Ashley (our first born, organized, list making, clean freak, beautiful, blonde daughter) is not the boss of me!!!!  Not today anyway.  Amy, (Hillary’s new nurse with all the same skills), is now in charge of me.  It’s killing Ashley and fun to watch.  I’m OK with it because when Amy goes into AKO (Ass Kickin’ Organizing) mode she smiles at me EVERY TIME; unlike Ashley who has a bit more “take no prisoners approach”. 

I wish Amy was taking over by way of going nose to nose and eye ball to eye ball with Ashley and staring her down to victory.  That would be really fun to watch!  In truth, the reason Amy must take over is because Hillary’s bacteria infection is very serious in light of her weak immune system.  Ashley and our wonderful son-in-law Billy are expecting their first baby and we are taking no chances that bacteria is passed on to Hillary or Ashley and Baby Vance (Aunt Hillary’s name choice).  Our best estimate is that Amy gets only two days of  “The Boss” status while Hillary fights this infection. So we are going to mind Amy on every level just to frustrate Ashley who says we NEVER mind her. 

So while we wait for the good news we know we will hear soon that the bacteria is retreating, I’d like to share the many good news of today: 

1) Today is today and yesterday is behind us.

2) Hillary’s vitals including BP, heart rate, oxygen levels, breaths per minute are GREAT.

3) Her urine looks GREAT. (Hey, Nurse Eric’s words not mine)

4) Her color and “look” is more like Hillary again. 

5) Hillary’s eyes are open a great deal and while they are not where they were in terms of alignment, etc. they are improving every single minute.  Her pupils are responsive (slow but responsive all the same) and her beautiful green eyes are trying very hard to focus again.

6) She is squeezing my hand with her right hand.  For those of you who have held our girl’s hand since she has been in 10 North Vandy Trauma, you didn’t feel anything like this!  She really strongly squeezed several times and once or twice has pulled me back when I said I was going to let go. It’s Hillary’s squeeze…with love and expectations and demands….all rolled up into the girl we know so well.

7) Hillary has some feeling coming back in her feet.  We have heard high top tennis shoes will help restore positioning of the feet and avoid the foot drops from inactivity.  We hate to cover those pretty cherry red toes but a girl must do what a girl must do for the long haul.

8) Her elbow surgery (and plates) look great and in fact they have removed all bandages to give her the healing air she needs for full recovery

9) Oh my gosh, am I already at nine?!?!?  (Did I say Ashley is NOT the boss of me?) Seriously number nine is the greatest positive of all.  The love and concern of friends (even strangers) across the globe who are lifting Hillary up in prayer is phenomenal.  Hillary’s update site has over 5,000 hits (visitors) per day!  That is 5,000 times a day that each of you are thinking of her, loving her and offering prayer and asking others to do likewise for our Injured Angel. 

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

XOXOXO

–Shawn

Fall is here.  I know that not because I feel it on my skin and sense it in the air, but because the worried families in the Trauma and ICU waiting room are wearing jackets and long pants.  It doesn’t seem possible that we are now helping the broken hearted families who have just arrived.  They can tell we “know the ropes” and we share the insider tricks such as reminding them in the mornings to jump on the 2nd floor elevator going down and stay on until it can take you back up to the 10th floor.  And just the opposite is true during night time visiting hours when you often must go up to go down.  If you follow this advice you can avoid a ten minute wait as people go on with their “normal” lives heading to work and back home again.

I’m looking at Hillary and having one of those “This can’t be happening” moments.  She has just returned from a procedure for a filter which will ensure clots do not travel into her body.  When they shared their plan with Paul he said “Where do I sign?” having carried that concern inside him for days.  What a relief!  She has just returned and while she tolerated the procedure very well, her breathing is not as they would like.  “Nothing we can’t fix.” they said, so I am breathing better for her right now.  And that is step forward number one.

Number two is her continued ability to open her eyes and try to focus just a bit more each time.  While her eyes rarely open for any reason other than a reaction to something the nurses are doing (or her need to cough), they do still open and more often every few hours.

Number three is what her caregivers see in her right hand movement.  Hillary opens her hand and moves fingers somewhat naturally instead of curled inward and closed as in many head traumas and strokes.  They have reminded me this is a wonderful sign and something we should be celebrating.

Her fourth step forward came when I was exercising her broken (now steel plated) arm.  As I bent her arm, bringing her hand to her chest area for her exercise, she pushed her elbow and upper arm down…really pushed.  I don’t know how to describe what this feels like.  It is almost like watching a small puppy just being born and you see what you think is a sign of life the moment they arrive.  You wonder if you saw what you think you did.  And then they do it again!  And you know they are going to be OK.  I bent Hillary’s arm again and there it was!  She did it again and then every time there after.  I knew she had a broken clavicle on that side and obvious discomfort in the elbow but I rejoiced and so did Barry and Robin right along with me!

