I was fortunate enough to get to spend a couple of days with my precious little sister and I wanted to share a few pictures and progress reports with each of you.

Hillary came to Nashville to meet with Dr. Peter Konrad, her brilliant (and Mom would say, “Most Precious”) neurosurgeon.  He was extremely pleased with her progress and is ready to take her healing a step further. As he said, “We are going to whittle away at her challenges….one piece at a time.”  In April he will conduct a Baclofen injection trial with the goal of installing a continuous feed Baclofen pump one week later if all goes well with the trial.  The best way to describe what the pump will do is to begin with an explanation of our own “communication system” between a normal brain – (LOL whatever that is) and our spinal cord.  Essentially, our brains communicate with our spinal cord (and cord back to brain) to remind our bodies to “sit erect…stand erect”, etc.  If not, we would be “blobs on the floor” as Dr. Konrad says.  In Hillary’s case, and likely because of static from electrical neurons trying to connect but missing in some ways, her brain keeps saying, “Tighten up on the hand…Tighten up on the left foot….Something is not right here so just do more of it!!!”   Therefore, she over compensates for the misfires and she has what is called spasticity or increased tone to her left wrist/hand and her left foot and ankle.  Consequently oral muscle relaxers are administered in an effort to relax the spasticity. The down sides from these medications are sleepiness, cloudy thinking, and frankly they just don’t do a great job of correcting the problem.  With a direct injection into the spinal column (and core of the deficiencies) the chemistry sets up the right communication and therefore better relaxation and consistency to eliminate the tightness of muscles.  And the elimination of the oral muscle relaxers should have multiple benefits in helping Hillary with improved cognitive clarity.

Additionally, Hillary has begun therapy with a new device called a Bioness on her hand and on her foot.  Her hand immediately improves when wearing the device and her pace of walking was improved in the first session by over 300%.  As she continues the therapy and based on what scientists now know about the plasticity in our brain, the residual affect is expected to carry over in improved physical performance even when the device is off.  Of course the improvements do not come over night. But the more she uses the device, the more the bridging and connecting of neurons continues—like compounding interest on her progress.  And the more her brain makes physical connections the more the brain builds cognitively.

After seeing these exciting new strategies for her future, Hillary and I were off and on our way to a Girl’s Night Out!!  We were going to meet Amy Bowland, Ashley Matthews, McCall Yancy, and Brooke Robertson.  So it was DEFINITELY a Paducah reunion happening in NashVegas.  The good news was Hillary recalled most of the girls we were meeting from her childhood, etc.  She was very excited to get out on the town.  When we arrived there was a set of stairs nothing short of the Titanic’s staircase.  I was so nervous for her but I knew that she just had to climb the stairs on her own. Hillary climbed the stairs and she climbed them well!  I looked over and Hillary was stepping one foot… on one step… at a time.  This is a much faster and a more “normal” approach to walking up the steps and I am so proud of her and her PROGRESS.

The restaurant was very crowded and noisy.  However, it didn’t bother Hillary one bit.  She never once shut down.  (Months ago we would look over and see Hillary with her head resting down on her fisted hand in what we referred to as “shut down mode”.   Thankfully we haven’t seen that in quite a while.  PROGRESS!!!!! 

After dinner we headed back to my house.  She was going to sleep on her old mattress.  I know weird, right?  Well, I have always looooved her mattress so when it was just sitting in storage I felt that it needed some time in Nashville.  Since Hillary was spending the night I thought she would love the chance to sleep in HER BED!  I woke up around 2:30am to her snoring and then again at 5am.  I figured it was a sign that she was sleeping great!

The next morning Hillary was sitting in my car waiting for me to take Vance to daycare.  I got in and I asked, “Did you sleep well on your bed?”  She replied, “Yes.”  I had mentioned to her that she snored and she missed the whole point of my comment.  I wanted her to realize how well she had been sleeping.  Anyway, four hours later she looked at me and said, “I can’t believe I snore….ewww!”  I was thrilled at her comment, because it proved she was remembering something that was short term.  This has been a huge challenge for Hillary but it is getting better all of the time.  I say it is just another sign that she WILL have her life back!  PROGRESS

I have decided whenever Hillary is around I act as if nothing has changed as much as possible.  We both try to act just like we would have two years ago.  So with it being Spring Break and sticking to our “normal routine” I said, “Hillary I think we should try the tanning bed today.”  Hillary, as many of you know, can get as brown as a berry.  She has always loved to be tan.  It makes her feel better.  I mean a Coltharp girl’s motto is tan fat is better than white fat!  I asked her if it went okay and she said it was “perfect!” 

