Wednesday (day48)

Good evening all. Shawna continues to improve by God's grace. She was moved out of the stepdown unit onto a ward on Sunday. They have been trying to "cork"(a process leading to the eventual removal) her trache a couple of times but she is just not aware enough to cough and swallow secretions. So we wait for her to be more conscious. Shawna has had some very long times of awarenes. For instance, just last night she kept her eyes open from about 500 to 800. Usually this is followed by a day of sleepiness the next. Today though she has had her eyes open for quite a bit. A neurologist and her assistant did an assesment today on Shawna to determine where she would fit in the rehabilitation process. They are waiting for some more awareness and her white blood count to be lower. Yes again she is possibly fighting another bug as her white count goes up and down. They have taken a few swabs of possible sites and will do another chest ultrasound tomorrow. They have casted her feet again and they almost have the proper angle for her ankles. The original intern neuro surgeon soke with us. Compared to his first poor assesment he was now very optimisitic and said her brain is healing quite well. He warned us of things to watch for in case the brain ventricles continue to swell with fluid. From her reactions we are sure though that they are continuing to shrink even without the benefit of another CTscan. Her eyes, specifically her pupils continue to go closer to normal with size and reactivity. Her eyes now open almost equally while she is awake and she does move them to the right to follow sound but not to the left yet. We did meet with the trauma floor doctor, discharge nurse and social service rep on Monday afternoon to discuss Shawnas poetential move to Dunnville hospital. We were assured that all Shawnas needs would be addressed and completely provided for and that Dunnville would have all of this in place before she would be allowed to move. There are several advantages for this move but our main concern is that her progress will not be setback especially in regards to the trache and vehicle transfers. I would prefer that she could stay here but this is an acute care facility and even if there are empty beds on the floor it looks like she has to go. I could write more on this subject but I continue to leave these matters in the Lord's hands as he is ultimately in charge here. We have been so blessed by Shawnas progress and so uplifted by the communion of saints that we can continue on the walk of faith knowing all things come not by chance but by His fatherly hand. God bless you all. Al and Deb.

Ps next post on Saturday unless something really important comes up ie. Her move to Dunnville