And as expected, there is one step backwards. Hillary’s feet are beginning to “drop” and she has very little if any feeling in them right now.  We hope much of that is due to the long time in her bed. We will continue to exercise her legs and feet until we can turn that into tomorrow’s step forward…..or maybe the next day’s

Thank you for EVERY prayer!

XOXOXO

–Shawn

I laid awake this morning after the 8 hours of rest my entire family forced on me (as well the meds prescribed by Dr John Cecil—we love him) and tried to stay on task by finding four steps forward.  And I found them!  First, at 11 PM last evening with GREAT respiratory readings and Ashley by her side, Hillary was taken off the ventilator.  WHAT a step forward and one we never thought would come this soon.  Secondly, she did have a very successful surgery on her elbow.  Third, she became “more responsive” with movement of fingers to commands, though the response is delayed.  The movements are so slow and minimal it is often difficult to determine whether reflex or response.  However, the more time you spend with Hillary the more you begin to decipher the two. 

While our men may not “get it” when they read the fourth step forward, the women most certainly will.  Thanks to the loving care of Erica, Hillary had an evening at the spa with Bath and Body Works Japanese Cherry Blossoms topped off with a final coat of cherry red on her toes.  It was WONDERFUL!  Erica brought all of this to Hillary from her own girly collection at home.  What an ANGEL!  We love you Erica and all the Coltharp women can’t wait to have champagne and pedicures with you soon. And we will let you and Hillary pick the day.

The spa in Trauma Center room #31 may be the reason we are all better able to handle the step backwards of extremely high blood pressure and fever….most of which is caused by “brain storms” which are the result of her trauma from the accident. After shots and repeated meds to reduce her BP crises, Caregiver/DJ Drew finally came in and said, ”Hillary….I don’t like to lose…and you are beating me!  I am not going home until we get the BP down.” And Drew brought in that rolling trauma tracking system/music sound and production system and went to war.  Part of his combat included more R&B all the while taking readings and fine tuning her delivery of meds and care.  No changes.  Finally he moved her into a place very appropriate to Nashville by way of Rascal Flatts “What Hurts the Most” and she began to settle down.  Within minutes her blood pressure started to hit near normal readings.  Drew said, “Hillary why didn’t you tell me you wanted Country tonight?  Wow….she is a girl who really likes to mix it up, isn’t she?!?!?”   Thank you Drew and Erica and Sarah and Darla (who has the cutest hair do EVER and one we have goaled for Hillary soon)  And you too, Anthony!  (Hillary’s Angels in Vandy posted to blog pics)

As Paul shared, the clinical trial to fight Hillary’s pneumonia appears to be successful and we thank God and Judy Jenkins, RN MSN, for the blessing.  Judy was so cute when she came in yesterday morning to check on how things were going:  She said she had been to her stylist the evening before and he had wanted to make a slight change in her style.  Judy said the first thing she thought was “What would Hillary do?”  We had such a happy laugh and connection with her and those moments just continue every day.

But so do the ones where I look at my baby girl and wish I had every chance back when she was little and wanted to hang on me constantly for hugs no matter what I was doing or where we were. If only she could hang on me now…I would never say, “Honey thank you for that hug and now Mommy has to go do this right now.”  I’d say hang on for dear life my sweet daughter and I will never let go. I KNOW she isn’t going to let go of all of us and you either….NEVER!

Thank you for every prayer!  We feel you connected to us and it is important beyond any way we can describe. We wish we could speak to everyone of you and always respond back by email, but it is impossible right now.  We whisper your names and give her every kiss you send.

–Shawn

Its Sunday just before noon. As I write this they are getting ready to take Hillary down to have her fractured elbow repaired by screwing a plate on to her bone right at the the elbow.  Of course this is the 4th day they have planned this and someone always seems to need the team more than Hillary…which is the way it should be.  While waiting, Hillary is spending time with her Aunt Martha who is trying to be the one who is with her when she wakes up ).  Hillary’s Aunt Denise spent yesterday afternoon with her ALSO trying to be the one with her when she awakes. (more coming from Denise today). The good news this morning is that she is doing well with her clinical trial drugs for her pneumonia and they are currently getting very little or no fluids extracted from her lungs.  Hillary IS RESPONDING to some commands such as squeezing a hand and can be stimulated to move her lips.  Little baby steps I know, but progress is being made and that is always encouraging.  Since typing is not my forte and this one paragraph is taking far too long…we’ll have to offer another update on Hillary after the pending surgery.  As always, thank you for your thoughts and prayers…and if ever in doubt about such things, let me assure you they ARE being heard and are being answered!!!!!!

