Home Stretch!

We're excited to tell all of you that Shea is on the home stretch . . . at least we think! You never know, but we're excited to see a glimpse of the end.

Shea has a surgery tomorrow morning at 8:30. This time they will implant the posts into the bone that she has grown over the last number of months. They will also graft more bone and do skin grafts as well. Hopefully, if all goes well, this operation will last about three to four hours.

Last week we met with Dr. McKay, one of Shea's plastic surgeons, and instead of waiting six months after tomorrow's surgery, he is confident that in eight weeks they should be able to procede with the final surgery -- a rhinoplasty, fixing Shea's collapsed nose, reconstructing deteriorated bone in her jaw and repairing a number of scars. It's hard not to get too excited because we're always fearful of a setback, but we're praying that all will go well. In November, it will be three years since the accident, and although Shea has been unbelievably patient, she's ready to move on with her life.

This morning I heard an explanation of Proverbs 14:10, and it reminded me of Shea and all that she has suffered. "Each heart knows its own bitterness and no one else can share its joy." Sometimes she meets others who have endured similar sufferings -- car accidents, diseases, loss of teeth, anxiety, etc. As they share their experiences, no one has the same story -- each suffers differently, and even though we have walked this road with our girl from the very beginning, we will never really know the deepness of her suffering. It has changed Shea profoundly. She understands the preciousness of life, and desires to know her purpose. "No one else can share its joy." The uphill climb is extremely overwhelming at times, but this downward (yet bumpy!) ride is a joy that is truly hers.

A friend of ours who has been by her husband's side as he endures the final stages of cancer, shared a great quote with us -- we don't know who wrote it, but it was just what Shea needed the other day. "It is not what I would choose, but it is what I will use to bring honor and glory to Jesus." We are grateful that beauty grows from despair no matter how hard it is to see -- we have to look with squinty eyes sometimes, but it's there.

Thanks for enduring with us, for standing in the wings and cheering Shea on to the home stretch!

We love you --

The Hickoks

"A New Kind of Normal"

It has been a long time since we posted. I guess it's because things don't seem out of the ordinary for us anymore. Shea doesn't wear her teeth around home more than she does, and we don't really notice anymore. She keeps her Super Glue and Fixodent close by in case there's a mishap, but there isn't a big reaction from any of us anymore when the teeth are dropped, broken or falling out! Shea has a number of doctors' appointments, but it's just what she's gotten used to, so to us it's like the title of a book by Carol Kent -- "A New Kind of Normal."

The appliance that was surgically implanted in Shea's hard palate was intended to grow bone vertically and horizontally so that there would be bone in which to implant her three front teeth. As some of you may remember, she had a surgery where they grafted bone from her hip, and it was unsuccessful. At another surgery they grafted bone from her skull, and it was also unsuccessful. This was Dr. Nunn's and Dr. Mill's last resort and was a surgery neither of them had ever performed before. After looking at the x-rays, it looks like Shea has grown some good hard bone! We are thrilled and grateful that it appears this surgery was successful.

This Saturday, June 7th at 9 am Shea will have another surgery where this appliance will be removed. We're praying that it will be a quick and uneventful procedure, but there is the chance that her bone has grown around the appliance which could make it difficult for them to remove. Thankfully, Shea will have anesthesia for this operation. Please pray for a quick removal of this appliance and for a great recovery. Shea has had a number of long and major surgeries, and so it's exciting for us to see the end of the road that slants somewhat downhill -- easier and much closer to the finish line! If all goes as planned, Shea's final surgery should be in November sometime!

Thank you for your love and faithful prayers.

The Hickoks

God Bless You

Shea is settled, so I'm finally taking a few minutes to update everyone. What a day.

Dr. Mills wanted Shea to take a strong sedative last night, and strong it was! When we put her to bed (yes, she's twenty-one, I know, but this pill was debilitating!) we prayed for her doctors -- that they would have peace in their homes, no distractions and amazing sleep.

This morning Dr. Mills called and said, "Guess what? Last night I dreamed Shea's entire surgery from start to finish -- it's as if I've already done it!" He was excited and ready to get started.

