Afternoon Update – Oct. 7

Sorry for the delay. It’s been a very busy morning. Meg slept better last night. Not great, but she slept till 3:30 and then off and on since.

She also had OT, Speech, and a visit from Bartley the dog who did hop up on her bed. Megan is in for a procedure right now to add the device that will ensure this never happens again. Please pray that goes well.

Susan and I were down in the suite with her till she fell asleep. One of the people in the room (so many people) commented “so this is the miracle girl.” She had read her history and from the way things looked it sounded like she has been surprising everyone with her recovery. They didn’t count on the miracle.

One month ago today she collapsed. It’s a day I’ll never forget. I remember hearing one of the doctors in trauma say to the other, “It’s been 2 hours. At some point someone has to talk to the parents.” He didn’t see hope, he didn’t count on the miracle. The other doctor wasn’t ready to give up. She asked for one more chance. A consult with cardiology. They did two things for Megan. They tried a different drug for her heart and pushed for the bypass. This saved her life but cost her leg. I’d literally give my own arm and leg for her so it seemed an acceptable price.

The problem was the time she was getting CPR was excessive. This can lead to significant brain injury and the responses the doctors were seeing early on weren’t hopeful. Neurology didn’t make it much more hopeful. The best they could say is “there is some brain activity and it’s not a seizure but it’s not normal so she has significant to moderate brain damage.” They didn’t count on the miracle.

Even after getting the MRI and seeing damage throughout, including some clusters of significant damage, the best the doctor could say is, ”At least it isn’t catastrophic.” That was the “best news.” She didn’t count on the miracle.

Over and over she has exceeded expectations in surviving and recovery. That is the most Megan thing a person can really say too. She exceeds expectations even lying unconscious in a hospital bed while God meets her every need.

In other news, I talked with the doctors today about steps to removing and closing her trach. She has been on room air for days with no issue. The steps are: evaluate for eating, clear her to eat, monitor her for a few days of solid food, and finally start making plans to close.

These steps really work well for Megan too. Her #1 goal is to eat. She has been saying it for a week. She wants to eat.

It’s like when she was on the vent. She started pulling it off and trying to make it clear she didn’t need it. When they finally took her off the vent she had an expression that made it clear she was thinking, “What have I been telling you?!”

Tomorrow, if all goes well, she will be evaluated for swallowing. They have to do an x-ray while she swallows some barium milkshake. There are a few states based on how that goes: full pass and whatever she wants to eat, soft food diet, liquid diet, only ice like she is now.

Megan is sure she is ready to just eat. I mean fully ready to feed herself steak and potatoes. She has started giving herself ice, so she will not let some puny thing like recovering from a heart attack, 2 weeks on bypass, 3 weeks on a ventilator, and 4 weeks of mostly laying in a bed stop her from feeding herself. A girl’s gotta have priorities and I can’t fault her on this one.

Also, in some amazing news. Today Megan sang for the first time and her voice is perfectly Megan! She was getting a stitch out and the PA, who has been amazing, put on some music for her from Beauty and the Beast. Megan started singing along. It didn’t take her even a verse to find her voice. She was singing loud, clear, and on key. The PA and Surgeons Assistant were both taken back by how well she sang. Mom and I just joined her because that’s just our Megan.

The singing shook some stuff loose so she started coughing and we had to do some suction, but it was really good to hear her.

Talitha cumi and let your voice rise to the heavens.