Angels Near and Far

Posted at 11:30 pm PT

Sorry I’m such a slacker on writing the last few days. Everything is going well. Sean continues to improve by leaps and bounds. Don’t know yet about going home tomorrow. There seems to be red tape issues on [the old hospital’s] side. It is starting to look more hopeful for Wednesday. Today our friend Tommye came to visit from San Francisco. We had a nice afternoon with Sean. He is a hairdresser so he surprised Sean with a haircut. It looks great. After a 10 hour day with Sean; Vince, Tommye and I went in to the city for dinner. It was fun but I am soooooo tired. I promise to find more time tomorrow to update.

Thanks for your prayers and support.
Love,
Us

its kiersten again… .

Posted 2 hours ago

Hello again. My mom just called, and the Internet at the hotel room is not working so I’m in charge of the update for tonight. My mom of course feels bad because she hasn’t updated in a couple days, but who can blame her?

oday was a very busy day at Kentfield, but busy was good because the doctor’s now have Sean setup so that he can probably get transferred back to [the old hospital] for rehab because he’s doing so well. Every day there is progress, and I think we are all ready to get Sean home and have our family back together. 3 of the [family] were together today because my dad drove to Kentfield, but I haven’t been able to go yet because I got a job at the coffee shop [...], and your first 7 days are mandatory training days. I can’t wait to go visit so we can be our ridiculous foursome again. Well that’s it for me tonight… I’m exhausted. As always, thank you for everything guys:).

Love,
[Us]

P.S. [From the editor! – if you are interested in sending gifts, flowers, balloons, etc. to Sean or anyone else in the family, contact me via email or by leaving a comment here. The comments are released only when I’ve reviewed them and only when they’re germane to the topic at hand, so rest assured I’ll keep the information confidential and won’t release your email address. Many thanks to all of you still taking the time out of your day to visit the site and get updates on the family. Don’t forget to stop by the regular blog, http://www.kathieleung.com/journal/, too!]

Posted at 9:39 am PT

Just a quick note. Sometimes I read back on my postings and I realize that I was so tired that I didn’t elaborate enough on something I said. I said that people said that we had to find the right place for us as well and we thought that was ridiculous, that it was all about Sean. Well we actually got that advice from several people and it was very good advice. Advice that I would now give to others. Please keep telling us what you think because I read every post [Editor’s note: Remember, your comments here are shared with the family, so yours are being read by them, too!] and truly believe that your messages (voices) are one of the tools that God is using in this journey. Sometimes we don’t have the ears to hear, but please let God continue to speak to us through you. Sorry if I sounded ungrateful last night. My brain and body were tired and I wasn’t filtering or elaborating well.
Have a great day beautiful people. We appreciate your love, support, voices and, oh yes, PRAYERS so very very much.
Love,
Terri

Blessings

Posted at 2:47pm PT

I have a little break while Sean is in therapy so I decided a little up date is in order. I feel like I am complaining so much, but trust me, I am not beating myself up for that. This is tough. But I don’t want to omit the blessings because believe me they abound. This area is beautiful and the weather is always perfect. I have been going for walks everyday in the Ross foothills and it is so gorgeous and the homes (estates) are spectacular. It is eye candy and a great workout. Especially when you get on the wrong road like I did yesterday and find yourself walking WAY up into the foothills! I call these walks my sanity walks. I don’t go on them alone. God joins me everyday and straightens my *@#! out some days when I need an attitude adjustment. It is my time to reconnect and it is wonderful. I will miss it so much when we leave. In Chico you don’t just pop out any time of the day for a stroll unless you can tolerate the heat. Watching Sean improve daily is the biggest blessing of all. It tries my patience to the very limit having to wrestle with him all day. But to watch his progress and to know that God is restoring him back to where he was or close or better! I’m speechless. And each and every one of you are blessings as well. Don’t forget that, as a matter of fact lets all make that our mantra for the day if not week, month, of life. Say it with me, "I am a blessing from God". Now believe it with all of your heart. If we could all just really get this, WOW, what a different world we would live in.
Gotta get back to the hospital now.
Love ya,
Terri

Posted at 9:30 pm PT

Hey guys…. this is Kiersten tonight. I just got off the phone with my mom, and she asked me to write the update for today. Sean is doing amazing, and shocking all of the doctors at the rehab hospital. Today was a really long day it sounds like, and my mom described it as being very stressful. At this point I think that all 4 of us are ready to be reunited…we definitely function better that way. I’m ready for my nightly tuck-in from that funny trio. Thank you guys all for your support, and sorry i don’t have any more news:/. Its bedtime for me, because i have work tomorrow! nighty night
Love,
Us

Posted at 7:50 pm PT

Today was a long day because there was no PT so Sean couldn’t get out of bed. It was a good day though. Vince was at the hospital this morning so I went for a long walk then later I went to lunch before Vince left because I didn’t think that I would get a break after. After Vince left Sean and I hung out for awhile then he said he wanted to sleep and he wanted me to leave while he slept. I asked him how long and he said an hour. So I was able to come back to the hotel and lay down for a bit. When I got back, we watched a movie while he kept trying to roll out of bed. My friend Tommye stopped by for a visit and Sean took another nap so Tommye and I went for a walk around Ross. When I got back Sean got very restless and kept saying he had to pee and it hurt. They are doing a UA but it’s pretty obvious that he has a bladder infection. He finally got so miserable that they gave him pain meds and he will most likely be out for the night. It was hard to leave him so early but there is no need for me to be there while he sleeps and they will call me if he gets restless.