We didn't mention in the previous post that Shea decided to forego anesthesia for this surgery. In her past surgeries she has struggled for months afterwards -- anxiety, irritability, etc. so she felt that if she had medication and plenty of numbing she would be fine. Well, it was a rough one, and I doubt she would ever brave it again. We were able to watch the entire surgery on a huge screen -- we actually only peeked once in awhile, because it was too difficult to watch, but we could hear her crying at times and that about did us in.

When the surgery was over Dr. Mills and Dr. Nunn said that the surgery went much better than they expected. Shea's bone was thicker and harder than they realized, and they are very hopeful that the procedure was very successful. Dr. Mills looked at Dr. Nunn and said, "You know, there were a lot of friends and family praying for Shea today."

As Shea was recovering, Dr. Mills came in and told her that a lady had just come in who had an accident this morning and had knocked out her teeth. He asked Shea if she would go to that lady's room to encourage her. When Dr. Mills left the room, Shea looked at me with tears in her eyes and I said, "No, you don't have to go talk to that lady -- sometimes it's okay to just take care of yourself." She seemed relieved. Awhile later Dr. Mills came back and once again urged Shea to come with him to this lady's room. Shea was so emotional from all the medicine that it was hard for her to keep from crying, but Dr. Mills seemed to know how far he could push her, and he did! We all followed as Shea went to the woman's room. We peeked in and saw that her face was all swollen and bloody -- a number of cuts too. She had been crying. Shea walked up to her and began talking softly. I couldn't hear everything that was said, but I saw the two embrace, I heard Shea say, "Jesus loves you and He'll take care of you." -- "You're going to be all right." Shea began to stroke the woman's long hair, and they both cried. At the end, Shea (with her bloody swollen lips) kissed her on the forehead and said, "God bless you," We could hardly compose ourselves, and Dr. Mills just smiled and nodded.

Thank you again for your notes, calls and especially your fervent prayers.

We love you --

The Hickoks

God in My Healing

We haven't posted for a number of months, but things have been relatively quiet. Shea has continued to see her doctors and tomorrow (Tuesday) at 1:30 she will have her next surgery.

Dr. Nunn, Shea's plastic surgeon and Dr. Mills, Shea's dental surgeon, will perform the surgery together.

The goal of this surgery is to implant a device that will grow bone because grafting bone from her hip and skull in previous surgeries shrunk away and was unsuccessful. Shea needs to have five front teeth implants, but at this point there is no bone in which to implant the teeth.

This procedure is similar to Vertical Angular Distraction, but the plan they have is much more involved and to their knowledge has never been done before. They will implant a device in Shea's mouth under her nose and cut her maxillary bone vertically on either side and horizontally as well. Then they will place several screws in each side of the divided bone. A bar will stick out of her mouth where her eye tooth should be. Each day for the next month, Shea will need to go to Dr. Mills' office so he can turn the bar. In doing so, this should grow a half millimeter of bone each day. The difficulty is trying to grow bone both vertically and horizontally.

This afternoon Shea went for her pre-op appointment with Dr. Mills. He says her prognosis is on the lower side of fair, and the only way she could have a 100% successful surgery is with a lot of prayer. So once again we call on you, our friends and family, to pray again on Shea's behalf. We have seen miracle after miracle in her life and we will pray for faith to believe that God wants to bless Shea even more with His healing hand.

Yesterday Shea sang in church and the song was certainly a testimony of God's continuing work in her life. As parents, it's hard to watch your child (no matter what age) go through painful surgeries, but we are so proud of our girl and are seeing in her a deep love for Jesus like never before.

God in my living
There in my breathing
God in my waking
God in my sleeping
God in my resting
There in my working
God in my thinking
God in my speaking

Be my everything
Be my everything

God in my hoping
God in my dreaming
God in my watching
God in my waiting
God in my laughing
God in my weeping
God in my hurting
God in my healing

Be my everything
Be my everything

Christ in me
The hope of glory
You are everything
Christ in me
The hope of glory
Be my everything
Be my everything

You are everything
Jesus everything.


