July 22-Aug 2

Newsflash! We are in a great routine and everyone is thriving! Gone (for the moment) are the days of merely surviving.

On the 21st, I picked up my youngest- K from the airport (with no problems with Unaccompanied Minor this time) and we've had a pretty uneventful time at home. If you don't remember, she was off on an adventure with some friends for the past almost 5 weeks. My hope was to have our act together better so when she came back I could actually spend time with her. So far, so fantastic. She was in AZ, so of course we are self-quarantining her here. Social distancing as well......

 It that doesn’t stop us from enjoying her amazing baking skills....and feeding the raspberry lemonade bar addiction.

The week of July 20th we didn’t have any therapies, which I was pretty frustrated about the weekend prior after my constant tug-o-war with the insurance company, and also trying to get all the right therapy Rx codes sent from the doctor to the rehab center. But since Heavenly Father knows what He’s doing, it all fell through and we didn’t get anything workable on the schedule until the 28th. 

Having a week without any new scheduling changes or treatment changes for Shannon is just what we all needed. I'd love to say there have been no issues at all, but lets be honest; that's not really possible. It's been minor though. K has been shadowing me with Shannon's care, and she's stepped up and is a major part of our routine now. I’ve been so impressed with her willingness to help and her abilities. Plus- she gets along great with Scott, and they hang out playing games and trying to burn the house down when Shannon is napping. It’s adorable. 

Shannon enjoyed her late-night movie watching/late-morning sleep-ins. That changed when outpatient started. She soaked it up while she could. Scott started work and we've been balancing *it all* pretty well. After the crazy ride we've all been on, it's nice to be in a place that feels stable. Scott is doing such a great job that we were able leave him completely over Shannon’s care over the weekend for two weekends now. 

Lancer is teaching an Open Water Scuba class and we were gone last Saturday and Sunday, but back in the evenings. And this weekend we were gone from Friday-Sunday evening. Scott and Krisha did great and everything was taken care of. I can’t even describe how happy I am that I have help when our family has other things going on. Scott was quite proud of himself, and proclaimed that he is ‘the new Rachael’ :) I don’t know if Rachael would agree, but it was an accomplishment! Meanwhile, Lancer and I both totally botched our last Monday night duties.  He forgot to wake up and turn Shannon at 3am, and I forgot a major part of her bedtime routine. Not to worry. Shannon lived. In our defense- it was an exhausting weekend and Lancer forgot to turn on his alarm, and I was out of routine because I gave Shannon a shower at night instead of the morning. 

This past week Shannon started out patient therapy. We are really impressed with the facility, and so far Shannon loves her therapists. They want her to have therapy 3 times/week to begin with, so there will be a lot of going back and forth. We got her scheduled three days a week for six weeks, and then it drops to twice a week all the way through October! The planner in me is ecstatic!!

One of her therapist had her do this ‘whack a mole’ style light game. It helps her practice balance by reaching and also reaction time. There are various ways the lights can be programmed to light up, which changes the focus. She started with all the rings of lights so they could see how far she could reach, then inner circles just for speed. Shannon loved it! 

Another therapist chatted with her about her previous interests, and when she said kayaking, the therapist said they have a kayak they can put her in that is adapted for her injury type and they can teach her to kayak again :D It’s down the road a ways, but an option if she’s interested. I’m still waiting for them to tell her about therapy with the horses! 

Part of our almost daily family therapy is puzzling. We love puzzles. We’ve put together almost a dozen of them amongst the crazy these past 5 months. One took a couple of months because it was too much sky and trees, and not enough castle....and 5000 pieces. (It might have been only 2000-but who’s counting) We leave it on the table in the family room and everyone just wanders over and works on it for a while. Sometimes a few of us will do it together. Shannon has brought a new level to puzzles.

While I am trying to figure out if a piece will fit, she shoves her piece in the spot I was going for, blocking my piece. I’ve had to come up with strategies to distract her so I can try my piece in the spot I want. She’s getting pretty fast reflexes. Next puzzle I’ll do the blocking, and she can strategize. 

Every night we have a family huddle. We talk about the night shift and make sure there are no changes in who is doing the care, what time Shannon needs to be up the next day, and what the next day looks like. (And what time the family is allowed to shower when it’s Shannon’s shower day) We also discuss the rest of the week/next several days. It ends with family prayer. Rachael suggested it way back when I started going to the rehab hospital for training so she and the other kids knew what was going on while I was away. Having workers at the house and other crazy things going on was way easier to handle with the nightly updates. Continuing it has been a life-saver. I highly recommend it for every family, just to keep everyone on the same page. 

We are keeping a level head about this next news, and not reading too much into it since it can sometimes be false hope. The past several weeks, Shannon has commented on being able to feel things she couldn’t recently. It’s small stuff. She sometimes can feel the pressure of my fingers on her back when I help put her binder on, or she’ll ask me if I just touched her side or hip. She definitely can feel pressure sensation lower than they diagnosed her at when she left Magee. They say she can continue to heal and regain sensation and control of her muscles for several years after her injury; with most of whatever she will regain happening in the first 12 months or so. We keep praying, we hope you do too! 

Shannon continues to keep us laughing with her quirky comments and strange compliments. She’s getting better at recalling Disney movie quotes. This post’s quote is a commonly quoted one- and so very fitting :) 

Little known fact #5623 When you sit in a wheelchair all the time, you have to do this fun game called ‘weights shifts’. 

Every 30 mins you have to shift your position to help avoid getting pressure sores on your bony areas. After reminding and watching Shannon weight shift, we’ve all become very aware of how our minds tell us to change position on its own- and the times it doesn’t. Weird.

Scott and Shannon go on a lot of adventures together throughout the week. Shannon loves to get out of the house, but there’s not a lot to do. They play a lot of games together and stroll through stores, eat ‘out’....in the car. This week Shannon has been going through her suitcases from college deciding what clothes still work for her to wear. Her onesie pj’s are impractical, but make a nice hat/veil? 

As you can see, even though life is a struggle, we are doing okay and Shannon is still smiling. 

Please pray for Shannon’s spinal cord to keep making connections and healing so she can regain use of her whole body, for her to have more energy in the mornings so she can do her therapies and shower without weakness, and for her continued positive outlook on her life. Pray also for those of us who continue to help her to balance the rest of our lives so we can care for her and take care of ourselves, jobs, and other kids. 

Thank you for being here still! We love you! 

Olaf- “I CAN’T FEEL MY LEGS! I CAN’T FEEL MY LEGS!!!! 

Christoff- “Those are MY legs!”

Disney’s Frozen 2