"Leaps and Bounds" (Update: Aug. 12)

Hello to everyone! I hope that you like the picture. It was taken today. There may be a few more pictures at the website http://chandlerupdate.blogspot.com (once Brandon gets a chance to post them of course). Mom, dad, and I are in a couple of them.

Josh has had an incredible week!! This is the week that he has made leaps and bounds. Where to begin? Of course he has been working hard especially in his speech, but in the last few days he has truly excelled.
When I got here on Thursday morning Josh was talking up a storm. It is like it all kicked in one day and there he goes, talking nonstop. He has to take it a little slow because if he goes too fast you cannot understand him for his words run together, but when he goes slow he speaks perfectly and in complete sentences. It is sooooooooo wonderful to be able to communicate with Josh. I know that he likes it too. He even has his sarcastic sense of humor back. I can't begin to tell you how good it is to hear that again. His voice is pretty strong, he just sounds a little horse. Josh has spoken to several of his friends on the phone already which I know has boosted everyone's spirits, including Josh's. By the end of the day though when he gets really tired it becomes a little bit more difficult to understand him.

Because Josh did so well in speech therapy at the beginning of the week Melissa recommended a swallow study. We thought it would be next week some time, but low and behold Thursday morning he had it and passed with flying colors. So much so they moved him directly to regular food. He had a few bites of a cheese burger that night - go figure. Now mind you he has to be sitting straight up, take very small bites and follow it with a little liquid, but he is doing very well. He is a little apprehensive when eating because he hasn't done it in two months and I think he is afraid he is going to choke, but he's getting the hang of it again. It doesn't take much to make him full either. Good thing he has "reserves"!! Once he is consistently eating enough of his daily calories by mouth they will take the feeding tube out. I know Josh will be glad for that even though he has gotten used to it. He even started taking his medicine by mouth today rather than thru his feeding tube.

Physically he is getting stronger too. He is able to hold his balance pretty well and his left arm and left leg are moving around so much more than they were last week. Lisa changed the splint to his right hand today to help extend the fingers a little further. This is what they did for his left hand while we were in Chapel Hill and now those fingers are not contracted at all, so I am hoping that in just a little while his right fingers will be pretty straight. He is still tremoring to the right arm a little bit, but even that is not as bad as it has been. His right leg remains the strongest of all his extremities. He is even able to help push off with this leg a little while they transfer him from the bed to the chair or vice versa. As far as his left leg is concerned - Tuesday they injected medicine to the left foot nerve to deaden it so they could begin to manipulate his ankle back into proper alignment. Josh said "it hurt really bad" and that "it was a very long needle", but he was a trooper and made it. Wednesday they casted it, and today they took the cast off again, reset the ankle into proper alignment and then recasted it until probably next Wednesday (if Josh can tolerate it for that long). It does appear to cause him some discomfort at times from all of the manipulation. Today while the cast was off Josh stood on the tilt board for about 30 minutes. He was hurting the whole time, but he persevered (even though he said he was being a wimp!!).

I know that deep down Josh is glad to finally be able to communicate with everyone, and I know that he is pleased with himself (even though he won't admit it). I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am to see his progress. I really couldn't believe how much he had made from Sunday night to Thursday morning. Mom and dad are very excited as well. Josh and dad go back and forth in teasing each other all the time getting mom and I in on the action occasionally. It is funny to hear Josh tell stories of things that happened when you didn't think he was paying attention. For the most part he gets everything correct, it is just at times he gets a little minor detail mixed up. I cannot wait for everyone to see him, you will all be amazed by how much better he is doing now. He still has a long way to go, but there is light at the end of the tunnel - Praise the Lord! I am hopeful that it will only be another couple of weeks here in Charlotte before they discharge Josh to HOME!!!!!

God has been so good to us through these last 9 weeks! We thank you for your continued prayers, love and support. We could not have made it this far without them. We love you all.