a HUGE thank you!!

Thank you to everyone who had a hand in such a wonderful event for Rachel! It was an absolute success. What an amazing showing of support, a true community in every sense of the word!

Thank you, Thank you Thank you!!

Cleared for Lift-off!!

Wednesday was literally a big step for Rachel's progress- after another set of X-rays she was cleared for full weight baring status on her legs!! She was told that this is not a "no pain, no gain" situation, she has to listen to her body. As time permits and she gains more strength walking will be a greater part of her day. I spoke with her today and she says "her dogs are barking", sounds like she is already off to a fantastic start! She continues to look at the bright side of things, and thankful for the opportunity to be fighting her way back to her old self. Its been a long 4 months, but with her positive attitude and the support and encouragement of everyone she will continue to heal quickly and completely!

Spaghetti Feed- YUM!

There is a Spaghetti Feed and Auction set up for Rachel Friday, April 30th at Mt. Si high school in North Bend. There is going to be delicious food, clearly spaghetti will be the main course! The start time is 6pm, dinner around 7 and the party can continue until 10pm or so! Music, food, family and friends! We hope to see everyone there so celebrate the progression of Rach, to thank everyone for their support and to show Rach and her family our support and encouragement will continue!

Hope to see y'all soon : )

Home Sweet Home!

Yesterday was a big move for Rachel, literally! She was cleared to go home. The assessments of the house had been made, and cleared. Her physical restraints do not hold her back from being functional at home and the beautiful new ramp that Sam built on the backside of the house makes it easy to get Rachel in and out of the house. It has nearly been 3 months since the day of the accident and being home has been Rachel's greatest goal, there really is no place like home. With a healthy, safe, comfortable environment to heal in Rach will continue her positive rehabilitation progress and with no doubt in my mind continue to surprise everyone with the rapid recovery rate she has been on. Her competitive nature keeps shining through, pushing her to do a bit more than necessary, knowing that it will all benefit her in the long run.

Sunny days!

We're just catching some rays outside, recovering as best she can. We just love this weather we have been having. Rachel continues to be recovering quickly! With hours of PT daily she is getting stronger and stronger and her range of motion in all her joints keeps on increasing. Not much longer until she has her next appointment at Harborview to see what the next step is to focus on. Rachel keeps on fighting and finding ways to work harder, even asks the physical therapists to push her harder so she can ensure she will be as strong and as healthy as before! What a trooper!

Pretty in Pink

Happy Valentines Day! 

Rachel has been doing wonderful lately! Her spirits remain high and she is doing her very best to follow all the orders of her Physical Therapists. She figures that if she follows the orders to the "t" then she will be out of there and home in no time hopefully recover even stronger. She had her first public appearance on Friday. Rachel, Vivien, and a staff member from the hospital headed into North Bend for an outlet mall for a field trip. She had a great time and bought herself a new hoodie to sport around at the Hospital. We had a spontaneous mini Valentines Day party today with a few friends in our hospital nook playing a few games and laughing all afternoon. Rachel has brought so many of her friends together and brings out the best in us all! What an amazing girl, no wonder everyone wants to hang out with her : )

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

What an amazing out pour of love was shown this weekend! For those of you donated, baked, helped out and those who did it all- an absolutely unbelievable amount of support was given this weekend. Thank you to everyone who was apart of this Bake Sale and has continued to show their support for Rachel!
She has been doing very well since she got all of her casts off and her spirits have remained high!

Big things are starting to happen!

Today Rachel made a trip back to Harborview. Not entirely sure what was to come out of this orthopedic  appointment, all we knew was 1 of 4 casts was suspected to come off. When we rolled into the room, the doc told us that ALL 4 would be coming off for a while for x-rays. What a lil' fresh air does for someone!  After the x-rays, head to toe might I add, finished she received some great news. She would be in a soft-cast for her right wrist, and put into boot/splints that are removable on her feet. I was off to my own appointment and missed this announcement and she phoned me with great excitement! It was such wonderful and unexpected news for her, and us all! Not only did the x-rays reveal that her limbs are healing quickly so is her jaw- she has been cleared 4 days early to eat nearly real food. Pizza tonight! This girl of ours is truly one in a million and good things are happening faster than expected for her, and she deserves every wee bit of it!

