First off:
Black Dahlia 1 & 2 Paintings by Stephanie Han, auction is still going on! 25 for two beautiful paintings? Greatest deal!
We still have Callie Auction 3 going
[LINK 4 Pieces of Handmade Jewelry by Kirsten Thompson]
. It's some very pretty bulk jewelry!
We also have STEVE NILES (creator of 30 DAYS OF NIGHT and my personal favorite, GOTHAM AFTER MIDNIGHT) who was so generous to give us awesome books to auction off!
Monstrous Collection Graphic Novel By Steve Niles, Artwork By Bernie Wrightson
is up!
Also, if you're looking to keep up with all the auctions, my store page is here.
Here is how Callie has been doing this week!
From Eron, Days 21-23:
"Day 21
... Today was a big day again for Callie — She has now officially graduated from ICU to a normal hospital room! Lola has been amazing in making sure she gets the best care possible and now we're working our way to rehab. There are many steps until then, but as Callie put it best to Ange, "When can I have lunch?" Speaking of speaking, as of yesterday they had her trac capped, but in the three hours between when I left in AM and Lola showed up in the morning Callie managed to perform minor surgery on herself and sneakily remove her entire trac apparatus. The doctors were shocked, but she seemed to be doing well enough that they just went ahead and left it out.
When she gets cold she now has a fleece Hello Kitty hat that she can wear, though woe be on those who try to put it on when she doesn't want it on. You will be met with the darkest scowl you have ever seen, though a cute scowl it still is. While Mau (her cat) would just get in trouble being a room with so many cords and things to gnaw on, Callie's great friend Katie crocheted a faux-Mau-kitten, complete with heart-shaped-spot for Callie to ejnoy while she's in the hospital. We've posted up all of the photos in her room again and there are enough that they are starting to cover the walls!
Callie is also getting to the point where she is ever more aware and starting to get agitated at not being able to do small things. She constantly pleads to go home. Today, one of the nurses was about to give her some medicine and as she was prepping it Callie turned me and went, "I think we should leave soon." This aggitationat small things she can't do is a normal part of the progression of healing but it's still tough to watch. However, being that she isn't in ICU, now is the time to shower her with cards, stuffed animals, flowers and anything else you've been saving up! Just let me or Lola know and we'll make sure they make their way to the room. Thanks as always for the amazing support, prayers and positive thoughts you're sending her way!"
Day 22:
"It's amazing how fast she is progressing — Today she managed to eat real food for the first time - to be fair, it was all pureed mush, but still! She most assuredly liked the mashed potatoes and gravy better than whatever the weird green mush was, and way better than the strange gray-brown mush. When I told her that Shing was going to bring her Chego once she was better she very loudly went, "CHEEEGGOOOO!" Additionally while her mom was taking care of her she managed to sit in a regular chair for almost three hours. It wasn't easy, but she toughed it out. Lola, who had been doing a great job taking care of her while I try to sneak work in, even got her standing briefly.
One of the most shocking parts of the night was when Jenny was about to leave. We were talking with Callie and somehow she mentioned she knew it was Monday. Which was a major jolt because both Jenny and I had to think for a moment to realize she was right and we didn't know it. Aside from giving orders like she is at work, (she told Jenny, Han and her mom to go to the stockroom), she has also rediscovered swearing — not that I blame her — they had to change a very heavily taped line, and anyone who has taken off a band aid can only imagine what it must feel like to have three layers of biggest band aid you can imagine ripped off! [I always joked that one of the reasons she was attractive to me was that she was the only woman I know who swore in text message so it's good to see her sense of humor is still there.]
She at one point picked out a song on her own iPod and said something to the effect of, "I'm just picking something random." Earlier when she was more awake she had picked out one of her favorite playlists with her mom! The other major news for the day is that they think she'll be moving out of the hospital to rehab within a week. She's already starting to move her right leg way more then ever before, propping it up while she sleeps. It's hard to believe she couldn't even really do more than nod her head yes a week ago! The nurses and doctors in the new wing are really spot on — very pro. Keep sending you love and prayers for a fast and full recovery!"
Day 23
Callie's Mom: "Miracle day! Callie got scared this morning and ask Melinda the nicest nurse EVER to call me. The nurse told me the situation that she was awoken abruptly by the nurse doing vitals. Callie gets on the phone and says, " Mom, I'm scared, where are you?" I said I'm just down the street in a hotel I'm going to throw on clothes and I will be right there. When I got there15 min later, her and Melinda.were chatting. Yep, chatting. She is talking about everything and yes, she isn't sure of some things, but she is talking and making a whole lot of sense. We called Eron, Celeste, Loretta, Katie, Iris. We have a miracle!"
Eron:
"I'm going to deviate from my usual updates for this one. It's big. For those of you who missed my exclamation point filled update this morning, Callie, with her mom's help, called me at 7:20AM to make sure I was up for work and to tell me she loves me!!!!!!!!!!!! To backtrack a bit, last night Han and Jenny visited and as Jenny was leaving, she remarked about what a breakthrough Callie was undergoing, knowing that it was Monday and all. After that she because extremely agitated, crying about her haircut, begging me to take her home, and pleading to let her stand up with repeating "This is so stupid, this is so stupid." It would have been very difficult to be in the room for anyone, but was heartbreaking for me.
She got worse and worse, and without me noticing, more and more aware. After a couple hours of trying to help her out, calm her down, hugging her and trying not to despair a slow change came over her. Very slow. So slow that it fell under my conscious radar. [To be honest I didn't post or text about it because I didn't know what was actually happening until I got the phone call this morning.] Eventually she settled down a bit asking a million questions, trying to figure out where she was and what the hell had happened to her. That should have been my first clue — she couldn't even talk a week ago and she spent two hours pelting me with tough questions. Eventually her nurse came in. Callie turned to her and went, "I'm sorry, what's your name?" Upon receiving, "Melinda." She said, "Hi Melinda, how long will my catheter be in?" I was baffled.
As the nurse, who was truly amazing, went about her business, she and Callie increasingly joked about making me watch Sex in the City 2, and how they would make sequels, all as bad as that movie. For the rest of the night, she chatted with me, asking to see photos from the wall. She wasn't totally coherent, rambling & repeating nonsense occasionally and she did express a love for morphine numerous times, but she was talking and talking and trying to figure out where downtown was from the hospital and asking questions about the accident and her injuries, and complaining about the hospital food. I gave her fairly honest answers and aside from a few tears, the only weird thing was that she seemed to be missing certain basic words, like "bed." Instead she was using archaic terms like, "pallet" and "cot." There were still plenty of moment os weird non-sequiturs, but I worked really hard with her to help her put her syntax back together, often struggling over the sentence ten or fifteen times with her.
She eventually got really tired and I turned the lights off in her small room. She laid down in the dark and told me she loved me and missed her mom and how she wished her right hand worked correctly. She then whispered, "Tell everyone I think I'm finally awake." After which she spent about 15 minutes saying things I couldn't make hide nor hair of. I left feeling like I lucky yo have seen a little bit of a passing glimmer and didn't make too much more of it. To get back to the phone call: Holy hell I was wrong that it was a fleeting moment. Today, she had the nurse dial and she called her mom to come to hospital around 6AM. That's damn right, she talked to her mom on the telephone to come over from the hotel. Last night wasn't just a flittering moment of lucidity. Though very tough times and massive re-learning is to come, along with more tears and more joy, Callie is awake and starting to become Callie again."
Go, Callie, go!
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