Waiting

"Since ancient times no one has heard, no one has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for Him." Isaiah 64:4

Dear Friends and Family,

It has been a long time since we last posted. We have enjoyed reading different family members share their experiences with Shea as they have recently spent time with her.

The past month has consisted of doctors' appointments almost daily. A couple weeks ago we went to an endodontist that Dr. Mills, Shea's dental surgeon, recommended to us. He was to give Shea a root canal, but after about twenty minutes Dr. Rousseau came out to tell me that he would not be able to save the tooth. He had already called Dr. Mills who said to send her over immediately to have the tooth pulled. We drove to Dr. Mills' office, and after awhile he came out to the waiting room to talk to me. He said that he might not be able to pull the tooth after all, and we may need to send her to another doctor who can completely sedate her and pull the tooth. Dr. MIlls said, "We cannot underestimate the seriousness of this as the roots of the tooth are right by the plate and screws holding her jaw together." I told him that I trusted his judgment and knew he would make the right decision. A little later Dr. MIlls came out with his head down -- I asked him if he pulled it. "I did." I was thrilled and told him that I had prayed for him. He looked away and I thought it was a little strange even though he had told us many visits before that he is not a religious man. I asked him what he was thinking and he looked at me, blinking his eyes and said, "Thanks for praying."

We went to see Dr. Nunn, one of the plastic surgeons who will be performing Shea's surgery. This was our last pre-op visit, and Shea had a lot of questions for him. They have changed some of the plans for the surgeries. Instead of three surgeries ahead of her, Shea has four. The first surgery this month they will do the headband incision from the top of her head down to her ear. They will then graft bone from her skull to place in the eye orbit area. Her left eye needs to be raised one centimeter. He could see that Shea does not have complete use of the nerves in her forehead even though we, with the untrained eye, cannot tell. He said that it could still come with time but that may be as good as it will get. They will also break her hard palette and an expander has already been placed in the roof of her mouth. At this point, her bottom jaw is wider than her top jaw, and of course, the top jaw should be wider than the bottom.

Last Saturday we had an appointment with Dr. Mills for a bone graft. Shea was lightly complaining about it and asked if we could just cancel our appointment this one time. I thought it was strange that our appointment was for 4:00 on Saturday, but he has been so good to work us into his busy schedule, so off we went. I decided that I would just drop Shea off and do some shopping down the street and wait for her to call me when she was finished. About fifteen minutes later Shea called and said, "Mom, you might want to come back here. There are 68 doctors here who are going to observe my bone graft, and Dr. Mills wants me to share my story with all of them." I chucked my shopping basket, drove back to the office and opened the door to the office to hear the first song on Shea's CD blaring! On the second floor Dr. Mills has a 90-seat theater and a glassed-in area with a dental chair. After Shea and Dr. Mills spoke they suited up for the surgery. Shea saw me standing in the back and we both shook our heads and rolled our eyes. Always drama!! The attention was a little overwhelming, and she begged Dr. Mills to turn off the CD but he just carried on! And here we thought it was just another routine dental appointment! A screen came down from the ceiling and Dr. Mills wore a camera on his head and a microphone. He taught as he worked, mixing together synthetic bone, Shea's own blood and a saline solution. It was fascinating to see his skillful work. The two teeth that had to be pulled now have synthetic bone waiting to heal for eventual implants. Many of the dentists gathered around me in the back and asked a lot of questions about the accident. Once again, I was asked how we got Dr. Mills as our dental surgeon. Shea and I laughed as we wondered if we really looked that down and out! One dentist told me that Dr. Mills is the best in his field and probably the top 1% in the world in dental surgery. We are blessed with who we believe are the best doctors possible for the work that needs to be done in Shea's body.

Shea's great friend, Kelly Limmer from Scottsdale, AZ, has been here the last ten days with Shea. Kelly and her mom flew to Macon the day after the accident to be by Shea's side and to be a support to our family. It has been great to hear the girls laughing in Shea's room just like old times. They have filled every minute with fun times, and we know this has helped Shea's nerves as the date of her surgery gets closer and closer. Kelly, we have loved having you here!

Tonight we got back from the annual Anderson family reunion in TN. It was great to be with family and once again share our appreciation for our family's loving help during our most difficult time. Tomorrow morning all five of us are leaving on a trip of a lifetime -- we're going to Italy! All of us are excited about this amazing opportunity. We get back July 14th and Shea's surgery is scheduled for Monday, July 17th at 12:45 pm at Scottish Rite Hospital in Atlanta. We have waited for many months for this next surgery, and now we are seeing the date quickly approaching. We appreciate your prayers for Shea's good health and for the doctors as they perform the surgery. We are told that the surgery will last from 4-5 hours. Dr. Salama, Shea's orthodontic specialist and Dr. Mills will be observing as Dr. Nunn and Dr. McKay perform the surgery.

Kelly Limmer will write the next update from AZ after she gets home, and we will update all of you as to the outcome of the surgery. Thank you for your continued interest and prayers for Shea. The waiting gets long for her, but she has seen God's faithfulness each day.

Love to all of you --

The Hickoks