"Joy Comes in the Morning!"

Dear Friends and Family,

This is Jeanne reporting again. I just want to say upfront, I have never liked rollercoasters. But, boy, if you come to Macon, get ready for the ride of your life!

Yesterday was a difficult day for all of us. The news was indeed sobering. At a late night visit to see Shea, Molly, her nurse, told us she asked Shea is she was hurting--if so, nod your head. Shea nodded her head! She had never done that before and we were able to go to bed and rest on that bit of good news.

I picked up Susan this morning at the Ronald McDonald House. Steve had left early for the hospital. It was raining so I gave Susan a ride and we fully expected a day similar to yesterday. Little did we know.

Susan has been saying all day, "It is dark, dreary and rainy outside, but it's a big sunshiny day in Shea's room!" When we arrived in Shea's room, Steve was excited to tell us that she had squeezed his hand, nodded her head, and showed two fingers and a thumbs-up when requested to do so. Shea really never went into a deep sleep today at all. She only opened her right eye (the eye not operated on) but it was bright and blue and following the people in the room and the sound of the person speaking to her. She was definitely tracking. She continued to follow comands to squeeze our hand and she gave us a firm squeeze with all of her fingers. We did not have to wonder if it was a reflex response or if we were dreaming.

After lunch, Susan and I returned to the room to find them removing the respirator from Shea. Oh, happy day! Shea is breathing on her own but receiving 40% humidified oxygen through the trach-collar. It loosely sits at the opening of the tracheostomy. About two hours ago they put her on a C-PAP, Continuoys Positive Airway Pressure. This maintains oxygenated levels in her arterial blood. As this positive air pressure keeps her lungs open, Shea will rest more comfortably throughout the night.

But on with the good news! With the respirator gone, Susan was able to lower the side rail of Shea's bed and get very close to her face and somewhat hold her. At one point Shea hugged her so hard, Susan almost gasped. And the highlight of the day was when Shea mouthed to Susan,"Mama, Mama." Her nurse Chris and I almost lost it. Susan kept saying, "I don't know why I'm not crying--I'm just so happy!" Shea connected with us all day long. She has had a big day.

We missed the doctor today when he came to Shea's room. The nurse said she would call us at lunch but Dr. Delacrz had an emergency so she wrote everything down for us and she was able to sit down briefly and update me with the following informtion.

**They are advancing the feeds through the feeding tube and coming down on the IV nutrition.
**Extra Albumin, protein plasma, and the Lasix has dramatically reduced the swelling and the urine output is evidence of that.
**The doctors have noted her spontaneous eye movement, signals with hands and moves her mouth in an effort to talk.
**Beginning on Wednesday they will decrease her IV sedation, Versed, and pain medication, Morphine. I asked Chris why Shea was so alert today if they had not already begun the weaning process. She said that Shea's body is becoming tolerant of the medications. With the respirator gone, there is no reason to increase these. And we want her to be alert and not prolong this awakening process. Chris did not know at what speed Shea woud be weaned from these two medications.
**The antibiotic, Bactrim, has been replaced with Levaquin as a more effective antibiotic for Shea right now. Chris explained that with more detailed information from the culture they were able to fine tune the antibiotic. (Shea's temperature was 103.8 at one point today and we got it down to 102.5 by late afternoon. Susan enjoyed taking cool wash cloths to wipe Shea's body and we could see the numbers dropping.)

I'll just end by sharing another special moment. This afternoon Shea lifted her arms toward her mom and stroked Susan's hair. Susan put her hands over Shea's and said "God has given us our Shea back."

It's been a great day in Macon.