Here are a few things I have discovered are MORE likely to happen during a major life crisis, than any other time in your life:
· You will experience a flat tire…for the first time in your life
· Several huge branches will fall off your neighbor’s tree, damage your fence, and leave a big mess in your yard
· Your toilet will get clogged…and no matter how hard you try to fix it yourself, you will ultimately be forced to call a plumber
· Your dogs will get fleas
· The remote starter on your car will fail…during the coldest months of the year…and the place where it was installed has gone out of business
· You will do something ridiculously stupid, and COMPLETELY out of character; like leave your car in Drive while parked in the garage, which will kill the battery overnight, and no matter how many times you try and figure out what happened, you will fail to notice…that you LEFT THE CAR IN DRIVE!!
· Your insurance agent will decide to discontinue their relationship with your insurance company, leaving you to research alternatives…which you will have plenty of time to do
· You will get called to jury duty
· The house across the street will need a new water line put in, which will lead to a gigantic hole in the street, directly across from your driveway, leaving you and all your visitors to back nervously out, hoping not drive right in (which, amazingly enough, I have not done yet)
However, there have also been amazingly wonderful things which have happened to us during this difficult time as well. We have been surrounded by your loving support, which has lifted us up and carried us through these past 6 months. We are still amazed that we have touched so many lives…touched them enough to take action and help us out, lend a caring ear, or just let us know they are praying for us. It’s incredible. I am still humbled by the love we have been showered with. We are so very blessed.
Matt has been doing pretty good, although right now he’s feeling pretty crappy. He’s come down with a stinking cold and has spent all day in bed! He’s been coughing a lot and is very congested. Here’s hoping he feels better soon!
Tomorrow Matt’s PT and OT are coming to our house for therapy. They want to evaluate a few things around the house, and just see how we’re getting around. They also want to check out our weight machine and see if there are a few strength training exercises Matt could be doing to help build up some muscle tone. His balance while sitting and doing things has gotten so much better, that now they think he can manage the machine pretty easily. Matt also impressed me the other night: I ran out to grab some dog food and left him in his wheelchair sitting in the kitchen with a cup of chocolate milk. He has a cup with a screw-on lid and straw that he drinks from when he’s not at the table, just to make things less likely to spill. Well, when I came home, he was sitting up to the counter. He said he had just refilled his chocolate milk! That means, he opened the fridge, got the gallon of milk out, took it over to the counter, unscrewed both lids, poured the milk in, put both lids back on, and returned the milk to the fridge! I was so impressed by that! There have been other times where I’ve asked him to get something out of the fridge for me, if we are both in there…but he’s never finished an entire task like that on his own. He was pretty proud, I could tell.
Last week, we met with the therapists to discuss how things are going. They all expressed their admiration for Matt and his continued motivation throughout this experience. They all enjoy working with him so much, as he is such a hard worker. They all think he has a lot of potential ahead of him and they want to maximize his therapy…so, they recommended we consider sending Matt to another inpatient rehabilitation program. The place they suggested is in Omaha, and they specialize in intensive rehab for brain injury patients. Matt could get upwards of 6 hours of therapy a day…OT, PT, Speech, Vocational therapy…and the list goes on. They have a lot more facilities to offer like a pool etc, and they think he could really make a lot of progress in a program like that. All of his day would be focused on therapy, where as now, we have to balance life and my job responsibilities with his therapy. If I didn’t have to work, I could make him do things all day long…but since I’m working from home in the mornings, we are in a time crunch to get ready. So…it was a lot to take in all at once…we never even knew this was a possibility…or an option. They just reiterated how much Matt has to gain from really working hard at therapy…and that he could potentially make more progress in a shorter period of time. We are looking at all the options, and will be researching them in the coming weeks. We still don’t know for sure when Matt’s Cyberknife treatment(s) are going to be, so we have to wait for that to be over first…but he could potentially be going in the next month or so. I will, of course, keep everyone posted. It’s a lot to think about. Matt was not excited to be leaving home again…but he does want to do whatever we can to get better…and we’re both willing to sacrifice a little now, to gain a better tomorrow. So, please be thinking of us these next few weeks as we look into the new possibility.
