2/28/07 7:30 p.m.

Josh had another fun-filled day of hard work and lots of therapy.  The days where he gets sleep, he loves to his the gym "hard" and give it his all. He had a good night of sleep and was ready to go this morning. I threw a wrench into his morning when I called to report I thought I might be too sick to come and spend the day with him. We talked with his nurse who instructed me to get some antibiotics and come tomorrow. It seemed odd to spend the entire day away. Jason went up to spend the day with Josh and help in any way he could. Both Josh and Jason reported that PT was "awesome."  Josh worked on sitting up with his legs outstretched and trying to balance using no hands or elbows. With no muscle us from the upper chest down, this can be very challenging.  He uses his shoulders to balance and change his center of gravity.  He was able to balance for about 45 seconds on his own before he needed help.  Kristy (PT) said this was great and, according to Jason, was impressed that Josh was able to do this. We'll show her huh? We love it when Josh does things that are unexpected because it is such an encouragement to all of us.

The kids are now up at MFB visiting Daddy while Mommy waits for them to come home. We had a nice, uneventful afternoon and evening and ate supper together. I was not planning on having the kids go visit because I could not take them, but they did not like this idea! Zach took the kids up to see him so they could get their "daddy fix." 

Josh met with a guy today (not sure of his name) whose injury is the same as Josh.  This guy owns his own music production studio and is very successful at what he does. Jason said this was quite an encouragement to Josh to see this guy was able to do all these things after his injury. When you think of all the knobs and buttons that have to be pushed and turned and having no finger mobility, this is quite overwhelming. For Josh to see someone who is still capable of doing the things he loves is uplifting. Please pray that he is continued to be encouraged as he continues down this road of recovery.

Prayer Requests:

-TOTAL HEALING FOR JOSH'S BODY

-more finger movement

-health for our family

2/27/07 9:45 p.m.

Another good day for Josh.  He slept well and had a lot of energy for therapy today.  He had a very full day of therapy and lots of extra sessions for social work, recreation rehab, etc. He also had an extra PT session today which he is always excited about.

Today, during PT, we had an assistant working with Josh while Kristy (normal PT) took some patients out for the morning.  He was doing some range on Josh's feet today and Josh was saying how terrible it felt cause it feels like your feet are completely asleep. The therapist was surprised he could feel anything so he started putting pressure on different areas of his feet. He squeezed five different areas of Josh's feet and ankles, asking Josh where he felt the pressure. He got all five right!!! We were extremely excited by this. He cannot tell the difference between pressure or pain yet and cannot feel the pain near as much as pressure. All the same, we were absolutely psyched!

The kids are feeling better today but have handed off their stuffy noses to mommy. I did get a great nap today which revived me for the rest of the night.

We had a short meeting tonight in regards to the ministry we would like to start because of this whole learning situation. So many people have given their money, time and talent and we would like to use it wisely. God has blessed us so much even through this incredibly difficult situation. More than anything, we want God to be glorified.

Prayer Requests:

-TOTAL HEALING!!!!

-more fingers-- sensation and movement

-stability for our family

 

2/26/07 9:00 p.m.

Today was a great day for Josh.  I got to the hospital a little later than usual because Zoe has the sniffles and Noah has a dry cough.  They were both fine today thankfully. 

I showed up to MFB when Josh was getting ready for physical therapy.  He did some stretching otherwise known as range of motion and loves this time. He thinks it is very relaxing and often drifts off to dreamland while being stretched. We then worked a bit on balancing on one elbow while seated. His legs are stretched out in front of him and his feet are placed on something called a sliding board. This board is a very slick wood and is used to move people from one place to another such as a bed to a wheelchair but is also used for Josh to get used to moving his legs. His heels are placed on the board and then he uses his bicep muscles to try and move them around a bit. As he was laying back down taking a break, he complained that his left heel felt like it was laying on something hard (he cannot see down there in the laying position because of his neck brace). It was laying on something hard- the sliding board. Kristy and I got so excited and were up by his face asking what it felt like etc. when he asked, "So, is anyone going to move my foot for me?"  We sort of forgot that.  Kristy then went on to check for any movement in his legs and feet, but none was found...YET.  We continue to believe wholeheartedly that God will heal Josh and he will walk out of MFB! Do I hear an Amen?

