Catching Up!

Sorry i have not blogged in a while! Shawn is doing great, he is still continuing to improve everyday! He has three more weeks of day therapy here at Shepard Pathways!! He does not use his wheelchair anymore, and is still gaining more strength back in his right arm. His speach is continuing to improve everyday. As part of his therapy he is actually using an I-Pad that was purchased for him a while back. It helps him with scheduling, and games things like that! He had to participate in a Christmas party with the Shephard group that he was so thrilled about!! (NOT)!!! He made an ornament and he made the girls a Christmas card as well as joining in on some "reindeer" games!! Needless to say Shawn's personality is still the same!! LOL!!!

We had a great Christmas at home! The girls were spoiled as usual and I think Shawn enjoyed watching their excitement on Christmas morning, mind you that Kendall woke us up Christmas morning at 5:45 a.m.!!!!

Shawn has been riding to therapy with several different people these past couple of weeks giving me a break and a chance to go to work as well as giving shawn a break from riding in the car with me!!! He was getting tired of me playing Christmas music!!

We have been so blessed this Christmas and the past couple of months and we are so thankful for everything and everyone in our lives right now!! 2011 is going to be a great year!!

Joanne

I have to apologize I have not been blogging! I will try to get everyone caught up! Shawn has been home now over a week. He has been glad to be home as we are having him back home! The first day or two was kind of hectic for him as the girls were running around the house as they usually do and this made Shawn a little stressed out because he of course had not been used to the kids from being in the hospital environment for about 6 weeks. It is much better now and everyone has kind of settled into a routine!! He pretty much since we have been home has just been sitting in his recliner watching football and taking it easy!!

He started his day rehab program which is part of the Shephard Center this Monday. It is in Decatur so it is not all the way into Atlanta as the Shephard Center was. The therapy program consists of speech therapy, recreational therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and some group work. We are commuting every day to his rehab so we can be at home at night with the girls! So far a typical day for us starts at 5 a.m. and we leave the house at 6:55 a.m. to drop the girls off at daycare and then we begin our journey to Decatur. We have been lucky three days out of the five this week with traffic. He starts therapy every morning at 9 a.m. and ends at 2p.m. everyday with an hour lunch break! I have been picking him up everyday and taking him out to lunch. This week has pretty much been a "getting to know Shawn" week at therapy as they pretty much have been accessing him to set his goals for therapy while here at the "day program". Yesterday morning we met with the case worker and they have set a goal discharge date from therapy as January 21 which will be eight weeks of therapy at the Decatur "day program"! They think they can make some significant progress with Shawn and help him to be able to do the things he wants to be able to do again which is be a dad, husband, and get back to work!! Shawn is walking pretty well now, he still needs someone to be there when he walks while the strength in his right leg gets stronger. His right arm is progressing he is able to lift it now from his shoulder as well as do some bending at the elbow!! His speech is improving everyday, the hour ride in the morning has been awesome as we get time to have some good conversations!! Shawn is eager to get better which I think is giving him the strength and the encouragement he needs right towards making a full recovery!!

Last night we went out to eat Japanese which we have not done since before the stroke! It was nice for him to get out and he did well!! He also went to the grocery store with me the other day! Thanks again for all the constant prayers and thoughts!!

Going Home!!

Tonight is Shawn's last night away from home!! We have gone through family training over the past couple days here at Shephard to make sure we are ready to take care of Shawn when he gets home. While going through this therapy I have learned that Shawn does not really need much of my help. He has come a long way since he has arrived here at Shephard Center three weeks ago!! He pretty much bathes himself, dresses him self, etc. I just really need to be there to remind him that he is still healing and make sure he does not make any compulsive decisions that could result in injuries. He has also shown off the fact that he can walk!! Yeap you heard me right he can walk!! He is still a little weak on the right leg but that will get stronger as he goes through more therapy and he begins to use it more!! He climbed two flights of stairs this morning in therapy for me!! His right arm is still weak, but that is starting to come back as well, the arm may take a little longer than the leg as the therapist was explaining to us that the arm has a lot more range of motions and muscles to have to learn how to use all over again, but he has started raising his arm up and moving it from side to side which he could not do a week ago! His speech is improving as well, I sat through his speech therapy session today and I could not believe the difference from the first day we were here, it was almost a 100% better!! I am amazed at what they have done for Shawn here at Shephard and what he has allowed himself to do. When we arrived here a little over three weeks ago, Shawn was not very happy and was really negative about seeing any positive results coming from rehab/therapy! He has really amazed me at how he has been so positive and committed to getting better!! I am so proud of him, he has even "asked" the therapists for homework while he has been here!! We leave hopefully tomorrow before lunch and we are headed home to the "lake"!! He has not been home in almost six weeks! I know he will be glad to sleep in his own bed again and be at home with his family! He is already talking about frying a turkey for Thanksgiving like we usually do every year! Not really sure that is going to happen yet, but Shawn is being stubborn about it!! LOL!! Shawn has the rest of the week and weekend off then he will begin his next stage of therapy at another part of the Shepard program in Decatur called "Pathways" which should not last more than six weeks, it could be shorter or longer depending on his progress. The team here at Shepard does not think it will be much longer than six weeks or it will be shorter!! Thank you all for the thoughts, prayers, gifts, cards, etc.; myself, Kendall, Ashlyn, and Shawn are truly grateful to have such wonderful friends and family!! We love you all and will see everyone soon!!