· You will experience a flat tire…for the first time in your life
· Several huge branches will fall off your neighbor’s tree, damage your fence, and leave a big mess in your yard
· Your toilet will get clogged…and no matter how hard you try to fix it yourself, you will ultimately be forced to call a plumber
· Your dogs will get fleas
· The remote starter on your car will fail…during the coldest months of the year…and the place where it was installed has gone out of business
· You will do something ridiculously stupid, and COMPLETELY out of character; like leave your car in Drive while parked in the garage, which will kill the battery overnight, and no matter how many times you try and figure out what happened, you will fail to notice…that you LEFT THE CAR IN DRIVE!!
· Your insurance agent will decide to discontinue their relationship with your insurance company, leaving you to research alternatives…which you will have plenty of time to do
· You will get called to jury duty
· The house across the street will need a new water line put in, which will lead to a gigantic hole in the street, directly across from your driveway, leaving you and all your visitors to back nervously out, hoping not drive right in (which, amazingly enough, I have not done yet)
However, there have also been amazingly wonderful things which have happened to us during this difficult time as well. We have been surrounded by your loving support, which has lifted us up and carried us through these past 6 months. We are still amazed that we have touched so many lives…touched them enough to take action and help us out, lend a caring ear, or just let us know they are praying for us. It’s incredible. I am still humbled by the love we have been showered with. We are so very blessed.
Matt has been doing pretty good, although right now he’s feeling pretty crappy. He’s come down with a stinking cold and has spent all day in bed! He’s been coughing a lot and is very congested. Here’s hoping he feels better soon!
Tomorrow Matt’s PT and OT are coming to our house for therapy. They want to evaluate a few things around the house, and just see how we’re getting around. They also want to check out our weight machine and see if there are a few strength training exercises Matt could be doing to help build up some muscle tone. His balance while sitting and doing things has gotten so much better, that now they think he can manage the machine pretty easily. Matt also impressed me the other night: I ran out to grab some dog food and left him in his wheelchair sitting in the kitchen with a cup of chocolate milk. He has a cup with a screw-on lid and straw that he drinks from when he’s not at the table, just to make things less likely to spill. Well, when I came home, he was sitting up to the counter. He said he had just refilled his chocolate milk! That means, he opened the fridge, got the gallon of milk out, took it over to the counter, unscrewed both lids, poured the milk in, put both lids back on, and returned the milk to the fridge! I was so impressed by that! There have been other times where I’ve asked him to get something out of the fridge for me, if we are both in there…but he’s never finished an entire task like that on his own. He was pretty proud, I could tell.
Last week, we met with the therapists to discuss how things are going. They all expressed their admiration for Matt and his continued motivation throughout this experience. They all enjoy working with him so much, as he is such a hard worker. They all think he has a lot of potential ahead of him and they want to maximize his therapy…so, they recommended we consider sending Matt to another inpatient rehabilitation program. The place they suggested is in Omaha, and they specialize in intensive rehab for brain injury patients. Matt could get upwards of 6 hours of therapy a day…OT, PT, Speech, Vocational therapy…and the list goes on. They have a lot more facilities to offer like a pool etc, and they think he could really make a lot of progress in a program like that. All of his day would be focused on therapy, where as now, we have to balance life and my job responsibilities with his therapy. If I didn’t have to work, I could make him do things all day long…but since I’m working from home in the mornings, we are in a time crunch to get ready. So…it was a lot to take in all at once…we never even knew this was a possibility…or an option. They just reiterated how much Matt has to gain from really working hard at therapy…and that he could potentially make more progress in a shorter period of time. We are looking at all the options, and will be researching them in the coming weeks. We still don’t know for sure when Matt’s Cyberknife treatment(s) are going to be, so we have to wait for that to be over first…but he could potentially be going in the next month or so. I will, of course, keep everyone posted. It’s a lot to think about. Matt was not excited to be leaving home again…but he does want to do whatever we can to get better…and we’re both willing to sacrifice a little now, to gain a better tomorrow. So, please be thinking of us these next few weeks as we look into the new possibility.
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