Prayer Requests:

-TOTAL HEALING!!!!!!!

-Finger movement

-Continued sleep and stability for our family

2/25/07 7:30 p.m.

Pretty rough day for Josh today. He only slept about a half hour last night so he was feeling pretty poopy! :-) His attitude was quite positive considering the circumstances. He did end up skipping his last physical therapy session of the day because he was so exhausted. He has tried to stay awake today so that he can catch some ZZZ's tonight. 

Josh continues to have more feeling in other parts of his body, but as of yet, we have seen no movement.  We know that means that his spinal cord is becoming less swollen which means that movement could be one second, one minute, one hour, one day, one month, one year, one lifetime away.  It is amazing how little we know yet how much we hope for. We plead with God to heal Josh's body and have faith that he is able, yet we do not know his plan.  

All of the unanswered questions is one of the hardest things for me. I'm an answers girl.  Just tell me the plan, tell me what to expect and let me deal with it.  I think that in this regard, this situation has been harder than losing Ava.  When we lost Ava, there was no going back.  She was just...gone.  There were no questions such as "is she coming back?" We knew from the start that it was finished.  With Josh, we just keep hoping, praying and pleading with Josh.  We have obviously not gotten any immediate answers; no angel in Josh's hospital room saying, "Trust me, I will heal you." I do not say this all flippantly. It is just our truth right now.

We had an incredible visit with a family from Rockford today. Olivia, a 15 year old, had an English project to put a smile on someone's face. After some thought, she picked us (we had never met her before today). She sent out a mass e-mail and asked others to do the same. All in all, she raised $5,000!!!! Can you believe that? 5 G's?  We were psyched. She was a total sweetheart along with the rest of her family. They prayed with us before they left and it was very meaningful.  Isn't God amazing?

We are going to start watching the Oscar's soon. We both love to watch it and it should be something a bit out of the ordinary. Good night all.

Prayer Requests:

-TOTAL HEALING!!!

-Sleep and stability for our family

-Movement and use of Josh's fingers 

Josh had an easy going day today with less therapy because it is a Saturday. We were very lucky to have Josh's regular PT here today and work with him. 

We had a long talk with Josh's doctor who said that at this point Josh no longer has an active infection! Praise the Lord! We have a lot to learn about in regards to the way Josh's body has changed because of the accident. He is slowly teaching us everything we'll need to know to take care of and understand Josh's body before we head home. We still have about 2 months before Josh will be getting ready to go home. As long as he is still making progress as an inpatient, he will stay here.  

Nothing very out of the ordinary happened today. I was kidnapped by my mom about 11:30 this morning and insisted I take the day off. After being told I was being kidnapped she said, "Is this alright with Josh?" Tough kidnapper. Josh's parents were here today so he sent me on my way. My mom, sister and I went to Babies R' Us and registered for Ephram. I did feel a bit ridiculous registering for our fourth baby but people have been so generous and insist we register. Thanks to all who are so thoughtful. :-)

Josh's body continues to tingle and it does get a bit irritating but we continue to remember that we always have feeling before function. Our God is an amazing God and we continue to believe that he is more than able to heal Josh. We plead with God that he do this and give all the glory to him.  

Josh now has his favorite passage of scripture in regards to his hardships hanging in big writing on the ceiling above his bed. He can now read it at will. He feels that where Paul was at the point of writing this is similar to where his at right now.  I know I already posted part of this verse another time, but I do so again, knowing and believing these words:

2 Corinthians 1:3-11

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.  For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.  If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.  And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered... We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.  Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death.  But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us.  On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers.  Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.

Prayer Requests:

-TOTAL HEALING!

- finger movement and more sensation

-stability for our family

2/23/07 10:00 p.m.

Another good day today.  Not great sleep last night for Josh but he felt pretty good today.  He worked at lot at sitting up and trying to lean on a locked elbow. Pretty interesting and he was a hard worker! He also spent all day in the power-assist wheelchair. Today was the first day he spent all day in it. That's quite a step! We were all excited by it.

All the info has been collected in regards to the van. We will be getting a Ford Nor-Cal. We also found out we are going to try to get the van without a raised roof. That would make this mommy very happy. 

