Wednesday, April 25, 2012
A Message from Hannah
Friday, April 20, 2012
Hugs from Hannah
Monday, April 16, 2012
Ladies Night Out!
Come and enjoy an evening of dinner provided by Carbon Country Club, and participate in a hands-on seminar on self-defense and awareness class taught by Martial Arts Instructor Mike Martak. Guest speaker from our local law enforcement, and a special gift for all participants.
Tickets will be sold as a pair for a fee of $60. They can be purchased at Wingers, Market Express Chevron, Market Express Sinclair and Carbon Country Club.
The Su Ha Ri Martial Arts Institute will be donating all proceeds to Hannah to help her recover from her accident. Your support is greatly appreciated!
For more information, call Telisse Allen at 650-5307 or Mike at 650-7575.
Hats ON for Hannah
Hats ON for Hannah Day at Creekview was very successful. The kids and teachers had a great time wearing their the hats last Friday. This is the group of girls who organized the event.
This is the principal, Mr Thomas, the school secretary, Mrs Jardine, and her husband who also works at the school. I love Mrs Jardine's hat. Everyone had a great time and it was a fun, heart-felt tribute to Hannah.
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Saturday is a Special Day
Dear Parents,
I give you back your child, the same child you confidently entrusted to my care last fall. I give her back pounds heavier, inches taller, months wiser, more responsible, and more mature than she was then. Although she would have attained her growth in spite of me, it has been my pleasure and privilege to watch her personality unfold day by day and marvel at this splendid miracle of development
I give her back reluctantly, for having spent nine months together in the narrow confines of a crowded classroom, we have grown close, have become a part of each other, and we shall always retain a little of each other. Ten years from now if we met on the street, your child and I, a light will shine to our eyes, a smile to our lips, and we shall feel the bond of understanding once more, this bond we feel today.
We have lived, loved, laughed, played, studied, learned, and enriched our lives together this year. I wish it could go on indefinitely, but give her back I must. Take care of her, for she is precious. Remember that I shall always be interested in your child and her destiny, wherever she goes, whatever she does, whoever she becomes. Her joys and sorrows I’ll be happy to share.
I shall always be her friend.
Peace,
Mr.Averett
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Fingernails, Puppets, and Poop
Tonight, Luka and I decided to sneak away and go visit Hannah alone. When we walked into Hannah's room, the first noticeable difference was Hannah's unencumbered arms and hands. She no longer has a splint on her broken right hand and she was eager to move them around to show us how well she can use them.
Hannah vs. Dad and the PCMC Nurses
I've been thinking back on our visit over the weekend and thought I would post an experience that shows how strong Hannah is even after being asleep and on her back for 2 weeks, not to mention the brain trauma and broken bones.
We were all in Hannah's room on Sat hanging out (probably not good for a TBI patient to have all those people in the room at the same time) when all of a sudden four nurses, male and female, came into the room. I knew something was up so I gathered the kids and made a beeline for the door. Unfortunately, Eve was stuck in the corner of the room and couldn't get out before they started to change Hannah's feeding tube which didn't go as smoothly as they thought it would. They were taking it out of her intestines and re-inserting it to go straight to her stomach. She was sitting on Dave's lap in the chair and he was trying to hold her still by putting a wrestling move on her known as the "straight jacket". Growing up with two large, older brothers, I had the opportunity on more than one occasion to be caught in this hold. Not fun.
Anyway, the procedure was not going well as the line was getting coiled up her nose and she was in extreme pain. She was thrashing about trying to get free of Dave's hold and Eve said after a few minutes of Dave holding on as tight as he could, he couldn't hold on any longer. He was sweating and his face was red. Hannah 1, Dave 0.
The nurses stopped what they were doing and tried to regroup. They put her on the bed and thought it would be a better idea for each nurse to hold an appendage. Hannah wriggled and kicked and hit and knocked over an IV stand. Hannah 2, Nurses 0. They added Dave and Billie to the line-up and were finally able to get the feeding tube into her stomach. Hannah 2, Nurses and Parents 3.
Hannah was not happy. We still don't know why they wouldn't have sedated her to do something like that. The male nurse couldn't believe that was the same girl that he had taken care of one week prior in the ICU when she could barely squeeze his finger.
School Fundraisers
The "Hats ON For Hannah" Fundraiser at Creekview Elementary is going great. The student body and faculty have donated over $230 so far and we have one more day to go. Hats ON Day is Friday.
Parents and kids from other schools in the area have read this blog and wanted to do the same at their schools. I know Sally Mauro and Bruin Point are both doing a "Hats ON For Hannah" Day soon. The kids have gone to their principals and made arrangements with their student councils and are doing a magnificent job. There are some amazing, compassionate, generous people out there...including kids!
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Spring Break at PCMC!!