My morning walk was so refreshing and I spent the time praying. Things have gotten so busy that I don’t spend much time in prayer, which is like spending time with not much air or nourishment. Being in close communion with God is everything. I can’t imagine my life without God in the lead. I intend to find time for daily walks and spend them in prayer. God took such good care of me today! Sean doesn’t usually have afternoon naps anymore and when he does he wants me to stay. God knew that I needed breaks today and as always He worked out the details. I am, as always, in awe of God’s amazing love.

Goodnight beautiful people. Please continue to hold Sean and our family in your prayers. We still have a long way to go. Especially pray for Vince as I know that it is heart breaking for him to be away. Do me a favor. Love each other. Try with everything you have to not sweat the petty stuff and just truly appreciate this day that you have with the people that you love. It isn’t by chance that they are in your lives. They are a gift from God! Appreciate them as you would appreciate the most extravagant gift that a person can give you, because they are so much more than that. I find myself watching parents and children lately and remembering fondly raising our children. I want to tell those parents to drink it all in because there is nothing better and to just appreciate that their children are healthy.

Enough for tonight. MImi time.

Love,
Terri, Vince, Sean & Kiersten

Posted at 9pm PT

Today was another day in the trenches. When we got to the hospital to see Sean this morning we were informed that he had torn out his J tube during the night. His restraint was just loose enough for him to rub his side with the mitt on until he got his tube out. So on Monday he has to go to another hospital to have it placed again because they don’t do surgery at Kentfield. It will be outpatient and he will return to Kentfield after.

Sean was very active all morning and pretty anxious. He wants to leave the hospital. At noon one of the docs asked if everything was okay and I told her that Sean’s roommate was stressing him out and scaring him. The roommate was an older disoriented man who mumbled and yelled and cussed all the time. They moved him to another room and put a man in with Sean who is on a vent. After that the doc took me for a walk to get a sandwich [in] a little town called Ross.

I couldn’t believe it. The town is maybe [a quarter of a] mile up a walking path from the hospital and when you step off the path into the town you would swear you’re in Mayberry. It is so quaint and peaceful and there is a great little deli [and] market on the corner. The doc said this is where you will go when the days get tough.

When I returned to the hospital I was asked if I would talk to a family who’s son was hit by a motorcycle when he was riding his skateboard. They are considering Kentfield for rehab. Vince and I spoke with them for a little while then visited with friends that stopped by. It was wonderful to see familiar faces.

After that Sean was sleeping so Vince and I stepped out for an hour to get a bite to eat. When we returned Sean thought he was a hard core gangster and was talking the part. Shortly after that Vince’s headache became a migraine and he had to go lie down in the car. Sean kept asking me to get him out of the hospital. At one point I had to go check on Vince and Sean did not want me to leave him. Vince was very sick and I knew that I needed to get him back to the hotel but was broken hearted to leave Sean. Finally Sean went to sleep and we are now at the hotel and Vince is sleeping.

Vince was supposed to return home today. He was going to take a train out tonight but our friends who stopped by said he could ride home with them tomorrow so we opted for that. Right people, right place, God’s amazing timing! There is no way that Vince would have been able to take a train tonight and God worked out the details so that he didn’t have to.

Enough for tonight. I just wanted to give you an example of a day in the life of rehab. Sean is more and more aware and when we are with him and he is unrestrained he is constant movement and conversation and we are constantly helping him to understand what is reality and what is misperception due to brain injury. He is making his way back and we thank God! It’s just an exhausting arduous journey. Please continue to hold us in your prayers. And to the nurses [from the ‘old’ hospital], thank you for your posts. We miss you too!

Goodnight beautiful people. God bless you all!
Love,
Vince, Terri, Sean & Kiersten

P.S. I managed to pick up wireless at the hospital today. Not that I will have free hands to post but we skyped Kiersten and Sean was able to see his sister who he misses greatly.

The light of day

Posted at 10:55pm PT

We made it through day 4. What can I say? Sean keeps improving. Today in PT they got him in a wheelchair and we were able to take him outside for the first time! He was out for about 10 minutes and asked to go back inside. I think it was a little overwhelming because he hasn’t seen the light of day in weeks. Later in the day when they got him in the chair again he opted not to go outside. Small steps.

Yesterday when we talked to the doc and she told us that she thought that he would make a full recovery or close to it, she also told us that he can never skateboard again and that he can’t snowboard or cliff dive for at least a year. In fact, she said he should never do any of those things again. She explained that he lost a lot of brain cells from this injury and that he can’t afford to lose more. So, to all of Sean’s friends, please build up the other things that he can do like disc golf, hike, run, and BREATHE. We all need to help him understand what a miracle his life is and he can live it to its fullest without extreme sports. He is so talented and his life can and will be so meaningful. We just all need to pull together to support him in the adjustment.

Today I left the hospital at 3 and Vince stayed with Sean until he fell asleep at 9. I came back to the hotel and decompressed. I will be on my own tomorrow and I took some much needed down time. As a result I feel much more rested and ready to take on tomorrow. It’s weird to enjoy the time away and yet miss Sean. I look forward to seeing him in the morning. One of the things I did on my break was to call the woman that I met whose daughter had a TBI. It was so nice to talk to someone who can fully relate. She and her husband are truly blessings in our lives. I also got to catch up with some other family and friends which was wonderful.

[Editor’s note: Terri wrote about phone calls and connecting via cell phone which was removed for privacy/confidentiality reasons. If you are in need of contacting the family, please leave a comment here with your information which will be passed along. If you are not a close friend of the family, Terri is asking for just messages as she’s overwhelmed right now.]

Goodnight beautiful people. Keep praying because God is great and He is present.

Love,
Terri, Vince, Sean & Kiersten