Wednesday Evening, June 27th

Hi Guys

Tonight is the wierdest night ever. Here I am sitting in my home and there is nobody here except for me, my computer and four dogs. It's kind or eerie but nice at the same time. I had hoped to do alot of work on the website tonight but I thing after blogging, its going to be TV and then bed.

Nancy said they had a great day at the rehab center today. She said that I won't believe Allie's growth when I get there tomorrow but it has been that way everyday. She said that she did great in all of her therapies and that she is now of all medications including the antibiotics she was recieving from the surgery. This is a good day!

Allie is doing so well walking it is hard to believe that just over a week ago we couldn't get her out of bed and she couldn't use the restroom on her own. Yesterday we went on a really long walk and she did it so well.

Each day her therapists say she is doing better. Sometimes it is hard to understand where they are coming from because on one hand they tell you she has a brain injury and it will take time to recover and on the other hand they want to give her drugs to help with her recovery - where is the balance? Don't get me wrong, these guys are great but it is so hard to quantify her progress - what is good? If she is progressing everyday, the questions are; how good, is it normal growth, is it to slow, is she where someone should be that had a massive brain injury six weeks ago and had a three hour brain surgery two weeks ago? What is her performance being guaged against?

There are no answers as each case is individual yet, you don't know what their goals are or what they are guaging their opinions on and are they opinions or are they based on some scale or index? After asking these questions yesterday Nancy and I have been invited to have a meeting with the team tomorrow. This is good because you reach a time when you have to realistically ask, what have we got and where do we go from here. Allie still has a long way to go but she is making alot of progress and we need to understand what the therapists expect along with what their observations have been from day to day. I believe it is extremely important to get imput in meeting from the people who are with her the other 21 hours a day they are not with her.

We are blessed to be in a place where they listen to our concerns and act upon them immediately.

Allie's friends visited her tonight, Ricky, Kimmy and Logan. Nancy said they had a great visit and Allie is calming down more and more each day. When I spoke to her on the phone tonight she sounded great. It's not in the high pitched, hysteria voice anymore and she can sit quiet for a few minutes now. Her appetite has returned, she is feeding herself and said she was going to college in September - hey who knows - never a doubt, right?

Anyhow, all is good, we have grown stronger through this and have come to appreciate how beautiful life really is - you just have to see the good in things that happen, accept it and embrace it.

Nancy, Matt, Allie and I truly appreciate everything everyone has done for us, we are grateful for everyone who has and continues to work with Allie and all of the wonderul ICU and floor nurses who we visit. It was so exciting when Allie walked under her own power to the ICU unit. All of the nurses gathered aroung and hugged her and were just amazed - it is as much a thrill for us as it is for them.

Have a great night everyone
Allie's Dad