I took the nurse's place beside Hannah and talked to her and told her what was going on at school and how proud we are of her. I held her left hand and she would squeeze it to answer "yes" to questions. She had just gotten a voice thingy hooked up to her trach that morning and had surprised herself when she heard herself cough. It felt so good to snuggle with her and talk to her. People kept coming to her room and she would wave to each one of them. Her eyes were clear and she was watching everyone. She could move her left arm and leg on command, which is such a relief because the damage is on the right side of her brain which controls movements on the left side of her body.
Lindsey took my place and snuggled with Hannah and although her face is still expressionless I could tell she was happy to have her buddy next to her. It was so sweet.
We got to go to physical therapy with her and saw her bowl...she would hold and then release a big bouncy ball down a foam wedge to knock over the pins. Seems pretty simple but this is a big deal for a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) patient who wasn't doing anything two days prior. She then did a puzzle by picking up the pieces with her left hand and then pointing to the space to show the therapist where a certain puzzle piece goes. It was truly amazing to watch her take these steps to rehabilitation.
This is Hannah and her cousin, Luka, holding hands. We all got so excited when she would squeeze our hands. Before we left the hospital yesterday we asked her if she wanted us to come back and she squeezed!
Hannah, Lindsey and Luka have always been the 3 Musketeers so when Lindsey and Luka walked into the physical therapy room today she was totally distracted from the puzzle she was doing. Everyone told the two girls to leave and as they were walking out Hannah got so upset they told the cousins to come back. They moved on to a different exercise where Lindsey and Luka could be involved and Hannah accomplished the task. The cousins all wanted to push her back to her room so we stopped to take a picture.
The therapist helped Hannah find the Easter egg that's on her lap so we took her to the playroom and she picked out a toy from a basket full of stuff...another accomplishment! It's been a busy, productive, exciting couple of days for Hannah and we're so proud of her. She was probably glad to see us go so she could finally get some rest. Not...I know she wanted to come with us.
Oh yeah...she did something else today...she said "Hi", "Mom" and "Thanks"!!!!
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Out of ICU
She's getting pretty tired of laying on her back so they moved her into a wheelchair and she was able to sleep soundly being in a different position. When Hannah's not napping she spends her time listening to music, watching a little TV and having books and get well cards read to her.
Ever since Hannah's accident two weeks ago, kids in the neighborhood, ward and school have wanted to do something to help. They have wanted to organize and hold some kind of fundraiser to help Hannah with her recovery and they've decided to do a really fun fundraiser at Creekview Elementary next week. The children are usually prohibited from wearing hats to school but next Friday, April 13 we'll be having "Hats ON for Hannah" day. Kids will be able to wear a hat to school that day if they bring $1 which will go to help Hannah get the therapy she's going to need to have a successful recovery. If you have a child at Creekview, have them bring their money any day next week and they can wear a hat to school on Friday.
I'll have some pics to post tomorrow, hopefully.
Monday, April 2, 2012
Baby Steps...
After talking with Dave last night it sounds like Hannah had a good day yesterday. When I was there on Sat. she did open her eyes but it was very disheartening because it didn't look like it was voluntary or in response to our voices. However, after we left the hospital (of course) she opened her eyes for a longer period of time than she has over the last week. The nurse saw this and called for the doctor. He came in and said, "Hannah, can you open your eyes?" And she did! He came back Sun morning and said, "Hannah, can you move your fingers?" And she did that, too!
Her parents also said that she had opened her eyes for several minutes at a time most of the day yesterday and because of the neck brace prohibiting any movement of her head and neck she was following sounds with her eyes. She also swallowed on her own which she wasn't doing on Sat and which had Eve and I quite worried. The doctor was encouraged by what he saw and said that reflexes like swallowing usually follow shortly after brain trauma patients open their eyes. So that put a smile on our faces yesterday. Go Hannah! Keep fighting!
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Saturday/Sunday
Hannah looks really beautiful. Her hair is braided, the tubes are out of her mouth and she had a beautiful lip gloss on. I was surprised to see how few computers, monitors and tubes she has now. She's passed the critical stage and currently has the IV, the trach, a feeding tube and some monitors on her chest. That seems so minimal compared to the 20 different tubes and lines she was hooked up to last week.
They are slowly weaning her off the sedation meds and pain killers...just a little bit everyday. She still sleeps alot and I can see that she's healing on the outside. Her eye has returned to its normal size and the bruise is almost totally gone. The swelling on the side of her head has gone down and the nurse assured us the brain swelling has gone down a little.
We had good news this morning as the doctor came for a visit. She responded to his command to move her fingers! That's very encouraging because we haven't seen much progress for the last couple of days.
I want to thank the ER staff at Castleview Hospital for stabilizing Hannah and taking such good care of her in those first crucial hours and for the prayers they have offered everyday since then. Thank you.