Bake Sale!

Rachel has been doing great- better and better each day it seems! She has gotten some outside time in a wheelchair and loved it! Safeway has set up a bake sale for Rachel this weekend 30th and 31st from 10-6. Come stop on by the North Bend Safeway this weekend if you have time : )

All settled in!

Rachel is all set in her new place, a roommate has already left and she has the room to herself now, which is great since there are so many visitors now that she is a hop, skip and a jump from home. She is liking it so far and ready to get to work with Physio so she can get home. Rachel has continued to be very strong, full of perseverance and an amazing attitude! Hopefully she will keep up the mental strength and the physical strength will follow in stride to a full and speedy recovery!

"Snoqualmie Valley here we come" -Vivien

Moving Day! We just received notice that Snoqualmie Valley Hospital has a room ready for Rachel to move to today. How wonderful that it is so close to North Bend for all of Rach's family and friends. This is the next big step for her recovery process, and we're all very excited to see how she continues to progress : )

Still doing well-

She's doing well and making progress. Rachel continues to impress me every day! She rarely, if ever complains, she puts on a good face for all of her friends, and still has a wicked sense of humor keeping us all smiling. Her friend Jessica came in today and painted her nails for her, she loved it! Its been so nice seeing friends, and family especially last week with the special visit of Grandma Margaret and Uncle Tom from Ireland. She's looking great for her recovery process, and the doctors continue to be impressed with Rachel's continued improvement.

Keep on Keepin' on : )

Making Progress

Rachel is doing well today. She had a pain block on her right leg from the surgery and they turned that off this morning and will be physically taking out the actual blocks this afternoon. She is also off the morphine and on to taking pain-meds orally. Slowly but surely she is being freed up from the med machines that have been taking care of her. This is great news- meaning that her body is starting to recover well enough that it is starting to take care of itself without external assistance. She may be discharged sooner than later at this rate. A lot of it depends on where she will be able to go from the hospital since home is not an option due to the number of serious injuries, going to a place with more individual assistance will help her recover faster.

Keep on Keepin' on!

Rachel is having another pretty good day of recovery. It is refreshing knowing for the time being there are not set surgeries scheduled and that she is on the full path of recovery, with hopefully no hiccups to come. Its going to be a long process and Rachel is going to continue to need all of the prayers, thoughts and positive vibes she can get. Everyone has been wonderful so far, and we can't thank you all enough for all of the kind and caring words from all over!

And a very Happy 17th Birthday to Rachel's cousin Leigh!

Recovery Day

Day after her last surgery and she is doing alright. Rach is in a lot of pain today but the nurses are doing their best to keep her comfortable and as close to pain free as possible. This morning she went down for an ultrasound to ensure that she has no blood clotting from the surgery and taking the filter out yesterday, and to add some fluff to her right wrist cast for more comfort. She is going to need a full day's rest bring her back to where she was before the surgery- which was great, and she'll be back on track to the ol' recovery path.

Double Trouble : )

Rachel's surgery went great! The procedure today was to repair her right foot, take out the filter for blood clot prevention and remove 2 staples out of her head from the fiber optic cable she had from week 1. Her foot was pretty beat up "it was like putting a jigsaw puzzle together" said the orthopedic surgeon. Everything went swimmingly and she is still in recovery but should be out shortly.

Today was a super day for Rachel and I! We both had surgery, she had her last of 6 and I had my 1st and only. I have been struggling with 2 herniated discs and have basically been laid up for the last 2 weeks, barely getting to see Rachel daily. I went in for surgery this morning right after Rachel started and ironically saw her in recovery after I came out of my anesthesia, I was awake but she was not. I am feeling a million times better and ready to sit next to my Bestie every day now : )

Time to Feast!

Rachel made a big step today! They were able to take her feeding tube out which means that she is consistently getting enough nutrients and calories. Rach is going to be so much more comfortable for her and now she can hit some of those cravings she has been having. She is still set for surgery sometime today or tomorrow. This will be her last big surgery! The only ones left will be the smaller less invasive just to get the temporary hardware out.  

