Sunday (day 129)

Good Morning all. We are so excited to have Shawna at Chedoke. Although the first week or two is mostly assesments they are getting a lot of responses from Shawna and she is trying hard to improve. There is a therapist who works with her eyes and he is trying to increase Shawnas ability to "track" from right to left. Tracking show she is seeing things and moving her eyes to the left has been very hard for her. She is consistently able to look left now. When it gets too much for her she just closes her eyes and stops to rest. The speech theraspist who also works with swallowing and eating was very impressed with Shawnas ability to try to mouth words, moving her tongue and making sounds, which show she may be able to talk soon. When she told Shawna this there was a huge increase in Shawna trying to communicate. It was a great encouragement for her. They have also been able to have Shawna stand now for 15 mins full load bearing. She is kind of strapped in but on her own and they push her till she breaks out in a cold sweat. It takes a lot of effort from her as she moans and groans but with the encouragement from family members she keeps going and pushing herself. There are some concerns though because she favours her left side. From the accident she was heavily injured on her left side with major bone breaks and soft tissue damage. They are investigating this a bit more through the notes taken originally and examining what has progressed since. Monday is a short trip to the Hamilton General for MRI and ultrasounds. They were checking Shawnas eyes for bits of metal that may have impacted from the accident to make sure she has no metal imbedded for the MRI. Wednesday is an all day affair at the Hamilton General for a bone density scan, where they will look for calcifications in the joints, bone density and generally check all her bones. The therapists are very impressed that Shawna has progressed this far especially since the accident has only been 4 months ago. We know though where our help lies, and He has made her able to be this far. Although the therapy is very rigourous she smiles more and seems very content to be able to try to work out. She is able to rest even though she is now in a much noisier ward setting. It just took some time to get familiarized with the room.
Home renos have shifted into high gear as we hope to train to have Shawna home on weekends. They have an apartment setup in the Holbrook building where you can simulate being at home but still have the nurse near enough to help if needed. Therfore our home has to be ready soon. With some very dedicated assitance we are progressing quite quickly and hope to have Shawnas room and our adjoining living space completed in two weeks. By then we also should have recieved our wheelchair van to be able to transport her to and from home. We have been so richly blessed by God's grace and favour. Throughout this event He has strengthened us by His Spirit and enabled us to carry on. Even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death we will fear no evil for God is with us! Thankyou for your continual prayers and may God grant you a blessed day of praise and worship. Al and Deb