Paul 

Nothing could have said it any better than the words of my friends Kathy Cox and Karen Thompson with the Wal-Mart Foundation:  “We are praying for four steps forward so the steps backwards are not so challenging”.  She has definitely taken four steps forward.  First of all, Hillary moved from yesterday’s “less critical” wing in the trauma unit to her very own private room.  A definite sign of improved health and GREAT for us because two can stay in her room 24 hours around the clock.  Second step forward –swelling in her head is coming down substantially. She looks more like our beautiful Hillary….sans hair.  Third step forward– she is moving even more to pain and seems to be reacting appropriately.  Once we saw her make a fist when they ran the tube down her throat.  Additionally (and fourth), she seems to be responding well to the clinical trial for her pneumonia. God bless Johnson and Johnson/ Ortho-McNeil!!!  For our brilliant medical friends here is a link to the trial

  http://www.ortho-mcneil.com/ortho-mcneil/060607_press_release.html

And the step backwards really DID seem less significant during the two BP Crisis as they called it which came in the night.  They have postponed the surgery again to put the plates in her elbow…but once again….we are delighted about that.

My friend Brenda Davis spoke of the surreal experience this is, having gone through a very similar experience with her sister when we were all teens.  Another friend stated how serendipitous some moments are.  Yesterday was the perfect example of serendipity.  We reconnected with our wonderful friends Bob and Martha Nemer who have been at our sides “taking pieces of this for us” as Bob requested.  And Patricia Williams (my idol of domestic goddessness and nurturing) arrived as well as Kerry Dallam, the one who says constantly “its just as easy for me to bring it to you…I’m on my way!”  We sat outside in the great outdoors and told old stories, shared dreams and literally laughed two hours away.  (Later that afternoon we snuck away with Bob and Martha and had much needed cocktails at a sports bar and once again discovered, no time has passed between us whenever we get together.)

Finally, with visiting hours over, Hillary and I went to bed to the best caregiver/DJ in the world, Drew.  Her wonderful guardian nurse rolled in his computer monitor which guides him and others to the best possible navigation system for her optimum health. And after hearing of Hillary’s great love for all types of music…..especially R&B and Country….Drew fired up some PERFECT R&B on that sophisticated monitoring system and he guided us to sleep with that and his watchful eye on her monitors.  He will be back tonight and we can hardly wait!!!!!

Thank you, thank you for every one of your prayers

Shawn

Many of you have asked “where can we send donations?”  Good news….our cousins, Lauren and Brian went to Hillary’s bank and set up a fund in her name.  Hillary sadly enough did not have healthcare insurance.  We are trying to fight for her to stay in Vanderbilt as long as possible.  At this point we are just hoping that God works his miracles and makes it possible for her to stay as long as needed in the Vanderbilt “system” for her recovery. 

So far the fund set up for Hillary is listed on the iList in Paducah.  We are also in the works for a benefit for Hillary in Paducah (likely to happen November 23rd).  We will keep you all posted on details for that.  Again thank you, THANK YOU for all you have done and continue to do for this sweet baby girl.  If you are interested in making a donation for Hillary please send to 

First Southern Bank of Kevil

PO Box 220

Kevil, KY 42053

Please make checks payable to:

Shawn & Paul Coltharp for the benefit of Hillary Coltharp

It was a pretty uneventful evening again, though her spike in fever was concerning.  The doctors and nurses determined the fever is really “brain fever” due to the head trauma and the brain’s inability to thermo-regulate itself right now.  While she is moving both sides, she is still more or less retreating from the pain than really trying to push the nurses to stop.  When the pattern begins Ashley and Brittany tell Hillary to “wake up and get the nurse to stop”….and of course in the end they say “Hillary wake up and hit her”. (You know those Coltharp girls)

Today was also the first day they sat Hillary in a chair and thankfully with fever coming down.  The more we looked at her long hair on one side the more we knew she would KILL us for letting her look that way.  So the clippers came out and we hope she feels the move was liberating.  Demi Moore and Sinead O’Conner NEVER had anything on Hillary.  And oh by the way, we keep reasuring our girl that there are no scars and scrapes on her beautiful face and most all of her artificial nails are in tact.  REALLY!!!!  Only one scratch on her chin.

We are still so overwhelmed by your love….Thank you Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, God Parents, Friends, Colleagues (who ARE our friends), and yes, even YOUR families living in Nashville who have come to see us and offer their help as well. We are the envy of all the families in crisis here because of the gifts and food and LOVE.  Even our friends at Wal-Mart Home Office and in Nashville are taking such care of us!!!  How can we possibly ever repay you for ALL you do???  We keep asking ourselves why we aren’t better friends and family members to all of you?

