Day 74 - Shawna Entry (June 24, 2010)
They say that laughter is the best medicine, so Ryan needs to visit Andy more often.
Today Andy had some new visitors, his friends Ryan, Aaron and Nick. I started talking to Ryan about him buying a new house to which Ryan responded "I have grown up 10 years in 2." Then I looked over at Andy and he was laughing, he found what Ryan said to be funny. In fact Ryan made him laugh a lot. This was the first time any of us have seen him laugh since before the accident. I think he was glad that his good friends had come to visit.
Andy's response to things such as questions and commands have had some delay. Today that delay did not seem to be as long. He answered a question that Ryan asked and some of my questions with a head nod for yes. I think his communication was great today for not producing any speech. I think I was able to help him get his needs met today by asking the right yes/no questions. If I was totally off I apologize to him :)
They say that laughter is the best medicine, so Ryan needs to visit Andy more often.
Today Andy had some new visitors, his friends Ryan, Aaron and Nick. I started talking to Ryan about him buying a new house to which Ryan responded "I have grown up 10 years in 2." Then I looked over at Andy and he was laughing, he found what Ryan said to be funny. In fact Ryan made him laugh a lot. This was the first time any of us have seen him laugh since before the accident. I think he was glad that his good friends had come to visit.
Andy's response to things such as questions and commands have had some delay. Today that delay did not seem to be as long. He answered a question that Ryan asked and some of my questions with a head nod for yes. I think his communication was great today for not producing any speech. I think I was able to help him get his needs met today by asking the right yes/no questions. If I was totally off I apologize to him :)
While Andrew was in the hospital we had a site called caring-bridge that we used to kept everyone up to date. <http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/andrewshearer/journal>
I quit updating it in May 2011. No one has removed it yet. I forget about little moments like these and how things were up and down. The journal documents how differently family dealt with the stress of this accident. The entries were updated my myself, Andrew's mother, and father.
Here is one more that was my favorite entry I wrote:
Written Jun 21, 2010 7:44am
Shawna Entry:
Human beings are complex creatures.We have our own ways of dealing with love, pain, fear, worry, joy, excitement, change and what is not normal to us. Who really knows why emotion and emotional reaction can be so different from person to person.
I think the hardest thing right now for everyone is that we are in the unknown. We don't know what is going to happen today or the next day and there are no definite answers. When talking to Andrew's nurse last night, I think she said it best: the brain is unique to each individual, it is not like a broken bone where you are told 'it will heal in 6 weeks, then rehab will take this long and it will be almost as good as new.'
Even right now the doctors have little answers and in their round-about-way eventually are telling you they do not know. It pushes on the paticence of the family of the loved one who wants you to hurry up and be better.
Right now I am trying to embrace this unknown and not give up my hope and faith that Andrew will recover 97-110% (This is the part where in my mind he wakes up when I tell him this and argues me that there is NO WAY he could be anything over 100%). We were told it could take one week or even a month before he might wake up and that it is all up to him.
To help us stay strong we must remember that Andrew is 30-years-old (even though he is older than me I am told this is young *insert humor here*). He has two bachelors degrees that he got within 6 years. This not only shows that he is a smart man, but a man who works hard to get what he wants. We have been together for 10 years and married for 7 (next week) and he has had the same job for 5 years. This shows his dedication through ups and downs. These are all things on his side for a good recovery.
It may be in my nature and my way of dealing to be an extreme optimistic, but I feel good about what is to come no matter how long it takes. Taking it in day by day and that is what we have every day and look at how many days we have had.
Continue with your prayers, good thoughts and good energy because I can feel it, and my family needs it to stay strong.
Love Shawna
I also wanted to add (at 10:18 am) that his nurse had also reminded me that he had come to the hospital awake and responsive; able to follow commands. She said he also has that on his side.
Human beings are complex creatures.We have our own ways of dealing with love, pain, fear, worry, joy, excitement, change and what is not normal to us. Who really knows why emotion and emotional reaction can be so different from person to person.
I think the hardest thing right now for everyone is that we are in the unknown. We don't know what is going to happen today or the next day and there are no definite answers. When talking to Andrew's nurse last night, I think she said it best: the brain is unique to each individual, it is not like a broken bone where you are told 'it will heal in 6 weeks, then rehab will take this long and it will be almost as good as new.'
Even right now the doctors have little answers and in their round-about-way eventually are telling you they do not know. It pushes on the paticence of the family of the loved one who wants you to hurry up and be better.
Right now I am trying to embrace this unknown and not give up my hope and faith that Andrew will recover 97-110% (This is the part where in my mind he wakes up when I tell him this and argues me that there is NO WAY he could be anything over 100%). We were told it could take one week or even a month before he might wake up and that it is all up to him.
To help us stay strong we must remember that Andrew is 30-years-old (even though he is older than me I am told this is young *insert humor here*). He has two bachelors degrees that he got within 6 years. This not only shows that he is a smart man, but a man who works hard to get what he wants. We have been together for 10 years and married for 7 (next week) and he has had the same job for 5 years. This shows his dedication through ups and downs. These are all things on his side for a good recovery.
It may be in my nature and my way of dealing to be an extreme optimistic, but I feel good about what is to come no matter how long it takes. Taking it in day by day and that is what we have every day and look at how many days we have had.
Continue with your prayers, good thoughts and good energy because I can feel it, and my family needs it to stay strong.
Love Shawna
I also wanted to add (at 10:18 am) that his nurse had also reminded me that he had come to the hospital awake and responsive; able to follow commands. She said he also has that on his side.
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