PORT ANGELES – Lonee Schoenfeldt, back home after two months in critical care in faraway hospitals, said she’ll never wear high heels again.
“It’s nice being back. I’ve seen a lot of my friends. I’m just waiting for my hair to grow back,” she said on Friday.
Lonee, 19, is a 2005 Port Angeles High School graduate and the daughter of George Schoenfeldt, a Port of Port Angeles commissioner, and Ellen Schoenfeldt.
The sophomore at Washington State University in Pullman slipped on steps while leaving a school function on Oct. 28 and slammed her head onto the concrete.
She was wearing high heels.
Lonee lost consciousness and was taken to Pullman Memorial Hospital, where she fell into a coma.
She was airlifted to Spokane’s Sacred Heart Medical Center for five hours of brain surgery.
She underwent another lengthy brain surgery after doctors found the other side of her brain was bleeding.
She also put her into a medically induced coma to allow the pressure inside her skull to go down.
The ventilator tube was in her throat for so long that doctors feared it would permanently scar her vocal chords.
So she was given a tracheotomy.
The bandage over her throat was still there Friday.
Lonee remained at Sacred Heart until Dec. 15, when she was stable enough to be transferred to University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle.
After a two-week stay there, Lonee returned to Port Angeles on Dec. 30.
“I feel normal. I’ve lost 15 pounds because I haven’t eaten in a month and a half. I’m trying to gain weight,” Lonee said.
Now Lonee will undergo outpatient rehabilitation in Port Angeles, including physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy as well as ensuring she hasn’t suffered significant memory loss.
