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 has been given a new tool to communicate and she has adapted to it well. She has a large card with pictures and words on it. They include TV, Music, Books. Blanket, Mom, Dad, I Hurt, Bathroom, etc. On the other side of the card are the words Yes and No. She navigates this card very well and will quickly point to what she would like or what she is feeling. It was a relief to see her so in control, quickly relaying to us any message she had.

The nurse on duty (Lacey) told us that Hannah had stood and taken a few assisted steps during physical therapy earlier in the day. I asked Hannah if she wanted to get out of bed and she quickly pointed to the Yes card. I picked her up and couldn't help but stand her on her feet to see for myself. She stood, as I balanced her lightly between my arms. Her X-rays show a stable and healing pelvic fracture and the nurse assured us that she will continue to practice standing and taking steps. Needless to say, I was incredibly encouraged and humbled at the thought that she may walk out of PCMC at the end of her stay. Anything is possible.

At the end of last week, we had brought Hannah some new nail polish. Her nails hadn't been done since before the accident and were in need of some attention. I was so excited to arrive tonight and see that they were waiting for me to paint them. She briefly watched a show with Luka laying next to her, while I painted her toenails. Then, Luka found some adorable Lalaloopsy dolls she had been given and opened them. Luka placed the dolls in Hannah's hands and together, they moved the dolls and accessories around the bed.

When Davy returned from dinner, Luka asked to go up to the phenomenal play room on the 3rd floor to make something for Hannah. Davy walked her upstairs while I finished Hannah's nails. Hannah became increasingly agitated once Luka left and wanted to follow her. When I asked her if she wanted to go with to the playroom, she rapidly pointed to Yes on her card. I loaded her up in her wheelchair and off we went. When we arrived at the playroom, Luka was in the middle of making a felt cat puppet. We let Hannah pick out which color cat she wanted and I thought I would have her try to make the puppet. To my surprise, she would squeeze the glue bottle I handed to her on each piece of the felt and stick the pieces together quickly and accurately to create the puppet. We made a bit of a mess with the glue but I was very impressed at Hannah's fine motor skills, equally, with both hands.

At the same time, her nurse made a poster of her name. When he showed it to her, I asked her what the poster said and pointed to her lips. She quietly replied, "Hannah." Whether she can read or she has been able to memorize her name, I was very heartened to see her know who she is.

I thought it would be a good idea to have Hannah make the ever popular silly putty and squeeze it between her hands. As we stirred the solution and dumped it into the plastic bag, I exclaimed, "Look, the putty is doing a blue poop into the bag!" Hannah surprised us all by laughing, audibly and physically, for several seconds. She gave us a big smile and her laugh was priceless. Wondering if it was a fluke, I finished stirring the purple putty and exclaimed again, "Now we're doing a big purple poop!" Once again, she laughed heartily. Turns out, she is like the rest of us and really enjoys some good old-fashioned potty humor. Witnessing these moments of personality, humor, and timing are very, very important to us and we treasure them.

I gave her one putty in each hand and told her to squeeze them together as hard as she could. She quickly raised each hand in front of her face and squeezed the two puttys with all of her might. She then relaxed them and we made a big mess of the putty all over her blanket and legs. Oh well, it was worth it and very funny.

When we got back to the room, Hannah pointed at Luka and the picture of books on her card. Luka brought over a selection of books and read to her while I painted her fingernails. She was calm and happy and yawning.

It was a great, fun visit with Hannah and if we could, I would take Luka there every night. There is something very special about how Hannah's accident is changing all of us. Watching our children serve and seeing them have the desire to serve, changing perspectives on what is most important and what we value, and gaining this long-term patience and hope for what is to come in the years ahead is making us better each day. We will be forever grateful to Hannah for showing us who we are at our core. Saturday's visit can't come soon enough and next time, I am bringing the fart machine.

Please donate if you have the ability to do so. The money we are raising (in the upper right hand corner) will only be used for therapies that will help take Hannah from point A to point B; specific therapies that will increase her quality of life dramatically. We are researching and analyzing different programs and clinics for her every day to keep her progressing. Please be a part of that process. Thank you so very much.

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!

Spring Break at PCMC!!

We hadn't heard much about Hannah this week since she moved out of the ICU and into the NTU (Neuroscience Trauma Unit) so my stomach was tied in knots as we drove to SLC yesterday to see her. We found Billy in the cafeteria and she reported some great news...that Hannah had been to physical therapy earlier that day to brush up on her bowling game and had even tried to stand up when Billie was helping her back into the wheelchair. We were so excited so we headed up to the room. As we rounded the corner we saw that her nurse was snuggled up next to her on the bed and they were watching a movie. Hannah immediately recognized us and got all excited trying to sit up and get to us. I couldn't believe it! It took her a minute to calm down and then she started waving at us with her splinted arm. It was so amazing to see her react like that compared to what she was like the previous weekend and even just the day before.

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"!!!!

Out of ICU

Today was Hannah's second day in her new room in the Neuroscience Trauma Unit and she's getting used to her new surroundings...she has a window now! She's still working on coming out of the coma which takes some time. She's awake for awhile and then falls back to sleep for awhile. Her grandma Knott went to see her today and Hannah focused on her when Dave told her that grandma's here.

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.

Baby Steps...

With Hannah's severe brain trauma she is truly like a newborn baby right now and any little sign of advancement is cause for celebration and usually results in a big sigh of relief from me when I get good news.

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!

Saturday/Sunday

I took my girls up to PCMC yesterday for the first time since the accident. Jaxy was so excited to give them the tour of the hospital and Hannah's room and he discussed with them what each tube and monitor was like an old pro. I think he should be a doctor. He wants to be a paleontologist.

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.