Thursday Update at 5:50 pm CT

Things are going a little better today! Heather is about the same as yesterday as far as being tired, but a lot has been accomplished since last evening and this morning. The pump that is draining fluid from the brain has been officially clamped off, and they will monitor her for a 24 hour period. She is scheduled for an MRI in the morning to be sure that everything looks okay, and that there are no surprises before the tube is removed. Once the tube is out successfully and stays out with no complications, she will be transferred out of ICU to the step down unit, as she will no longer be considered critical.

She is having some pain in her left leg and especially the left hip area, and she has been real sensitive to touch. Because of all of her seizure medications, she has a condition where her bones are very soft and can break easily called Osteopenia. They did X-rays of the left hip and knee, and an ultra-sound to check in both legs to be sure that there were no hair-line fractures as well as blood cots. Everything was fine with these tests, nothing is broken and there are no blood clots! Praise the Lord!!! The pain in the legs could be nerve related because of the surgery. Please pray that this calms down, as it would hinder her ability to do transfers and begin trying to walk, since her right arm and leg aren't moving right now.

An Ophthalmologist (eye doctor) came to evaluate her eyes. There is some scarring on the retina of the right eye, and he is calling her eye doctor in Chattanooga to see if it was present before the surgery. She is showing some difficulty with her vision and especially in recognizing numbers and letters. We are praying that this, too, is temporary. It is hard to know at this point until she is more aware .

They will repeat the swallow test tomorrow. She is looking forward to being able to eat. She asked for a donut a few minutes ago along with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and sweet tea! Through the assistance of the therapists, she was able to sit up and support herself with a pillow for therapy today, which was improved from yesterday, and she was also able to color with her left hand. She used to be right handed, but trained herself to eat as well as write with her left hand because her right hand twitched constantly, because of seizures. It was good to see her be able to color so well with the left side. Since she has been having trouble recognizing her numbers and letters, we wanted to see if she could still write her name. Praise the Lord, she did a great job, though the letters are a little large, she wrote her name with very little effort!!!! She is trying so hard to get better, and she is going to get better. We believe firmly that the Lord had been moving many of her functions to the right side of her brain over the last few years, as He was preparing her for this surgery. WHAT AN AMAZING GOD WE SERVE!

"For I know that the LORD is great, and that our Lord is above all gods."

Psalm 135:5