Love to you --

The Hickoks

He sat for hours on the cold linoleum floor with only a gum wrapper and time to kill. Entertaining a nervous nine-year-old boy with a paper football, waiting to hear the plight of his sister, was no small feat, but he did it with ease and gentleness. Hearing the news of the accident that early morning of November nineteenth, he came to Macon with his parents to be a support and comfort to his pastor and family. A few days later he came back to Macon to visit Shea although she was unconscious and completely unaware of his presence. He stepped closer to her bed and touched her cold swollen hand. Looking up at the monitors, reading the stats and then down at her lifeless body, he thought this might be the last time he would ever see her. Knowing music was a big part of Shea's life, he left his ipod for her to find comfort in familiar song.

Months after Shea came home from the hospital he came over for church band practice. Afraid of being seen, Shea hid in her room while the guys rehearsed. Week after week she isolated herself. One night after a long day of doctors' appointments, we drove home to find all the cars at our house. Rehearsal was already in progress. What should we do? Wait in the car? "I can't keep hiding. I need to go in," Shea said. As she walked in the front door, the music stopped. Their expressions said it all. She was alive and back with us. Jason, sitting on the floor with his guitar, carefully reached up and once again, touched her hand -- this time soft and warm. Few words were exchanged, but there was an undeniable connection for sure. The next day Jason left a message on Steve's cell phone where he poured out his heart about how unbelievably moved he was to witness this miracle. He wondered if he had experienced maybe a fraction of what the disciples felt when they touched Jesus again.

Phone calls became more and more as their friendship developed. Jason was there for every surgery and recovery. Oftentimes showing up with a carton of sorbet and a movie or some probiotics and a homemade shake. The flowers came later! Last August, Shea and Jason Baker declared their love for each other! We couldn't be happier for our little girl. Jason told Shea, "This is the face I fell in love with." Her scars he loves too -- they tell a story of character and a strength which only deepens their relationship more. Sometimes holding her teeth during meals or passing them to her quickly when people ask her a question. They've got it down! Quietly but attentively he attends to Shea's needs. With numbness on parts of her face, food seems to gravitate to those areas, but Jason nonchalantly wipes them away without a thought. They have had a different start from most couples. With the laughter that fills our home, you would never know the dark times these two have together shared.

What a bright spot this love relationship is in our family! Thanks for sharing in our joy.

Steve and Susan

A Note From Shea

This is the first time I have posted and I have really wanted to write all of you. I told my parents that I was writing the next blog. Problem is . . . four months later I am finally gathering up the courage to do it! I was nervous to write because I have a lot to live up to considering some of the writers on this blog have actually published books! They say I'm dealing with a lot of anxiety that will hopefully diminish with time, so I'm sorry that I haven't at least written something. I guess I don't see my life as all that interesting right now, so I don't want to blab on and on about my life when things are, what I perceive as somewhat normal now.

First of all, I want to thank all of you who are still following this blog for continuing to remember me in prayer. I wish I could thank each of you personally. It seems kind of trite to thank you via a blog and I will never know how many people prayed for me. It's pretty overwhelming. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your earnest prayers for me. If it weren't for all of you lifting me up to Jesus I don't know if I would be here today.

A number of people have asked how different my life is now since the accident. I was going to school and working so my family pretty much saw me flying in and out the door. Life was busy, stressful and crazy. I don't remember much about the day of the accident except that morning I used Crest White Strips. I looked in the mirror, smiled and thought, "My teeth look goooood." Over a month later I woke up, looked in a mirror and didn't recognize myself. A couple days later I was taken to a brain injury unit, and I felt like I was living the movie "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." Actually, I've never seen the movie, but I've heard a lot about it! Ever since then I have had various surgeries, recuperated and pretty much stayed home with my family most of the time.