We also went and looked at a house for rent just a few miles away from here. The house is 3 bedrooms and 2 baths.  About 2000 square feet of movable space for Josh vs. about 600 square feet at our house. The house is very utilitarian looking but I'm sure it would be okay once we got our things inside. We are trying to decide what to do and what the best decision is for our family.  One of the major drawbacks is the fact that it is on a very busy corner. For those of you who know Noah, you realize he is a magnet to danger. We are hesitant to move our family to an area where Noah may be in precarious situation.  Please pray for specific direction in this situation. 

Josh continues to have a small infection that makes him not feel so well at night. He runs a low-grade fever at night and starts to feel feverish.  Please pray that the infection clears quickly. 

I just realized that I am REALLY late getting home. Love to you all and I'm heading home to my kids.

Prayer Requests:

-TOTAL HEALING

-pray for the infection to clear up

-sleep for the family

 

 

2/22/07 7:00 p.m.

Josh ended up spending the rest of his day in the power-assist wheelchair.  He really loves it.  It has seemed to confirm the idea to get one for himself. He will need two different wheelchairs when he goes home. One that is all power for bad weather, snow, long days (such as amusement park trips with the kids), and another for the other days.  With the power-assist chair he is down low enough to the ground where he can wheel under a table at a restaurant or get into a house (with help) that does not have a ramp.  We also found out today that insurance will cover part of one of the chairs.  A bit overwhelming but we know God has already provided so much via many of you!!!

I spent quite a bit of time with the kids this afternoon. We played a couple different games and ran some errands. Neither of them wanted to get out of the car once we arrived at Target so... we left. If you have kids, you may understand. :-) It's sometimes just not worth it. So this pushover of a mom took her kids to Burger King instead. They thought it was great fun. We then headed up to see daddy and they had fun with the new chair.  

One new advancement- Josh seems to regaining some feeling in his stomach. He has had absolutely NO feeling below the upper chest area so any feeling is significant progress. We are feeling really encouraged by this. Our PT said we could still see significant improvement in the first 6-8 week window, medically speaking. We also know God is not limited by time but this is very encouraging for us to hear. Our PT is an incredible Christian woman who knows what she needs to say in regards to being part of our medical team but also believes our God can work a miracle. It is a great balance and we love her to death! 

Josh continues to feel well today although he does still have an infection brewing in his body. They are keeping their eye on him to make sure it does not get worse. He was running a fever again last night but not so far today. 

That's all for tonight. Thank you to all who keep up on Josh's progress and pray for us so faithfully. May God bless you all!

Prayer Requests:

-TOTAL HEALING

-more finger feeling and movement to start

-sleep for all of us

2/22/07 12:45 p.m.

Great day thus far! Josh made his first call in his cell phone this morning. Occupational therapy added a handle to the phone so he can hold it over the palm of his hand. He holds a pencil in his mouth to dial. It is extremely hard but he was psyched to make a phone call independently. 

Josh is also continuing to try out the power-assist wheelchair. He loves feeling the independence of it and being able to power himself where he wants to go. 

Today for lunch he worked at feeding himself. This is extremely difficult because he has no finger movement and he has to use his arms and wrists. He did a great job taking a few bits of a sandwich and taking a drink with a straw and then he insisted on trying to feed himself some thick soup. He laced the spoon handle through his fingers while holding the spoon in his teeth.  He then went on to take 6 successful bites of soup without help. He was exhausted at the end of lunch.

So far, we have seen a lot of firsts for Josh and he is feeling very encouraged today. He is not doing things like he did a little over a month ago but he is figuring it out all the same!

Prayer Requests:

-TOTAL HEALING

-Josh's fingers

-Encouragement for the day

 

2/21/07 8:00 p.m.

Much better day today. Praise the Lord!  Josh had a lot of energy after his hard day yesterday and really pushed himself hard. He and his physical therapist worked with a power-assisted wheel chair. This chair is the one they are looking at for him as his final chair. The good thing about this chair is the constant exercise you get with it and the wheelchair is not so overwhelming to look at. We have gotten used to his BIG power wheelchair but many are a bit taken aback when they see it for the first time. 

