing. She stays awake quite long now, but sometimes is exhausted by long stays in her wheelchair and aggressive physiotherapy. There are many aspects of her treatment we are exploring right now as she moves (or rather tries to move) body parts. She went for an assesment to Chedoke in hamilton for splinting but she moves her feet too much for splints to work correctly without causing skin breakdown. So we go back to progressive casting starting next week. Its too bad the casting didn't work properly (not mentioning reasons) the first time in Hamilton General. The pyhsiotherapist is impressed with her ability to work muscles in her back as she attempts to sit up when he works with her. He is going to bring a neck brace for next times so he can do more aggressive physio. When he is finished the session Shawna is awake for hours. She seems to be energized by that kind of physical work and struggles to perform. He is trying to assist in getting her to Rehab asap so he can use all the equipment that is available for Shawna which Dunnville doesn't have. Today Shawna was given an SLP. Its just a fancy code for swallow assesment. Unfortuneately she failed miserably. She was sleppy from being in her chair and still has trouble opening her mouth on command. That's just another task on our table now. We'll try to feed her small ice chips to stimulate her mouth to open and get used to having something in it again. We are supposed to use good smells like coffee and chocolate etc to awaken her senses to open her mouth. Its been over 8 weeks now without something (besides tubes and a toothbrush) in her mouth. We continue to have a one sided verbal communication with her to which she responds with hand squeezes, smiles, and the occasional eye lid blink depending on how tired she is. Her trache hole is now completely healed and the insertion site is progressively getting smaller. She doesn't cough at all any more (except when I gave her too big an ice chip today). Shawna really enjoys the visits that she is getting. Some people even get smiles when she recognizes their voices. That for us is so beautiful to witness. I remember a few weeks ago when on of the things I was praying for was that I might see our child smile again. Her next day trip is planned for Thursday afternoon just in case you are planning a visit. They have noticed a pressure point developing on her backside last night, so they changed her to an air mattress to head off the possibility of bed sores. Once again we can see our Almighty Father holding fast to his child and leading her along on his path. We continue to pray for her that she may experience His riches and hold firm to her faith that He is working all things to her benefit. God bless you all and may you have a bessed day of praise and worship. Al and Deb