I have had the opportunity to visit some of my extended family which has been really good for me. When you have to take out five teeth when eating, family is the best crowd to be around! I have had many close calls with my teeth - almost throwing them away at restaurants and asking the waiter to bring back my plate. A couple weeks ago our family went to Connecticut to visit my aunts, uncles and cousins. We took a boat out for the day, and I was relaxing and enjoying the beautiful weather. All of a sudden, my brother lost his footing and I screamed, "Luke!" Down fell my teeth, sliding down the side of the boat practically in slow motion, they slipped into the Long Island Sound. Once again, a great crowd to be around when you have to spend the rest of your vacation toothless! I got another set of teeth and sang in church recently. Betweeen the services I laughed backstage and out shot my teeth. Unfortunately, they broke into pieces. We gathered up the teeth, ran to Walgreens for Super Glue, glued them back together and walked on stage just in time for the next service to start. Just this weekend it happened again! I was at our family reunion and was outside in the woods walking to my cabin. I sneezed and out they came. It was midnight and I couldn't see a thing. Minutes later, the whole Anderson search party arrived with cell phones, lap tops and car headlights to help me find my dentures! They only broke in two places this time, but fortunately, I now carry Super Glue in my purse along with my lip gloss!

In a few minutes I am heading off to another surgery. This time they are detaching my upper lip from my gums. In my last surgery they had to use my lip to cover over the new bone they grafted. Now that it is healing they can separate the lip from the gums. They will also graft skin from the roof of my mouth to place on my gums where the previously grafted bone has shrunk. I guess it will appear to look like bone but gum tissue works as well too.

Thanks so much for all your love and prayers for me. I am so blessed and I know God is using all that has happened in my life to deepen me spiritually and to allow me opportunities that never would have happened.

"And we know that in all things God works to the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

Love,

Shea

Sweet Smelling Incense

We are home, and all is well. We weren't able to post any news at the hospital, and we thank David Pippenger, Steve's brother-in-law, for helping us out then.

Tuesday morning our whole family was up at 4:30 and out the door shortly thereafter. They whisked us into the pre-op room, and Shea was soon hooked up and ready for a long nap! Dr. Nunn came in and Shea said, "Did you have a good night's sleep?" "Well, as a matter of fact I did." Shea shared with him that many of us were praying that her surgeons would sleep well the night before. Dr. Nunn smiled and said, "Hey, would you please pray that I sleep that well every night?"

As they wheeled Shea away, Dr. McKay yelled over his shoulder, "See you in three or four hours." We saw Shea twelve hours later! The surgery took much longer than all the surgeons anticipated, but we are thankful they were able to take their time. At about noon Dr. Mills, Shea's dental surgeon, came out to report that all was well. He was able to direct the plastic surgeons and tell them exactly where to place the bone in her jaw so that he would have the exact amount of bone he needs to eventually do her implants. He reminded us again that Dr. Nunn and Dr. McKay are unbelievably talented and artistic. So waiting the rest of the afternoon and into the evening wasn't as difficult as you might think since we knew Shea was in great hands. After the surgery both doctors commented that all went better than they ever imagined. Dr. McKay said, "I felt like I had an angel on my shoulder the whole time."

The first few nights at the hospital were very rough as they had a difficult time regulating the morphine. Shea was in great pain the first night and the nurses were trying to convince her to relax and allow the drug to take effect. When the shift changed and the night nurse came in, she informed us that the morphine pump machine had been turned off for over an hour! So glad to have a nurse with 35 years experience watch over Shea all night!

Shea is home and improving every day. She has been seeing an alternative health care specialist, Dr. Marc D'Andrea, weekly for the past number of months. He called on Saturday and asked if he could make a house call! We couldn't believe it. He is working hard to give Shea the proper nutrition her body needs to rid her body of all the toxins, boost her energy and speed healing.

Once again, we thank all of you for your faithful prayers. There's a song by Matt Redman taken from Revelation 8:4 that Steve and I have been singing lately, - here's a line of the lyrics: "May the prayers of the saints be like sweet smelling incense to You, Lord." There are many of you whom we may never meet, but you continue to pray for our girl's continued healing; so many have not stopped praying. How could it be that doctors sense an angel's presense, that they are in awe of their own God-given abilities except for the prayers of the saints? Thank you again . . . and again.

Love,

The Hickoks