Hey Y'all From Atlanta

This is Shea’s Aunt Liz and I just spent Tuesday evening with Shea and 11 other family members including Shea’s cousin Sarah and her husband CJ who came from Boston. I hope Shea won’t mind if I give you a snap shot--she’s a “no pictures please” kind of star but inquiring minds want to know. Most of you haven’t been able to be here or see Shea and you want to SEE her for yourself, so I’ll do my best. Shea’s room is quite large but there isn’t much in it save for two beds and a couple pieces of furniture. There is the Christmas tree with the ornaments containing pictures of her salon work mates near her bed. Shea is sitting on her hospital bed in snazzy olive velour jumpsuit, with her colorful fleece blankets and her light up pillow from home. Don’t worry about previous blogs and the scary hair cutting story, Shea has plenty of hair to go around and though the sore on her head is painful, no one would ever know she lost any hair. Shea’s blond hair is shoulder length and has a nice wave at the bottom. Shea has a black Velcro strappy contraption from thigh to ankle on her right leg. The leg contraption bends at the knee. I managed to put my hand on Shea’s knee and rub her right foot at various points during my visit, both of which caused her to wince. Some of us are just drawn to the sore spots. Shea walks with a walker to take the pressure off of her sore left leg.

(Shea, I’m sorry sweet girl, but everyone wants to see your face) and I honestly tell you that if you didn’t know her well, you would only see a lovely young woman. If you know her well, you might notice a little swelling on her left cheek. After she chats with you a while you notice she has a piece of plastic in her mouth that gets in her way a little when she talks. Shea’s eyes are large and luminous and both look perfect, but she is quick to show you a tiny stitch at the corner or her left eye which you would never see if she didn’t point it out (why do we ladies do that?). We marveled today over the matching smile lines on both sides of Shea’s lovely mouth and Grandma Hickok dimple on the left cheek which just reappeared today. Shea’s nose is “perkier” than I remembered and will probably need some surgery to make it look like her old nose. The left side of Shea’s face is still numb but she felt a tear that fell down her cheek yesterday. As the numbness fades there is increased pain so that is an uncomfortable trade off, and her mouth is getting sorer.

There were matching smile lines on lots of faces this evening as Shea recounted as much as she could remember of the “big test” that was administered by the doctor’s today who were trying to find SOME kind of brain damage because that’s their job at Shepherd Center in the brain injury unit. In one test the doctor held up pictures and asked Shea what number from one to four the pictures reminded her of? When Shea told them the number the doctor claimed she was wrong, and that wasn’t the correct number to be reminded of. She asked the doctor what it was supposed to remind her of and he said he couldn’t tell her in case she ever had a brain injury again and had to be retested. Shea said she was thinking, “You’re worried I’m having another accident and that it would be a problem if I can remember the answer to this question????” Shea had us all laughing. Of course I’m not a neuropsychologist, but I think Shea’s mind seems sharp as a tack.
She said the questions seemed so weird but she tried hard not to laugh and to take it seriously because she wanted a good result so she could go home as soon as possible. When Shea goes home (which we pray is as soon as possible), she will come back to Shepherd’s on a daily basis for therapy of all sorts. It is very hard work, but Shea feels and looks like she is getting back into shape fast.

Susan and Steve are such an encouragement to the other patients and their families. They have befriended Paul (a young music lover about Shea’s age with similar injuries) and his parents. Susan walks the halls and visits with everyone she meets. Shea is so kind to each nurse, carefully calling them by name and thanking them for their care. The Hickok’s truly make any place they are better and brighter.

Susan has been sleeping on a mat on the floor beside Shea’s bed (42 nights away from home so far). One of the night nurses got quite a fright to find someone lying on the floor in the middle of the night. Steve has been staying in an apartment provided by Shepherd Center in downtown Atlanta (though tonight he’s going home to Jesse and Luke).

Those of you who have been following this wonderful saga know of Aunt Jeanne and we (John and Liz and the kids) are going to her house at Fort Stewart, Georgia tomorrow to see her and Uncle (Colonel) Larry who returns from Baghdad on Friday. What a wonderful family I married in to when I became an Anderson. Even the in-laws of my in-laws are incredible people (God bless Joy and David). And God has surely blessed us all in myriad ways, not the least or last of which has been in the literal reincarnation of our dear Shea.

Praises to the One who holds all things together,
Liz
(The following is part of what King Hezekiah said in Isaiah 38:15-20 after he recovered from a life threatening illness.) But what can I say? He has spoken to me, and he himself has done this. I will walk humbly all my years because of this anguish of my soul. Lord, by such things men live; and my spirit finds life in them too. You restored me to health and let me live. Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back. For the grave cannot praise you, death cannot sing your praise; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness. The living, the living—they praise you, as I am doing today; fathers tell their children about your faithfulness. The LORD will save me, and we will sing with stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the temple of the LORD.