"The Great Escape"

Happy Saturday to All,

TO VIEW JESSICA ON FOX TV - CLICK ON LINK:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PW_vstm0bS8

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SPECIAL NEWS ABOUT NECKLACE:
The special necklace that was designed in honor of Jessica is due to be launched tonight! I am still waiting on the links and info so that it can be posted accurately on the blog. As soon as I have the info I will post how the necklace came about with a special note from its creators. The necklace is beautiful and I know that you will all want to have one for your very own. Keep checking back during the day for the updated information and photos!!!

Update on Jessica:
Jessica received another booster yesterday to try and alleviate the right side pain that is still plaguing her. The nerve block that she received two days ago initially worked to reduce one aspect of the pain, but it did not last very long. She describes the pain as burning, shooting, stabbing pain. We ask for continued prayers for relief from that pain as well as for her vision to return - as she is still experiencing the "static vision" that began almost two months ago. It is like watching a TV that is experiencing difficulty and is all thick "static". And the color of this static is green - lime green - of all colors!!! It has made her road here difficult to say the least, as I'm sure you can only imagine! It is an unexpected obstacle that she has had to face and deal with and it is very distressing to her! For Jessica it is horrible and it needs to go away! Thank you for your continued prayers for her eyesight to return!

Devon's Great Escape:
On a happier note, Jessica's fellow "coma buddy" Devon successfully left the hospital yesterday to return to Connecticut. I say successfully because it isn't the first time she has tried to leave the Hospital San Jose! Here is the story of Devon - aka "Escape Girl":

Just a little background info: When you first go into the ketamine coma you are in the ICU initially for the 5-6 days you are in the coma and then you remain in ICU for the following 4-5 days for monitoring before you are released from ICU to the 8th floor.
While Devon was in the ICU post the coma, the doctors thought that something may be wrong with her brain because she initially was unresponsive for the first few days upon emerging from the coma. She didn't speak, blink or move. Tests were performed and no answer could be found for why this was happening to her. It wasn't until her release from ICU and onto the 8th floor, did the answers unfold. You see, Devon is called "Escape Girl" because she is the first coma patient that tried to "escape" from the hospital and, as she later confided to Jessica - the "escape plan" was devised in those 3 days down in ICU. Devon says that if she did indeed have any type of brain injury, it was only because the ICU nurse braided her hair too tightly, as they tend to do to all female coma patients! The reason she wasn't speaking , she says, was because she was planning her "escape" during that time and she didn't want anyone to know her plan. So, on one of the very first nights on the 8th floor, while her Mom Cathy was fast asleep on the couch in her room, (exhausted after being awake for five days straight while Devon was in the coma) she decided that it was now or never, so Devon escaped!!! She carefully disconnected herself from all her IV's, tucked the catheter bag into her pajama bottoms, slipped thru the crack of the cranked hospital bed, by lifting the head and feet as high as they could go, took off her hospital gown for a more normal top that she retrieved from her suitcase on the floor, and proceeded to the service elevator; even eluding detection from the nurses by going down a different hallway!!! You see, she just wanted to go back to the hotel - where she knew her Aunt Tracy and twin sister Caroline were staying --- she wanted "out"!

She managed to make it down 8 floors, past the PB lobby, and ultimately, from sheer exhaustion and the detection of a security guard, landed of all places right in front of the chapel that is located in the hospital and she was stopped right there! She initially lied to the security guard by saying she was her twin sister Caroline who was visiting her sick mother in the hospital and did not need any help. It was the catheter bag sticking out of her pants that ultimately gave her away. (Also - its a long story - but Nancy, who was here helping me with Jessica at the time - was called down by security because they thought she was one of Devon's family members and it was Nancy who revealed to them that this indeed was Devon, a coma patient, and that wheelchair assistance was needed as soon as possible and with that Devon was whisked back to the 8th floor)

When Devon was finally returned back to her room on the 8th floor, Jessica and I could hear the commotion and activity that was going on outside of her room. It was on that day, after we found out what happened, that Devon became "Escape Girl" and a legend in her own right! Jessica wanted to become escape girl! She wanted to be able to try to "escape" as well, even though in Jessica's case, she knew her legs could never bring her there, as she has been unable to walk for the past few years! Nevertheless, she was named "Escape Girl" that night and the name stayed with her for the rest of her stay here in the hospital! I also presented her with her "ketamine coma Escape bear" - fully decorated with black & white stripes - and her "prisoner" number 845843 - to signify the two rooms she occupied while here in the hospital. (that's another story for another day) I know that her family at home will get a kick out of her bear - to say the least - and that it will always remind her of her journey as well.

So, today, we wish Devon (aka "Escape Girl") "godspeed" in her "new normal" life because, as I have said before, you cannot go thru something like this and think that your life will be the same. It will be what I term a "new normal" in that you have to realize where you have come in your journey to wellness, but, at the same time you have to respect where you have been, and what you have been through, to realize where you are at! I hope that makes sense.........Hope to see you soon Devon in the "states" and we wish you and your Mom Cathy (who, by the way, became very special to me as we shared a time here that we will never forget) all the best! Have fun reconnecting with your Dad, sisters Caroline and Nicole and your whole extended family as well, including your cats Chloe, Ollie & Annie!
We wish you well and pray for God's protection over you!

From Mexico, with love,
Sarah Gina (Jessica's Mom)

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