Keep your prayers coming and rolling over our darling Hillary…..we NEED a miracle soon

XOXO

–Shawn

Today is a better day….yesterday is over! It does look like it is possible that Hillary has decided to “shine” a little more this morning.  She is moving all four limbs and she seems to be more aware of our voices.  While she is still not really responsive, she is moving her legs and arms through stimulus of pain.  Additionally she moves her whole body a little herself on occasion.  As one of our friends in Canada often says, “BIG EXHALE!!!!!”

We have caught ourselves thinking about Hillary’s full recovery and how we will “reprogram her” IF in fact she has severe memory loss.  We are going to remind her that she is a fabulous hair stylist who ALWAYS does her family’s hair on demand….often at our homes if we don’t want to go to the salon.  She considers calling people back IMMEDIATELY as a priority and LOVES to do dishes for all family dinners.  Whenever faced with a decision her first words are “What would Mom want me to do?  Let’s call her right now and whatever SHE says I’ll go with.”

The exciting news for us is that Hillary has no spinal damage and therefore they were able to remove her neck brace today.  She was also able to breath without the respirator for 4 hours today!!!!  Additionally she is reacting appropriately to pain on her legs and feet and in fact bending both knees very well.  Her cast arm doesn’t move a great deal but it still does move.

We are so humbled by your love and prayers and even your friends prayers.  Hillary is being prayed for literally around the world!

Thank you for EVERYTHING…..but most of all for loving our family and our Hillary

–Shawn

Your love, support, and prayer chains are just what the doctor ordered at this point. We are so overwhelmed with the amount of people that know and are praying for Hillary through this.  Thank you to everyone for all you do.

As for Hill….not too good but not too bad today. We were prepared for the WORST since day 3 is always bad.  However, all in all she is doing okay. Early this morning she had her tracheotomy procedure. They also put in her feeding tube. The CT Scan showed no change which was great news! This evening they did put a brain monitor into her head to keep a better eye on activity and/or lack of.  They hoped to not do this but because she is not responding as they wanted the doctor chose this option.

We are really still very positive.  Today we did get a little discouraged because the doctors wanted Hillary to “shine” more than she has at this point…but let’s be real…she will “shine” when SHE wants to…. NOT when WE want her to….again Hillary is stubborn haha.

The great news is Hillary HAS BEEN moving appropriately and it is becoming obvious to us and her health providers she is hearing our voices.  She may not be responsive to commands but who cares. I told my mom think of how down we would be if we had no response from her up to this point. She has gotten agitated and restless when we go in there and talk to her. So even though the doctors watch that part VERY close to not raise her blood pressure too much etc it is 3 days not 3 weeks into this. Tonight we just tried to keep focused on the positives. Hillary is alive and she is a fighter….We are not going to hear great news everyday but we have certainly not heard HORRIBLE news either.

We know there is a rainbow out there….I can even see it forming.  Just keep loving us through this very difficult time. 

Ashley

Tonight at around 7pm my sister, Hillary, was heading on I-24 to Ky Lake and had a wreck.  She was meeting Mom, Dad, Billy, and myself to eat dinner and never arrived. 

After what seemed like forever of worry for where she was my Dad and Billy went looking for her.  They pulled up at a spot where they could overlook I-24.  They saw a white Volkswagon Cabriolet convertible car like Hillary’s being placed on a tow truck.  As they ran closer to the car they confirmed it was Hillary’s.  The state trooper with her car said she had been taken to Western Baptist Hospital in Paducah but he knew no other information. 

Hillary had NOT been drinking.  There was no other car involved so we are not sure what happened.  All we know is while she was traveling East bound on I-24 at some point her car crossed over the median and rolled at least twice.  She was ejected 75 feet from the car and landed on the emergency lane of the opposite direction she had been driving.  So her car and body were on I-24 WEST bound.  

She has severe trauma to her head.  A collapsed lung, broken ribs 2-7 on her left side, broken left elbow, broken collar bone, fracture on the back of her skull and a few other minor problems.  We are hoping that she makes a full recovery but we will NOT have that as a possibility if I can’t get every single person I know and that they know to pray as hard and as often as they can. 

This is the only information I have at this time.  I just can only do so much.  But the one thing I can do for my sister, my best friend, is to have you all pray.  Please pray as hard as you can with all your heart and soul that this sweet young mother will be okay.

Here is the release from the KSP

News Release

Injury Crash on I-24 in Marshall County

Date of News Release: 09/02/2007

(Mayfield, KY) – Hillary Coltharp was travelling eastbound on Interstate 24 when her vehicle left the roadway for unknown reason and crossed the median. The vehicle overturned and landed in the westbound lanes. She was not wearing her seatbelt and was ejected from the vehicle. The westbound lanes of Interstate 24 were temporarily closed down at the 23mm. Ms. Coltharp was transported by ambulance to Western Baptist Hospital and later airlifted to Vanderbilt Hospital. She is currently in critical condition. Investigation continues by Tpr Tim Sales.