Josh's meds seem to have been figured out for the time being. We feel like the less meds he needs to be on the better. There are some that are absolutely necessary such as drugs for blood clots which are not terribly uncommon for someone with an injury such as Josh's. They got his sleep meds down (we hope!) and are happy with that. He will continue to take the meds for nerve pain until it lessens- hopefully in the next few weeks or months. He also takes Tylenol for pain but we're not too worried about that one! :-) 

The kids came up for an extended visit tonight. They were well behaved and had McDonald's with them which always makes for some quiet moments. 

We had a meeting with the driver's rehab program and they tried Josh in many vans to show us that our options are extremely limited because of his height.  Some of the vans have such high tops it's looks like you're driving a mini-bus (not exactly the look I was going for).  It looks like we will be going with a Ford Nor-Cal.  It can have a 9 inch lowered floor and a raised roof if necessary. We are going to try and go without the raised roof because of gas mileage and a few other reasons.  The guy we spoke with today said that if it doesn't work they can add an "eyebrow" to the doorway which adds 2.5 inches of space but does not mean a raised roof. They also do this right at Mary Free Bed. This van will also eventually be adapted for Josh to drive once he is able.

Josh had a couple big moments today that were very encouraging to him. We thank God for every moment that is an encouragement to Josh. Spring Lake Wesleyan Church (the church who has taken on the mission of raising the money for the van) came in tonight and did some taping of us talking about the accident and how it has changed us thus far. It was a nice time of reflection and had a great prayer time at the end. This church is absolutely incredible to take on this project!!! Thank you times a million!

Prayer Request:

-TOTAL HEALING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-continued rest for all of us (the kids slept great last night- please continue to pray)

-Josh's finger movement

 

2/20/07 10:00 p.m.

Josh is feeling quite a bit better after his rough morning and afternoon. He is still tired and uncomfortable, but it is back on the scale of manageability.  They made some more changes and took him off some of the drugs that they thought were making him feel unwell. They also know that Josh has an infection but they are trying to let it run it's course. This way, Josh will not develop a resistance to antibiotics. They will treat the infection if he gets worse.

Much less therapy than usual today. After much convincing, Josh sort of unwillingly :-) got back into bed after lunch to try and get some much needed rest. He is a bit of a stubborn guy (understatement of the year) and wanted to continue with his therapy. They did do a few things bedside this afternoon so he did not miss out on everything. 

The burning sensation in his body continues to be a struggle. He likes being able to feel these areas but sometimes the pain gets out of control.  The doctors  continue to try and get on top of this.

Please pray for Noah and Zoe. Both kids have shown some signs of things not being normal the past few days. They have both been a bit more crabby and Zoe has been asking for mommy and daddy more than before. I was able to be home for a while today and will be home for a few hours in the morning. Please pray that the Lord gives us guidance and Josh peace as he is at the hospital alone. The kids sleep schedules have gotten off in this whole mess. They see a huge king-sized bed with extra room in it and they want to claim it as their own. I do not sleep well at all with Zoe in bed with me (she's such a cuddler, great for daytime, not so great for sleeping). Noah is fine but we don't think it's a good habit to get into. Please pray that they may sleep better in their own beds, and that mommy and daddy can get a clear picture of where I need to be and when.

I'm now about to fall asleep while typing. Thank you for all you love and prayers.

Prayer Requests:

-TOTAL HEALING

-Guidance with Noah and Zoe

-Josh to sleep and feel well tomorrow

2/20/07 1:00 p.m.

We're having a rough day so far. Josh is feeling quite unwell, his blood pressure was just 67/41. Obviously not too good. The doctor just spent about a half hour with us and is making some changes.  Josh got no sleep last night so that does not add to the general feeling of "crumminess". This is not a life or death situation, but we need prayer all the same. His spirits are frustrated right now and he just needs an extra touch from God. Thanks and I'll post later tonight!

2/19/07 8:00 p.m.

Josh had a very sleepy day today.  Because of the new meds he was started on, he was feeling a bit drugged. He did not like this feeling but did like the fact that the pain was lessened. We talked to the doctor and I believe one of the meds may be discontinued (the anti-spasm drug) to see if that is what is making him tired. The spasms do not really bother him but the pain does. 

Josh had a normal therapy day today. He did fall asleep a few times while he was being stretched- even started snoring at one point. :-) Nothing major or out of the ordinary happened, for which we can be thankful. We continue to plead with God to heal Josh 100% but work as hard as possible with the movement he does have. We feel like we walk a tight-rope every day in trying to trust God, have faith yet make plans for if God does not choose to heal Josh. 