We are on the final count down to shawn returning home! Shawn is doing amazing, he has become so much more independent since he has been at Shephard. It is amazing how fast he improves every day. He is almost at the point of walking on his own and his right arm is starting to come around as well. His speach is continuing to improve everyday as well. Today we started family training and we learned how to take care of him when he comes home. We learned how to put him in the car, get him in and out of the shower, etc. He was so excited to sit in a car again, it has been a while.
We are leaving the Shephard center next Tuesday. Shawn is so ready to be at his house, it will have been almost six weeks since he has seen his house. He will have off of therapy/rehab from the Tuesday we return home until the following Monday where he will start the "day program" therapy part of Shephard Center in Decatur. It will be the same type of therapy he has gotten here at Shephard everyday from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00p.m Monday through Friday with the weekends off. The only difference is he gets to come home every night to his house and family!!!! We all miss him at home and can't wait for him to be back at home!! He will be just in time to enjoy Thanksgiving at home and Christmas right around the corner!

Shawn had another good week in therapy! He has one more full week here at shephard and is scheduled to leave the following tuesday! He is getting so much stronger on his right leg! Tonight I brought the girls to see their dad for the first time! It went really well they were so excited to see him they both even got to ride in his lap on his wheelchair! He was soo excited to see them too I think it melted his heart when kendall said " good night daddy I love u see u in the morning! Me and the girls are cooking shawn dinner tomorrow night thought shawn would like a home cooked meal!! Thank you all again for the continuing thoughts and prayers!!

Shawn is continuing to improve everyday!! They finally have taken him off the "low fat" diet and he is now on a regular diet!! This has made him a different person! So far he has taken part in a cheeseburger, cokes, and fries!! Yesterday he got to get out of the Shephard Center for a while as part of his therapy and go on an "outing" at lunch! He said they went to Target, shawn's favorite place !! LOL!!! He is doing good with all the other therapy and continues to show much improvement everday!

They will have him on several machines this week for physical therapy like treadmills and in the pool! They have set a goal discharge date of the tuesday of thanksgiving week! From this date he will be able to come home but will need to be in a day rehab/therapy program. We are not sure yet where his outpatient therapy will be or how long yet! So glad he wiil be home for the holidays although I guess with his low fat diet fried turkey is out for him this thanksgiving!! Thank u all for the continuing thoughts and prayers! Joanne

Sorry I have not had a chance to update the blog! Shawn survived his first week of therapy at shephard! They have been working him hard everyday with therapy. He has therapy from 7:30 in the morning until around 4 everyday but has the weekends off except for an hour on saturday mornings! It has been amazing the progress he has made in a week. He is starting to move his leg so much more and they keep working him everyday with all sorts of different machines that help him stand up which makes his leg stronger! He has been working on his right arm as well as his speach! His speach gets better everyday he is really good with casual conversation they are just working to help him with trying to find the right words. He has what they call aphasia which shawn knows the word it just may come out another but all this will come back over time. He has a busy therapy week ahead of him!

We have moved rooms again yep we r getting good and tired of this his room number is now 302b:). He survived his first day of therapy and is looking pretty wore out. He is doing really good and they say he has a lot of "tone" on his right side which means the feeling and muscles are all trying to work again! I think this place is going to work miracles on him!! He got his cath and pick line out today ( line that was feeding him in hospital). Slowly but surely he is making progress everyday! Keep it up shawn!!

