Next to Last Segment

Today, I would like to continue my account of how my daughter's accident has affected my life. Sharon began making progress as she slowly emerged from the coma. One of the first areas to return was her ability to speak. She began with complete sentences; but each word was repeated twice. "I I love love you you." Never having traveled down this road before we didn't know what to make of this. We were assured that it was all part of the process. During the time that Sharon was in the Carter Center our five year old son Ben was very sick for a few weeks with inner ear infections and needed surgery for tubes to be put in. He ran a high fever for a few days after the surgery then he finally began to improve. We had to juggle our visits to see Sharon during this time. One early blessing that we received was our daughter praising God as she listened to a Christian music tape. She was physically only half the person that she was before but yet here she was praising God in song and with her "words". We were allowed to take her outside the WPC center for brief visits in her wheelchair. She had not progressed to walking yet. I'm sure she enjoyed getting out of the hospital environment and into some fresh air. A few weeks later we were told that we could take her home. She still had a lot of spasticity in her arm and feet. As she rode home in the car, she kept flipping down the sun visor to look at herself. She was not herself by any means but she was holding promise for much improvement. Her home care involved many people coming and going. Occupational, physical and speech therapists and teachers were common sights at our house. Sharon had to re-learn so many basics. Crawling, walking, speaking, toilet training and controlling her emotions; all these things were major accomplishments. It's amazing that she knew who we were and who she was. I had a friend who was a nurse who came over one day to help me give Sharon a tub bath. What a blessing she was! As the swelling receded in the brain we experienced lots of ups and downs during the next few months. Some of her friends came by initially but as time went on and they saw that she was not the same their visits became less. Sharon was returned to school in September of that same year. She returned in a wheelchair as she was not quite walking yet. And, of course she had to have someone willing to push her to classes. We did not realize that she wasn't really ready to go back to school at this time. We were in a hurry to get her going again and I think we pushed her a little too fast. That fall she began to have small brain seizures which affected her emotionally. Her behavior became very inappropriate. Jim & I both felt that this time during her recovery was worse than the initial first weeks. We actually didn't know what was happening to her. She did and said crazy things and the more we tried to reason with her the worse it got. Finally, we took her back to the hospital and she was examined by a psychiatrist and his diagnoses was "small brain seizures". These were affecting her behavior. He put her on a diuretic and within a few weeks her behavior turned around for the better. She went through a lot of depression but finally things began to stabilize. After trying a number of schooling options she was finally returned to Glen Burnie High School for her senior year. She walked down the aisle and received her diploma on stage! She was a year or 2 behind, but she made the grade. Sharon continued to make progress both emotionally and socially. She had a number of jobs during the ensuing years and actually learned to ride the public transportation system down to Baltimore to some training she was receiving. I actually followed the bus to make sure that she got off and on at the right spot. It was harrowing to say the least. One time a bus driver asked me why I was biting my lip? How could he tell I was stressed? Sharon's life has not been an easy one to say the least. But through it all she has exhibited much grace and strength in the Lord. She has a powerful will that keeps moving her forward. She doesn't look back and bemoan her fate. She does not feel sorry for herself which is a great attribute. She loves people and she thinks the best of others. She doesn't take into account a wrong suffered and doesn't hold a grudge. Did all this come about as a result of the accident? I'm not sure but I think that is just the way God made her. There is more to the story and hopefully next posting will bring us up to date on where she is now and what life has been for her since 1980.