We did get some great news today that had nothing to do with Josh's injury. The day before we left on vacation, we went in for a routine mid-pregnancy ultrasound and found out they had some concerns. The main concern was that Ephram's head measured quite a bit larger than his body and they were looking at Down's Syndrome. After going in for more extensive testing and blood work, the doctor said he believes Ephram is a perfectly healthy, big-headed baby boy. We got quite a kick out of the big head cause if you look at Ephram's daddy, you will see where the big head comes from. Praise God and thank you!

My parents took the kids home with them tonight because they have not been sleeping great. You know what that leads to- a mommy who is not sleeping well. So I am signing off and heading off to sleep. Thank you for all your thoughts and comments but especially your prayers. Keep em' coming!!!

Prayer Requests:

-TOTAL HEALING (don't want that one to get old but we want everyone to continue to plead on Josh's behalf!)

-Josh's finger movement

-Medicine adjustments

 

2/19/07 8:00 p.m.

Josh had a very sleepy day today.  Because of the new meds he was started on, he was feeling a bit drugged. He did not like this feeling but did like the fact that the pain was lessened. We talked to the doctor and I believe one of the meds may be discontinued (the anti-spasm drug) to see if that is what is making him tired. The spasms do not really bother him but the pain does. 

Josh had a normal therapy day today. He did fall asleep a few times while he was being stretched- even started snoring at one point. :-) Nothing major or out of the ordinary happened, for which we can be thankful. We continue to plead with God to heal Josh 100% but work as hard as possible with the movement he does have. We feel like we walk a tight-rope every day in trying to trust God, have faith yet make plans for if God does not choose to heal Josh. 

We did get some great news today that had nothing to do with Josh's injury. The day before we left on vacation, we went in for a routine mid-pregnancy ultrasound and found out they had some concerns. The main concern was that Ephram's head measured quite a bit larger than his body and they were looking at Down's Syndrome. After going in for more extensive testing and blood work, the doctor said he believes Ephram is a perfectly healthy, big-headed baby boy. We got quite a kick out of the big head cause if you look at Ephram's daddy, you will see where the big head comes from. Praise God and thank you!

My parents took the kids home with them tonight because they have not been sleeping great. You know what that leads to- a mommy who is not sleeping well. So I am signing off and heading off to sleep. Thank you for all your thoughts and comments but especially your prayers. Keep em' coming!!!

Prayer Requests:

-TOTAL HEALING (don't want that one to get old but we want everyone to continue to plead on Josh's behalf!)

-Josh's finger movement

-Medicine adjustments

 

2/18/07 6:30 p.m.

One month ago today, Josh's accident occurred. In some ways it seems like a century ago and other ways it seems like only yesterday.  No matter the outcome of this situation, that day has forever changed and impacted our lives and who we are.

Josh had a bit of a harder day today. He slept well last night (thank you Lord!) so he was in pretty good spirits so that did help the day.  The difficulty today is that Josh is getting some feeling back in areas that he has not had any feeling. We are incredibly excited by this but the feeling is not positive.  Right now he describes the pain in his legs, back and rear (is that a socially acceptable word?) is like going out into freezing cold weather, then coming inside and running these parts under extremely hot water. It has a very strong burning feeling but encouraging to feel some areas that before had little or no feeling. Some of the people here act encouraged by this and others act as though this is completely normal and means nothing. Need I remind them that my God is a powerful God who will heal Josh if that is what he chooses?

Josh did 60 reps with his biceps today when he normally does only 30.  They hook up some odd contraption around his wrists with a pulley system and lots of velcro (I realize this makes no sense) so that he can lift with his biceps. He is currently lifting 6 lb. weights but has made a lot of progress since arriving 2 and a half weeks ago.

Josh had some more med changes today:  they doubled the med for nerve pain and put him on another med for his leg spasms that often helps with nerve pain.  He has noticed a slight help so far but not a ton.  It's a balance of wanting him to feel these new feelings, but not to be in pain.

That's all for tonight. We are currently watching the web cam at church and enjoying listening to the church worship as we sit here in our hospital room. Josh will be able to hear Jason preach in just a few minutes. Technology... ain't it great?