 

Family from the Homeland

The past few days have been a little tricky for our girl Rach. Thankfully there haven't been any complications, just part of the healing process. She is doing her best to maintain a good attitude, as are we, but pain adds in a whole other emotional component.
Some very special visitors from the homeland are arriving today who have had quite the adventure through all of the weather to get here and visit Rachel and the family. Her Grandmother and Uncle are coming in today from Ireland. Perhaps this will be the first of many boosts to get through this. It has now nearly been a month since Rach arrived at the hospital- I'd say pretty good timing for an emotional pick-me-up!

Full day's rest- she'll take it!

Rachel is still in quite a bit of pain from her left leg operation yesterday. She is on more pain-meds, self administered now. Its great seeing her have more say, how she is feeling, what she needs, and what she is ready and willing to do. After each surgery, each day of recovery is getting her a wee bit closer to getting starting full rehabilitation.

Another one done-

Rachel is out of her long surgery today and into recovery to double check everything before sending her back up to her room for a much needed long nights rest.

Just a few more surgeries to go-

Back in for another surgery after a few days of waiting. Today they are going to finish up her left leg. They will be taking the external fixtures off and setting her left tibia/fibula, also taking out the fixtures from her ankle from the Pilon Fracture. She will have some permanent hardware in her foot/ankle and will be in a cast to ensure a perfect set after the surgery.

Its looking like it will be 5-6 hours long with recovery time after before she heads back up to her room to celebrate her amazing mother's birthday.

A very Happy Birthday to Vivien!!!

Rachel's Free Day

As Rachel called it yesterday, today was her "free day". She had the usual check ups by the nursing staff, and 2 new visitors that really showed us how great she is progressing. A Physical Therapist and an Occupational Therapist came in to get her moving a bit. She sat up on the edge of her bed today dangling her legs for the first time, there were some minor tests for flexion and extension of her limbs, and things she can do while laying in bed. She was a riot the whole time, keeping those docs on their toes, oh, and of course doing the best she could. What a great day leading up to another big one tomorrow with the surgery on her right foot. Without any set backs thus far, Rachel is truly on the road to a full and healthy recovery. In addition to her positive attitude and taking things in stride, our thoughts, prayers and strong belief in her full recovery continue to help daily.

The waiting game continues

This is one of Rachel's first sailing adventures : )
Rachel is still doing well, resting and hanging in there. We found out that the possibility of her right foot surgery for today has been postponed to Thursday. We are finding out how patient we all really do have to be and Rachel has continued to be a prime example of how we all need to act. Hopefully these extra days of rest will ensure a fast and healthy recovery from this next surgery!

A well mannered woman-

Rachel has been so patient and appreciative towards all of her nurses, family and friends who have been there for her. The past 2 days have been great for her and those around her, resting well, chatting away and still keeping us on our toes. She/we waited all day long on stand-by for surgery on her right foot, however she never did end up making it in today. She is again on the waiting list for tomorrow. Apparently Mondays are busy days at the hospital, especially after holidays. Rachel has been incredibly polite and thankful towards everyone helping her and very happy to see her friends and family. She truly is an inspiration for everyone in a similar condition, and for us in our everyday lives to be appreciative for all we are blessed with.

Sunday Funday!

What a day for our girl! She was the most alert she has been yet, carrying on conversations, very excited to see friends and family who stopped by, lots of smiles and laughing from her. She is starting to take in a little bit at a time of the whole situation, but still struggling to retain all of the information, and will for a bit longer. Rachel is also starting to question the nurses and try to have some understanding of what she is going through. This is a big step of her recovery so she will start to understand the detailed process to come.

Saturday

Hope everyone's first few days of 2010 have been super! Rachel is recovering well from her surgery on Thursday. However she is in quite a bit of pain from the external fixtures (like big carpenter clamps holding things in place). They are meant to set the tendons and ligaments in her right foot to be stretched out and prepared for the next surgery, tentatively set for early next week.

And if you look closely at the determination in her eyes to stay on that Longboard, we know she has it in her to be strong through all of this : )