Continuing Progress

Today Anthea finally had her tracheotomy removed. This has enabled her to speak properly for the first time since the accident. For most of the day she has been chatting away with Mike and children. She appears to be in good health and her spirit is strong. Like Mike, she has expressed confidence in God for the future. The family continue to feel upheld by your prayers and ask that you continue to pray for Anthea’s full recovery.

This afternoon she was actually allowed to leave her bed and sit in a chair. Though she’s only able to tolerate this for about half an hour, it was a great step forward. One particular prayer is concern for one of her repaired fingers. The hand surgeons looked at it and wondered whether they might have to remove a small section of one of her other fingers. They will be looking at her hand tomorrow to make a decision about this.

Today Mike gave an interview to both the Bristol Evening Post and ITV West. This involved some shots of the family. Their prayer was that this piece would be a witness to the power of God for the viewing public.

 

New phase

Now Anthea is out of intensive care, she is moving into a new phase of recovery and the family also are starting to think of it as a new, longer phase.  It seems likely that the visible signs of progress will be less frequent and that this is the beginning of what the doctors call the “long haul”. 

The children are therefore beginning to think about when it will be right to go back to their homes and workplaces.  The timing of that will require discernment for their emotional well being.

Anthea had a good night’s rest and hopefully she will continue to acclimatise to her new setting.  It is still not appropriate for her to see visitors outside of her immediate family. 

Mike remains positive, thankful for all the good signs and the progress Anthea’s made and feels sustained by God’s strength.

Anthea, Mike and the family are really encouraged by the ongoing messages of support and prayers of friends and those who have heard about what has happened.

 

Out of intensive care

Anthea was moved out of intensive care to the Trauma Unit (a high dependency ward) last night.  She is currently in an observation bed.  Sleep continues to be an issue as given the condition of other patients it can be quite noisy where she is at the moment.

 

Jacket on

Anthea now has this jacket on to allow her to sit up and they are raising her up 10 degrees at regular intervals.  Mike has been communicating with her and her memory is clearly good.

 

Sleep and speak

Anthea got some sleep last night which was a relief to her and the family after a couple of nights with very little rest.

Yesterday was another day with some signs of progress.  The team put the valve in the tracheotomy so she could speak out loud.  She was able to do this for a few minutes, putting words and sentences coherently together.  However, it caused her to cough so they removed the valve.

Anthea has been experiencing some hallucinations over the last two days.  These are caused by three factors: the drugs, sleep deprivation and the trauma of the accident.  These are not something to worry about long term but we hope will stop as they are disturbing for Anthea.

The night nurse commented to the family how positive and patient Anthea is being.  She obviously sees many people in these situations so it’s encouraging that the inner strength that Anthea has shown throughout the last week continues to be apparent.

As soon as a bed comes available in the high dependency unit, they will move Anthea out of intensive care.  They are also intending to put her in a sort of jacket which holds the spine stable so she will be able to sit up.

 

One week on

It’s now been a week since we started to find out about Mike and Anthea’s accident and love, prayers and hope started to be sent up for the Hills, and particularly for Anthea. 

Given the severity of Anthea’s injuries, the news coming through each day has been really encouraging.  The family have been building strength from the positive signs and, now that Anthea’s conscious, their strength has been spurring her on.

Yesterday, Anthea continued to go on well without ventilation support.  She is able to interact and join in with conversations through expressions and mouthed words.  Laughter and smiles and signs of her character have been a common feature.  However, there have been times of disorientation that have been distressing for her.

The family has been awesome.  Seeing them a couple of times over the weekend, their unity and love for one another was so evident.  Nurses have commented on how amazing they’ve been and the way others have noticed it.  Johnny, Nick and Adam, the boyfriends of Charis, Alexa and Lella, have been incredible in supporting the girls and the family. 

And your support has been unbelievable: this blog has had well over 10,000 views in the past four days and is one of the most popular on WordPress!  Yesterday, churches all over the country (in fact the world) were praying.  The Hills have been so grateful for – and are so humbled by – this.

If you haven’t watched Mike’s message yet, see below.

 

Prayer points

Anthea continues to go on without a ventilator and gain strength.  However, she does have a bit of a temperature and is also not sleeping much.  Please pray that the temperature would normalise and she’d get the rest she needs.

 

A thank you from Mike (video)

 

More good news

Today has continued to bring good news. 

Anthea has been communicating more (the tracheotomy means she can’t speak aloud yet), her vison is clear and she clearly is understanding better what has happened and what is going on.  On a physical level, she has moved all her limbs and they’ve taken away the ventilator.  Now she’s breathing on her own, she should be able to speak soon. The staff hope to help her sit up to forty degrees and maybe transfer her out of intensive care in the next 24 hours.

Everyone is understandably upbeat and hoping these steps forward will continue.

 

Sedation removed (updated)

On Friday morning,  the tracheotomy was performed successfully so that Anthea would be able to breathe.  She is now breathing on her own.

Following that procedure, the team removed the levels of sedation. Anthea coped with this adjustment well.

Although she is now effectively able to be conscious, she is still on high levels of morphine because of the operation to her hand.  However, she has continued to respond emotionally and been able to hear.  She has cried, and she has laughed.  She has also wiggled the toes on her left foot following a request to do so. 

Over night she moved her legs and has also been mouthing words (the tracheotomy means she can’t currently speak).  However, she did vomit a few times also over night.  This isn’t overly worrying in itself, but, as she is lying down, is something to be careful of.

It has been amazing and moving for the family to be able to engage with her as she gains consciousness and awareness.  The family and all of us are thanking God for these small signs of progress and pray that they continue.