The reason I am telling you about our tanning experience is for what happened later.  Hillary and I were driving back to Paducah early that evening and she looked at me and said, “I can hardly wait for Mom to say ‘Honey, I can tell you have been in the tanning bed…’”  I cracked up laughing and called my Mom immediately.  I told her what Hillary had said and how funny it was that she remembers Mom’s opinion of her daughters and the tanning bed…since she is an employee of the American Cancer Society.  It was great to see and hear Hillary recalling her past moments with Mom just being “mom” to us.  It was also another short term event that she remembered it happened and made a joke about it hours later J  PROGRESS!

I also took Hill to get her nails done while I called on salons.  I dropped her off and told them to call me when she was ready to be picked up.  When I arrived Hillary was telling everyone in the salon to wear their seatbelts.  She also had the entire room captivated as she shared her story of the three Angels that God sent to save her on the side of the road.  And just for the record….that story, what they looked like, what the Angels said to her….every bit of it has remained the SAME story since Hillary began speaking again. 

So once we arrived to Paducah we had to run by Wally World (Wal Mart).  I dropped Hillary off at the door.  She and her “temp” aka 4 prong cane headed in the front door.  I parked the car and followed in I thought behind her.  As I entered Wal Mart I could not see my sister anywhere.  I asked the guys standing by the carts if they had seen a young girl…..before I could get any more of my question out one of the men said, “Oh yeah….that’s my sweet heart!….she took off!”  Well I would say she did!  I could not see her ANYWHERE!  How fast do these electric shopping carts go these days?

So I headed up the grocery middle isle and decided to just stay put.  This place was a little crazy on a Saturday.  Sooner than later I hear and see her coming.  She says, “Hey!  I have to go get fettucine alfredo and then I will be back”  I was like okay I will just sit right here.  Then up walked a dear friend of mine Shannon Livingston (who was giving birth the NEXT DAY I might add) and then we hear someone say, “Hey Hillary”  Hillary then follows with a “Hey Honeybun!”  Shannon and I were cracking up.   This girl is PRICELESS…..

She is so amazing!  

Hillary is definitely here for a reason.  She is a modern day testament to the miracles that God can do for us.  She is one of my best friends in the world.  While I will probably never have her back just as she was before the accident….I have her!  She talks, walks, yells, cries, laughs and loves so deeply…..and is finally even beginning to sing from time to time.

I have so many other stories that I could share about my precious and feisty sister.  But I know we are all very thankful for her feistiness ….IT IS what is making her FIGHT!!!!!!!

I hope you enjoy the pics and understand the little side notes with each J

Also, my precious Billy that Mom claims is the BSILE, made a video for his girl.  I made the decision that I was going to post it for you.  I think it will show such relevance to how far she has come.  Then the pics will show this year (where the video leaves off).  I will be willing to take any heat thrown my way because THIS IS OUR LIFE and this is a tragic event that as a family we have all tried to turn positive. 

*****Video will be on here by Monday....I can't figure it out :(  sorry

So I do have a special prayer request.  Since there could be as many as 1500 hits on this post then I think this will work. 

Dear Lord

Please be with Hillary through her travels to and from her Therapy sessions in Nashville.  Also, God give her the patience, will, and strength to succeed with the Bioness program.  We also pray that she will continue to get well and we are prayerful and hopeful for a 100% recovery.

If other prayers come to your heart for my parents, her caregivers, her son, etc….feel free to ask God to be with each of them.

Again, thank you each for your love, support, and prayers.   Please let everyone know that I am going to try to continuously post at least once a quarter so that you can see and hear of all the PROGRESS!!!!