August 4th Update

Hello to everyone. I pray that you all had a wonderful week. All is going fine here in Charlotte.

Josh had a real good day today. I can see alot of progress since the beginning of the week. Today Josh sat up on the side of the mat by himself for 5 minutes on two seperate occasions. He had a hard time doing it, but he persisted with PT's, mom's, and my encouragement. I could tell that he was very pleased with himself though when he was finished - a sense of real accomplishment. He also was able to do leg kicks pretty good today. Of course he moved his right leg very well against resistance, but today he was picking up his left leg just a little bit - remember, baby steps. His speech therapy was interrupted today with nursing care so we didn't get far, but he was trying to work on his breathing. His speech still has a little ways to go, but Josh is saying words that you can understand occasionally. They are going to add a session of speech therapy tomorrow because of the interrupti on. Josh did very well with occupational therapy today too. He was able to move his left arm a little today - which is more than on Monday, because he didn't move it at all.

We had a long talk with Josh today about therapy, the future, and what he has to do to get better to go home, and I think he is very motivated to do well. I could tell that he really wants to make a full recovery. Deep in my heart I know that he will, it will just take time. I can tell this because Josh keeps an eye on the clock because he is afraid that he is going to miss his therapy. He looks at mom and I when the time comes and says "therapy". Josh even laughed a little bit today - mostly because dad was being stupid - imagine that! It was more like a little huff, but he was laughing. It was really good to see this.

Josh had a few visitors this week and I know that it really lifted his spirits to see them. I know that he is ready to come home - so any familiar faces help. Thankfully we are much closer to home than where we were when we started out. Josh had another roommate for a couple of days who was pretty much in the same shape as Josh, but they were able to move him to another room so Josh again has his own room. It is nice to be able to spread out.

I think Monday they are going to try and cast his left ankle. They do this by first injecting the nerve with medication to numb it then stretch his ankle into proper alignment then cast it. It can be pretty painful so they give him pain medication prior to all of this. I hope that it will correct quickly so he won't have to be casted for too long. We will see how this goes. The schedule for next week is the same - therapy, therapy, and more therapy.

Josh is still being fed through the tube in the stomach and today they started what is called bolus feeds. This is when they give him a certain amount of tube feeding at certain times of the day which will equal the amount of nutrition Josh needs to maintain his body. Mom did her first bolus feeding for Josh today and she did very well. She is also giving Josh the shot that he has to have everyday to keep his blood thin so he won't develop blood clots. Again, mom did really well. She is beginning to learn how to properly take care of Josh's needs until he can do things for himself. We are praying that Josh will be able to help out alot more before mom has to help transfer him from the bed to the chair and vice versa. I did it for the first time today by myself and it was a workout. Josh was very nice and said that I did okay - I am sure he was just trying to make me feel good, but at least he made it safely!

That is about it for today. I will write again later and let you know how the weekend goes. Thank you for your love and prayers. We love you all.