Shea can talk!

Hi Everyone,

This is Kathy again. It's about 8:00 a.m., and I just finished my "shift" at the hospital. Now I'm at the Ronald McDonald House because I just had to tell you all that after sleeping pretty much straight through since 10:00 last night, Shea is awake, lucid, and talking.

Yesterday she had a new trach put in, and this one allows her to talk! The first sound I heard was in the middle of the night when she just made little sounds when the nurse would hook up her feeding tube. Then she said to me, "Why am I so tired?" I chuckled a little and told her that it was because she had been awake for several days, and now she's catching up. She seemed satisfied with that and went back to sleep.

At 7:30 Jeanne came in to relieve me. Shea was just waking up, and while Jeanne was getting a warm compress ready to put over Shea's swollen eye, Shea was talking to me. I told her how wonderful it was to hear her voice, to hear her talking to us, and she pointed to her temple and made a painful expression. I asked her if that hurt, and she shook her head and said, "It's hard to think." Yesterday morning she was so frustrated when she couldn't write anything coherent for me, and I said, "Everything's a jumble in your mind right now, isn't it Shea?" She nodded her head, and the tears came. So this is something we should pray about. I assured her that everything will get clearer in her mind as the days go by and that she must be patient.

Jeanne came over to the bed, and Shea asked "Where's my mom?" Jeanne told her that we have to make her go home and get some rest because she's been at the hospital so much. Again Shea cried. She asked, "Why do I cry so much?" and we told her that it's because of all the medicines she's been on but that with time that would pass. It's difficult to know how to answer all of her questions--how thorough to be in explaining things.

Jeanne and I were both getting nervous that she may start asking us about her boyfriend Mike, and we wanted Susan or Steve to be with her when she did, so I called Susan and told her that Shea was asking for her. Those were sweet words for Susan to hear! Please pray about this matter of telling Shea about Mike. Because of the medicines she's been on, the doctors have said that she will not remember the accident or even a couple of days before that. Dr. Carter said that he thinks she needs to be told at the first opportunity.

Let me back up just a bit and tell you that Steve's sister Joy came yesterday from Colorado. Joy was aptly named. She brought real joy to Shea, and she brought relief to Susan. Joy told Susan not to come in to the hospital right away as is her custom. "Just sleep in," Joy told her, and Susan did--for the first time in 4 weeks. One look at her told us that she had had a great night's sleep--she looked great. Joy came at just the right time, and we are all so grateful for her!

They did a CAT scan on the left side of Shea's face yesterday, and it showed no visible nerve damage. That doesn't mean that there is no damage, but it is good news.

NEWS FLASH: Jeanne just called from the hospital. Dr. Carey was just in with Shea, looked at her left eye and asked her to raise her eyebrow and she did!!! I'm crying as I type. This is such good news. Jeanne said that Dr. Carey was so excited by it, and Shea looked at him like she was asking what she had done that was so wonderful!

Jeanne also said that Shea is saying that her face is hurting her a lot. Yesterday Dr. Dunn removed a blood clot from her ear canal, and that may be the source of her pain. Anyway, they are giving her Advil now--no more narcotics.

Today Charley and I take Karen to the Atlanta airport for a 5:00 flight back to Dallas, and then we are heading back to Knoxville. I can't tell you how hard it is to leave Macon right now! Shea is Shea again. No cloudiness or puzzled looks. She's just herself! I told her that we have a lot of stories to tell her, and she said, "About me?" and I said yes. She groaned and said, "Oh no!"

Yes, the stories will come. Stories of God's goodness, of the love of family and friends, of the sweet care the doctors and nursing staff have given. And we wonder what stories Shea will have to tell us. Our sleeping beauty is awake. Praise God!

Kathy Falk