Prayer Requests:

-TOTAL HEALING

-Josh's fingers- God is not done here!

-Pain relief for Josh

 

2/17/07 9:00 p.m.

The meeting went extremely well today. The weather in Indiana held up two of the men coming for the meeting, but all in all it, was very positive. Look for an update from Charlie, the guy heading this up, sometime tomorrow.

A huge praise: Josh is starting to feel his index fingers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Remember how I said the church wanted a specific prayer request to pray about this week? Doesn't this just go to show the power of prayer.  When I was clipping Josh's fingernails today, he was surprised at how much he could feel me working with them and then rubbing lotion on his cuticles (hey, a guy's gotta' look good!).  We are soooo encouraged by this.  I don't exactly know if movement will come back but I do know that starting to have feeling is a huge positive!!

Josh had a great day today meeting with the board and working out.  His shoulders, delts and biceps continue to get stronger. He is able to do quite a bit with his arms such as moving around a bit in his wheelchair, hugging the kids and me, and talking with his hands.  He is still wearing the braces on his hands and wrists so that his hands do not flop around. He looks very good when he is sitting in his chair and moving his arms. They are starting to work at balancing without the chest strap while he is sitting in his chair. Currently, he has a seat belt, leg straps to hold his knees together, and a chest strap to hold his back into the chair.  He is working on balancing his center body and using his shoulders and shoulder blades to move where he needs to in the chair. Seems quite odd, but it works. He is learning to do so much, getting stronger,  and it is such an encouragement to us. 

Last night, we had a nice night as couples and I got to cuddle with Josh in his bed for the first night. He is getting secure enough in his stability for me to move around a bit next to him and it was incredibly nice. :-) 

Josh continues to sleep well. We are so thankful for nights of restful sleep and days of hard work. Please continue to pray for us and plead with God to heal Josh's body. Josh wants to run in Eastown more than almost anything, but not quite as much as accomplishing God's will for his and our lives.  

Prayer Requests:

-TOTAL HEALING

-stability for Noah and Zoe; restful sleep for the kids

-Movement in Josh's fingers

2/16/07 7:30 p.m.

We are having a fun night with Holly and Jay, and Brad and Sarah.  We ordered some pizza and we are going to watch a movie soon. Derek (my brother) showed up and surprised us all the way from Okinawa, Japan. It is so nice to have our whole family here. Noah and Zoe had big hugs and kisses for Uncle Derek. 

Today was a busy day of hard therapy. Josh did an extra session of PT again today and was full of energy most of the day. Josh did "skateboards" again today where they strap a board on wheels to his arms.  This is what he was using when another therapist thought they detected some triceps. Today, Josh's own PT did it with Josh and did not detect any movement. She then hooked up the electronic stimuli to his triceps to see what happened. He had a couple small flickers. We were a bit disappointed to not see a big movement but then Kristy (PT), had some encouraging words. She said if she had seen a lot of movement that would have suggested an oversensitivity to the stimulus. She said if they placed it on his quads where he has had no movement at all, his whole leg would have kicked out. But because there was not much movement of the triceps, it suggests the possibility of more returning. We were greatly encouraged by this. It is not very often that someone in the medical profession gives us much hope.  This was great to hear. 

Tomorrow, a group of people are coming in to town to talk about different things involving Josh's care and the financial issues that are going to come because of it. Please be in prayer in regards to this meeting tomorrow. Charlie, Josh's friend and pastor, is here in town to be a part of it tomorrow. He is spearheading this team and it is such a blessing to know someone is really taking care of this for us. 

Prayer Requests:

-TOTAL HEALING

-group meeting on Saturday

-Josh's fingers

-Continued sleep for Josh

Josh has had three nights in a row of great sleep. This has kept his spirits up significantly and made our outlook much more positive the past few days. 

2/15/07 4:00 p.m.

Today was the day for Josh's home visit. We did some measuring of doorways, looked at the possibility of a ramp behind the house and through the sliding glass doors. It looks like a real possibility. The only problem is the van will have a lowered floor and our driveway is so steep we may have a clearance problem.  We went in the MFB van today and nearly removed the exhaust system beneath the van. It provided for a hearty belly laugh from all of us. :-)

Very little therapy today as we spent the majority of the day getting ready to go and at the house. We are now waiting on a friend of ours bringing dinner. He is getting us the hook up when it comes to dinner from area restaurants. Josh is so tired of hospital food and is excited to get some real food. Look for us gaining a little weight in the near future. 

