Hello everyone! Hope you are all staying healthy and sane during these bizarre and unusual times. 

Lilly is doing well and has made great progress despite not being able to continue her outpatient rehabilitation during the pandemic. Her therapists have been keeping in touch and have given her things she can do at home. She is much more independent and can do so much on her own now. She will be starting therapy again next week and will finally be able to get her second round of Botox injections in her left arm. The first injections worked so well. We are excited to see what the next round will do.  

We miss all of our friends and family so much! Can't until we can visit the Fort again. 

Much love to you all! ❤️

We had great news from Lillian's opthalmologist yesterday! Her vision has improved dramatically in just the past month! Her left eye is now even with her right and they are working together so there is no more double vision. Her left pupil is still bigger than the right, which affects seeing things up close, but her doctor expects to see improvement when we go back in a couple of months.

We also received glowing reports from her physical and occupational therapists yesterday. They both commented on the improvements in her balance. She is getting so close to being able to move around independently. We're super excited! It has taken a while to get insurance approval for speech therapy but we finally have it and she will be starting that this week! I can't wait to see what kind of progress she will make with her memory. She is such a beautiful girl and is dealing with all of this so well. She amazes me every single day! 

Much love to you all! ❤️

What a day we've had! Lilly became an Auntie last night! Tiny 5lb 3oz Ella Rose made it safely into the world at 5pm yesterday. Lilly has been holding her for the past couple of hours and says that she won't be turning her over to her parents anytime soon! 😂 

Lil also got to go and see one of her favorite bands last night! She had a great time and Tim and Paul from Tall Heights were so sweet to her! We can't wait to see them again. Big thank you to Aunt Lindsy and Aspen for going with her so that I could be with Izzy when Ella Rose arrived. We are all so incredibly blessed! 

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Hello everyone!

We made our first trip back to Fort Wayne this weekend! Lilly was able to visit her co-workers at the Three Rivers Natural Food Co-op! It was so wonderful to see everyone in her Co-op family. Lots of hugs, tears, and love. She will be so happy when she is well enough to go back to work and serve the community alongside such lovely people. 

We also stopped up to visit her nurses and doctors who took such good care of her at Lutheran Hospital. We were able to see the trauma surgeon who saved her life when she was brought in after the accident. It was wonderful to see that they remembered her by name the second they laid eyes on her. She has really exceeded all expectations in her recovery. When we left Lutheran Lilly was not yet responding to commands and couldn't speak. Last night she walked into the ICU and thanked them personally for taking care of her. We got to see and hug the nurses who went above and beyond in caring for Lilly and who we now consider to be part of our family. We are so grateful to you for helping us through all of this! ❤️

We got to see lots of friends and family. Lilly has really enjoyed the trip and we plan on returning often. 

Everything is coming together with outpatient therapy. All of her therapists at RHI Neuro are wonderful and Lilly continues to improve daily. 

Love to all!
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I can't believe that Lilly has been home for a week already! She is all settled in and likes the new place. She keeps saying "New house, who dis?" 😂 

Today we finally got the Dynasplint for her left arm. It will help her to get full range of motion back since she has some muscle spasticity left on that side. 

We are in the process of getting outpatient rehabilitation set up and in the meantime she has been getting out of the house to walk as much as possible. Her balance is getting better every day and I know she'll be walking on her own very soon. 

Our love to you all! Have a safe and happy new year! ❤️

*Update*

Lilly's discharge date was moved up to Monday the 23rd! She is very ready to be out of the hospital.

Also, the new address where you all can send letters or cards is...
1421 Hamilton Dr
Noblesville, IN 46060

She loves reading all of your cards and does so daily. Thank you all so much for the love and encouragement. ❤️

YOU ARE ALL AMAZING!!!

Every single day Lilly gets a pile of cards and packages in the mail. She loves reading through them and is gaining such strength from your words of encouragement. We are  quickly approaching her discharge date and she is still working so hard in therapy. Yesterday she got to spend an hour with Grover the therapy dog. She walked and brushed him, threw him a ball, and fed him lots of treats. 

Today all of her therapists retested her on various physical and cognitive skills. She more than doubled her scores in just a few weeks since she was last tested! 

We will be living in Noblesville for a while so that Lilly can continue to receive outpatient rehabilitation through RHI. We are so grateful to the entire staff at this facility. Lillian would not be where she is today had it not been for this hospital and its caring and professional employees. From the very first night that we arrived everyone we encountered said that Lilly was going to get better. There was not a single person who looked at her with pity or apathy. This is a place where people see miraculous things happen and Lilly has even amazed them. She is a rock star! 

Looking forward to a new chapter and finding our "new normal." Much love to you all! ❤️

Today Lilly's physical therapist gave Abigail and I the go ahead to help support Lilly's walking while she's in her room, so now she can move around the room without her wheelchair! She's doing great and needs only a small amount of support to stay steady on her feet! 

She is working with a vision therapist a few times per week and she had her second eye exam today. Her right and left eyes aren't quite aligned since the accident. This has caused double vision and trouble with depth perception. There has been improvement in the past few weeks but it hasn't fully corrected itself yet so at the moment her eyes are not working together to gather information. One eye suppresses what it is seeing while the other one is "on." Hopefully it will resolve with more time and healing.

Lilly is pretty tired of being in the hospital and could definitely use some encouragement to get through the next couple of weeks until we can go home. If you have a moment and can send her a card or letter to let her know that you are thinking of her I'm sure it would do wonders to help boost her spirits. 

Love to all! ❤️

Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana
Lillian Shipley
Room 405
4141 Shore Drive
Indianapolis, IN 46254