Thank u all for your continuing thoughts and prayers it keeps us going! I forgot to mention that shawn is able to eat regular now though they have him on a low fat diet in continuing the healing process of his pancrias!! I think when shawn leaves shephard keeping up the low fat diet which he is not too happy about he might be almost as skinny as when wwe first met which I will fix quick when he comes back home to put some more meat on those bones!!! Again he is improving everyday and he is truly a miracle and seems to amaze me everyday with his progress! Keep it up shawn! Joanne:)

The first day which would have been friday shawn had to participate as part of his therapy in a halloween group activity which I was not allowed to go to with him well when I saw him again I asked how it was and let me just tell u the look he gave me said it all!!! He did not like that which is very typical of shawn! Shephard center has so many patients that are so much worse off than him I think that made him feel like he had npthing in common with them! He is resting this weekend and will start a full and when I say full I mwan full 6 hour therapy schedule monday thru friday and half a day on saturdays:). We hope he is only at shephard 3 to 4 weeks then will get to come home for some out patient therapy closer to home! They expect him to make a full recovery it will just take time! The good thing is he is young! He is in room 314 visiting hours are from 4 to 9 monday thru friday and 9 to 9 sat and sun

Sorry I have not been blogging something has been wrong with my wireless on myu computer! Shawn is doing awesome so far. We arrived at shephard center thursday afternoon and he has been getting settled in meeting all his new therapists etc:). So far he has not had a lot of therapy but he has a wheel chair and has been able to get out and about around the shephard center which is a much needed change from being in the bed the past two weeks! I cannot believe it has been two weeks today that we were just holding on to every second praying that shawns brain would not swell anymore and surgery would not take place. Shawn is way ahead of where he should be most patients that have this size stroke take a while to get to where he is at two weeks! Anyways he is doing good he is back to his old stubborn headed shawn that we all know!

Well just got confirmation that we are moving to Shepard Center tomorrow morning! We are excited to move on to the next phase!! Shawn is ready, they will work him hard at Shepard so I hope he is ready!!

Atlanta here we come.....

Today has been a busy day so far! Shawn has still been eating his "clear liquid" diet, which you know he is thrilled about, and has had both physical and speech therapy! He is still improving everyday. He walked (assisted) twice the distance today as he did yesterday and he has improved his speech a little!! I draped his right leg over a wedge pillow this morning and had him try to kick my hand, which he did three times! Way to go Shawn!! Our motto through all of this is going to be "one day at a time"!!! Well just got an exciting phone call, the lady that I met with yesterday from Shepard called me and they have a bed ready for shawn tomorrow!!!! Now we are waiting on the hospital (MCG) to clear him to be able to leave either tomorrow morning or no later than Friday morning!! Of course right now is lunch time so I am sure no one is answering the phones in the hospital business office!! This is all really fast, I was really not thinking they would get a bed until next week sometime, but we are super excited to get Shawn moved on to the next step; REHAB!!! I will keep everyone posted throughout the day as to which day we are moving!! I have to leave to go home, which I have not been in two weeks, to pack his bags for Shepard!!

Shawn has had a busy day between therapy and visitors!! He finally got to eat something for dinner, chicken broth, jello, and italian ice!! He is a lot happier than before, he said he actually feels a little full!! On second note, I met with someone from Shepard Center today and it went very well. Shawn is getting the next available bed in Shepard which hopefully will be either by the end of this week or the beginning of next because they said right now they were full. The first step though before they will dismiss him from the hospital is he has to eat some solid foods which hopefully will start happening tomorrow! The Shepard Center is going to be great, I am so glad Shawn is going there for his rehab it is know around the nation for it's rehab success rates! They have so many good programs both for him and the family members. Myself and the girls will be doing a lot of travling up to Atlanta to see him and probably stay in the housing that Shepard provides on the weekend. He will hopefully only have to be in the Shepard Center for 3 to 4 weeks and then will be able to come home to continue his rehab/therapy! We have a long way to go, but we just take it day by day!! As one of the doctors said to us the other day "God Has Big Plans for him"!! Thanks again for all the prayers!

Tuesday

I have to first correct the room number from yesterday they moved us to room 5679 instead of 5677. This room is not near as nice or big as the other room but hopefully we will not be here much longer!! Shawn had a good night last night he slept better than he has the past few nights, the only thing that kept us awake was the IV machines beeping!! Last night I think I reached my delirious point, as you all know from yesterday's post Shawn passed his swallow test which allowed him to eat/drink. At dinner time we knew he would finally get a tray of food and we also were prepared for a liquid diet, well five o'clock rolled around and they brought Shawn a tray of "two juice boxes"!! Yes that was all that was on the tray, it hit me a couple of hours later how ridiculously funny this was that all that they brought him on the tray was juice boxes!!

