A Long Week

It's been so very long since I've written, but it's been a busy week and I've spent my free time tending to laundry and my children.

Amanda is doing very well. She has completely regained her alertness (after asking her brother to pass her the phone, pointing at thin air, then when he handed her a handful of air, telling him to give her a minute - she needed to make a phone call; and several other similar incidents that our family will talk about for years to come). She is in a great deal of pain and doesn't seem to have a lot of success with any of the pain meds they're giving her, though.

She had surgery again on Thursday and will go back down tomorrow. She was a little worried about her surgery, afraid they might put her back on the ventilator. But they chose, instead, to give her anesthesia through her I.V. She did very well and they plan on doing more of the same for her future surgeries.

The doctor that saved her life and did her initial 7 1/2 hour surgery right after the accident, then rotated off her case, did the surgery. She hadn't seen Amanda since the first night. We were very anxious to see what she thought about the progress. To quote her, "She is healing up twice as fast as someone twice her age." She continued with a statement about how amazingly young people heal. We now know, also, that her digestive tract is functioning correctly and there's no intestinal blockage or problems associated with her previous surgeries. She's starting to eat a little - I got to feed her mashed potatoes with gravy today. The trauma doc has decided to pull all her antibiotics except one. She said that she expects a low-grade fever because of the trauma to Amanda's body and she won't worry about infection unless it spikes.

She also said that she's trying to get in touch with the pelvic surgical specialist and see if he's willing to sign onto her case. We have since heard that he's willing but doesn't yet have credentials to operate in this state. They're awaiting a temporary license.

The issues at present: Amanda is remembering the accident and it's quite a lot to process. There are many more details that she's remembering of which we were totally unaware. It's enough to deal with waking up and finding out that you've been in a coma for 12 days, your family hovering over your bedside, not knowing if you're going to live or die, then to have to remember the details of a terrible, terrible accident . . . Please pray for her to be able to be at peace and deal with only what she has to deal with right now.

It has now been 16 days and we're all very tired. We're getting a little fuzzy-headed. My sister had a migraine today and I'm having stomach problems. Each of our bodies are handling the stress in a little different way. Amanda's support system (her aunts, grandparents, father, mother, brother . . .) needs rest and a little better organization to ensure our family's needs are being met, our own needs are being met and Amanda and her family's needs are being met.

Amanda can't begin the pelvic reconstruction if there's any infection in her body. The infection will bond to the titanium and they'll have to pull all the metal out and start all over again. Please pray she stays infection-free.

Pray for a relief from pain for her and an ability for her to sleep. Sleep continues to elude her but she needs to be rested to deal with the stress and the pain.

And pray for the upcoming pelvic reconstruction. This is a very difficult and technical process that several other doctors have refused to take on. The trauma doctor says that there is a very high risk of hemorrhage or blood clots during these surgeries, so we need to pray.

In closing, I spent about 4 hours with Amanda this afternoon. Her back was hurting and she asked me to get the nurse and have her rolled up on her side for a little while.

"It's just, I've just been laying here all day," she said. When she saw me grin, she stopped to think about that comment. Her face broke into a wide smile.

"You've been doing a lot of that lately," I added.