Monday Morning, July 2nd

Sorry I missed the blog last night - computer trouble, but here we are this morning with a recap.

Yesterday was Allie's big day out. We were supposed to go out in the morning but she was not up for it - we had to give her a sedative the night before in order for us to take the staples out of her head. When her friend Kristen showed up around 1:30, Allie decided it was time to go go we loaded into the car and went for our first outing to downtown Greenville, SC. We walked on Main Street for a while and then went over to the river. Allie still has a very hard time with short term memory so was confused as to where we were going and what we were doing. After a while she got hot and was ready to go back. That was cool, we made it out for around 2 hours. When ever she gets hot or uncomfortable she likes to fall back to the security of her room - don't we all.

Her friend Kristen is a doll as are all of her friends. I showed Allie a bunch of pictures I had on my computer and it was great to see them begin to jog her memory. It started when she saw a picture of our 4 dogs and she could name all of them, then she saw other pictures of cousins and while she could not come up with their names, she immediately knew she was related to them, she did know my sister Roni and when she saw my brother Kenny she knew I was related to him. Positive momentum - never a doubt.

Allie can get a little snippy from time to time and we are trying to figure out how much is healing process and how much is teenage??????????? Either way you just tell her you love her, walk away for a moment, collect your thoughts, come back and all is well again.

It's quite incredible, I go back and walk through the ICU aiting room every other day and it is a never ending cycle of people in the most unbearable amount of pain, each family in their own little corner hovering together for strength and I feel so much empathy for them. At this time in Allie's recovery I do not feel that kind of pain anymore but I like to remember it. Unless it has been you child, friend or family member it's hard to imaine how numb these people are and how much love and direction they need, that is one of the reasons I keep my head shaved as a reminder of how precious life is and how much we can all help others, wheter if it's a smile or doing volunteer work or just giving someone a hug.

I know how blessed my family is with Allie's recovery - she was not supposed to make it but God has a higher purpose for her and I believe for everyone who has kept up with this blog as each of us are touched by it - some in a good way some maybe not in so good a way but either way it has a life changing effect.

To those of you that have supported us during this time - thank you.

Have a Great Day
Check out this website - it has an Article on Allie's Graduation - go to: www.mtnvoice.com and click on Feature Article 1

Allie's Dad