Moving on to today, it is going to be a busy day! Shawn is doing well, he is getting better and stronger everyday! Today is the first time since we have been here that he has actually wanted to see himself in the mirror! He brushed his own teeth, and he had me shave his face! He just got through with physical therapy for the day. They got him out of bed again and he walked almost twice the distance as he did yesterday, assisted of course! His strength in his right leg is improving every day!! Speech therapy will be around sometime today! Shawn is pretty worn out from getting out of the bed! This afternoon between 2 and 3 a representative from the Shepard Center will be here to evaluate Shawn to see if he will be a candidate for their rehab program!! I will post a blog tonight and let you know how it goes!! Thanks again for all your consistent thoughts and prayers!! Joanne

Another move............

Great, as if we have not been through enough and not had to move like five times, they are moving us again! The move is not for any particular reason except they need shawns room for someone who had neurological surgery, so we will now be in room 5677 at MCG! Tomorrow someone from the Shepard Center in Atlanta will be coming to visit us around lunch time to evaluate if shawn is a candidate! Keep your fingers crossed we can get him into Shepard for rehab it is supposed to be one of the best!!

What a great day!

Shawn has been working hard this morning! In the past hour he has undergone physical therapy and has completed his swallow test. Phyisical therapy went great, they stood him up and got him out of bed today. They helped him walk from his bed to the hospital hallway and back to his bed. This pretty much wore him out since he has not been out of bed in over a week. He also was able to push resistance back on his right leg when the therapist had his leg up to a straight position which is something he has not done yet. He will get feeling and movement back in his leg before he will his arm from what everyone tells us of patients who have a stroke and lose feeling in one side of their body. Right after phyisical therapy the speech therapist came in and performed the swallow test on shawn to see if he was ready to eat and drink. Shawn did remarkably better than he did a week ago today. He swallowed everything well all except water. Shawn is now allowed to eat and drink ( only nectar (thicker) type liquids). We are just waiting on the gastro. doctor to determine what kind of diet he can have with his pancriatitis still continuing to recover. Most likely they will start him out on a clear liquid diet and if that progreses well he will be able to introduce other foods into his diet, but as far as the speech therapist is concerned he is good to go with all foods and hopefully water, sodas, and tea in a few days! Way to go Shawn I am so proud of you today! You are making so many steps in the right direction to recovery!!

Today is a good day shawn is acting like the shawn we all know! The doctor just came in and said all of his blood tests have come back negative which is good! They have done so many blood tests trying to figure out what could have caused this, there are two more tests that have not come back but they expect them to be negative as well. So it looks like shawn is going to be the rare 10 to 15 percent of cases they will never be able to know why this happened. Shawn will have to take asprin and plavix everyday probably forever to help prevent this from ever happening again. He is going to take the swallow test again tomorrow that will determine if he can eat or not keep your fingers crossed because he is hungry and thirsty! Also as soon as he can start eating we can move on to rehab center which we are shooting for the shepard center in atlanta:)

Shawn is doing even better today he is starting to move his arm aleg a little more each day! Hopefully he can start eating food by mouth on monday! Today he is doing his usual sleeping and watching football! The only thing he is missing is his ice cold beer!

Doctor just came in shawn is doing good they will try to give him food hopefully by monday they are wanting his pancrias to get better. Hopefully we will be getting out of the hospital by middle of next week and move on to rehab center!! We had a move in the right direction this morning he moved his right hand three times!!! :)

Shawn had a good night last night in his new room we are so happy and thankful we r out of ICU! Shawn has been given homework today he is to work out his right arm and leg so he will not lose muscle tone. We are waiting on the doctor to come and talk to us now! I do have to say MCG has been an overall wonderful hospital both with the care and doctors!

Shawn will be in room 3233 if u come to visit park on the west side of the hospital:)

Well shawn is finally going to a room today!

Where do we begin......

For those of you who do not already know Shawn Wiggins has suffered a major stroke last thursday night (10/14/10). I decided to set up a blog site so that everyone could follow his journey to recovery. I want to take a minute to thank everyone's prayers and thoughts I do not know how we could have made it this far without you!



Shawn called me last thursday and said he had stopped at the Metter, GA hospital on his way home from Savannah for work. He was complaining of chest and stomach pains. He walked into the hospital and they immediatley treated and diagnosed him with pancreatitis. When I arrived at the Metter hospital he was talking to me about what had happened and he was very sleepy because they had just given him some pain meds for his pancreatitis. I noticed through the night that his speech was getting slurred and he could not really hold himself up, the nurses continued to tell me that it was the medicine and that it would wear off. Six o'clock the next morning shawn woke me up still speech slurred to where I could barely understand what he was saying when I had finally figured out he was telling me that he could not feel his right leg and arm. I immediatley called the nurses and they ordered a CT scan. After pacing the nurses station and calling some close friends in a panic they had decided that Shawn has had or is having a stroke. They then decided that at this point he would need to be life flighted to Savannah where he could be in a bigger and better hospital that could handle stroke patients. Well I thought in the next thirty minutes we would be out of that Metter hospital and on our way to Savannah boy was I wrong. The next three hours, yes that is right three hours, I spent cussing out nurses and doing everything I could to get Shawn out of Metter and to a hospital. Trust me Metter hospital will be hearing from me again when all of this is over. So moving along after three hours had passed they finally took shawn by life flight to Macon Colliseum hospital, there he was checked into ICU at about 1:30 and had numerous tests done. As we all anxiously the test results they decided at 6:00 that evening to come and tell us that we would once be moving again to Augusta MCG hospital because the Colliseum hospital did not have a neurologist on staff on the weekends. So my first thought was not again I do not want to move, second thought why would they move us to a hospital they knew could not handle a stroke patient on the weekend, third was we still did not know anymore answers than we knew when we left Metter. So at 2:00a.m. Shawn was finally sent by ambulance to Augusta MCG hospital. We were behind him in the car which felt like the longest two hour drive ever. We arrived there about 4:00 in the morning on Saturday, when we arrived the neurologist met us at the door. She did not have good news at the point telling us that Shawn has suffered a "major" stroke, we were told that his brain was going to swell and that he was going to have to have surgery where they would have taken a piece of his skull to allow for the swelling, we were also told that he would probably not walk again. At this point myself, his sister, and his mom and stepdad were all in shock and an emotional wreck. At this point we all felt knumb and did not know where to go from here. I tried to stay positive and think only the best and that shawn would be strong and he would not have to have the surgery because there still at this point was a small chance that he would not have it. When you have a stroke there is a 48-72 hour period after the stroke that is very critical meaning this is when the brain swells the most. Saturday and Sunday were his critical periods where he was on neurological watch at all times, if any of his signs changed they were on standby to do the surgery. Well long story short a mirical has happened. Shawn is now past his fifth day of his stroke and has proved us all wrong. He has been a miricale and unexplainable case to the doctors here at MCG. THe doctor that met us at the door on Saturday morning came to us on Monday and hugged shawns kneck and could not believe he is where he is today. The part of Shawn's brain that got damaged from the stroke is the left side. Luckily this side does not hold the memory, he has done good at remembering everyone who has walked in to visit him. He is going to have to have therapy and rehab on his speach and his right arm and leg but we are expecting a full recovery!! The only other turning point in this whole story is the original reason he went into the hospital is his pancriantitis. They are still today watching him in ICU for his pancriatitis and his liver, hopefully we will have this diagnosed and treated soon.



Through this whole time shawn has still been himself. He has come around more and more each day, today was the first day he has been really alert and has talked and asked so many questions. I knew today he was back to himself when he wanted me to call his boss and get her to do some things for his work!! Some other funny things shawn has done, Saturday we had on the Georgia game for him and I obviously was standing in his way because he pushed me out of the way and pointed at the television so he could see the game. By Sunday he was starving and thirsting to death, all he talked about was eating and drinking. His sister and I explained to him he could not have anything to eat or drink because of his pancreatitis and they would be doing multiple tests on him the next day. After hours of asking us the same question of when he was going to get food and water we told him it would not happen and his response was typical shawn "that is bull shit"!!!! Tuesday still not being able to drink or eat he is still a little agitated so when they went to brush his teeth that morning they gave him a cup with mouthwash, well shawn being as thirst as he was chugged the mouthwash and then made a face after her realized that it was not water!! I have been sleeping in his room with him every night and have had the pleasure of waking up to him snapping his fingers at me throughout the night when he needs something, one of his friends suggested they get him a bell and I kindly declined that request!!! Last night I was hoping we would all get some sleep, but little did I know shawn had other plans. All night shawn kept waking me up telling me he was going to get out of bed and that he needed to get out of here, I told him he needed to lay back down and rest and it would be soon. I also looked over at one point in the night and he was taking out one of his tubes, I am so glad it was not an important one and he would not need it today!!

We are still waiting on several results to find out exactly what caused the stroke, hopefully we will have answers soon!! We got some good news today, we are moving out of ICU and into a room today on the third floor!! It is supposed to be the nicest floor in the hospital!! Shawn has been pretty tired today, but he is still in good spirits! Please keep posted to the blog and I will let you know the room number once we get moved today, you know how hospitals are it will probably be supper time before we get into another room!!

Joanne