Josh's legs are doing a lot of jumping around lately. This is a common side effect of nerve damage to the spinal cord. This can become a bit of a problem when his legs begin to jump and tense up during moving him, working on stretching, and many other medical routines done here regularly.  He is on a new medication for it but we have not seen much improvement. He cannot feel it and it kind of freaks me out because some of the movements look so deliberate. They cautioned us in regards to getting excited about this because it means very little medically- their words, not mine. 

Tonight we have a meeting with a couple with three children. The husband became a quad about 3 years ago and is now leading a very full life. Everyone who talks about this family says they will be a wealth of knowledge for us. They are a strong Christian family from the Holland area who were greatly supported by their church there. It seems as though we have a lot in common. 

We continue to have faith that God is able to heal Josh 100% and pray that you would continue to lift him up in prayer. The prayers of you all are getting us through thus far- please don't stop. You are all loved and appreciated!

Prayer Requests:

-TOTAL healing

-Sleep for Josh

-Movement of Josh's fingers

2/14/07 8:00 p.m.

Happy Valentine's Day to all you lovebirds out there! Josh and I had a great little celebration in our room with mood lighting and an amazing dinner provided by some girls from the church. It was great and so nice to do something that felt normal. They even brought Josh a tux jacket and tie and me a tiara and we were excited to take a few pics, but no luck. Our camera has mysteriously disappeared. Oh well.

Josh had a great day today. He got good sleep last night (thanks for praying!) and woke up a little tired but with a ton of energy. When I arrived around ten this morning he had a smile on his face and was ready to hit the gym. He worked extremely hard all day, even requesting an extra half-hour of PT (thanks Kristy!) because he felt so good.  When Josh gets the sleep his body so badly needs, his spirits are so much better. You see a genuine smile on his face and he is much more talkative. 

As I already said, Josh worked hard in the gym. We have not seen any major changes in his ability to move other parts of his body, but the areas he does have use of are strengthening quickly. He is encouraged by this but is still not settling for this much movement. We continue to plead with God to heal Josh and make his body whole again. Please continue with us as we continue on our journey.

Prayer Requests:

-TOTAL HEALING

-Josh's fingers

-Consistent sleep

2/13/07 10:00 p.m.

Josh had a bit of a better day today. He gave his sleep a C- but had much more energy than the past two days. The docs started a new med to deal with some of the neurological pain Josh is experiencing. They are also going to monitor his oxygen saturation levels tonight to see if he is having apnea and that is what is keeping him up. They do not want to increase the sleeping meds so that he is able to be at peak performance during the day. Josh just wants to sleep. Until last night, he was not real concerned about the sleep issue, but it just keeps creeping back. 

We had an extremely busy day with lots of info coming in about a handicapped accessible van that we will be getting in a few months. The amazing church of Spring Lake Wesleyan is taking on the task of raising the money to get us in one. One of the major issues we've been dealing with is Josh's height. In his chair, he sits at 58 inches so he is going to need a full-sized van with a raised roof and a dropped floor. He's just a big boy and I love that about him (not so great for moving him with this big pregnant belly)! 

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day and we have a little surprise for Josh. Some of the girls from church are helping out and I think Josh will enjoy himself.

One exciting piece of news in regards to housing: they are bringing Josh home to the house for about 2 hours later this week to see how a wheelchair could get around the house. They think it may be possible to set up the main floor as a temporary housing situation until more concrete plans come into play. We would not have access to a shower or bathroom but MFB has offered us the use of a shower there.  Josh will still be spending a lot of time there after he gets out of inpatient so this may work.  At this point, Josh is not using the toilet in a conventional way (enough said!) so the bathroom itself would not be an issue. We would set up a hospital bed in our dining room and make it into a make-shift bedroom for the time being. This is all very tentative but we are praying for strong guidance in this area. We want to do what is best for our family and best for Josh.

No big changes physically today. He continues to get stronger which is opening many doors for independence down the road. Josh is medically considered a quadriplegic but can do a lot more than that suggests. It's a very scary word but I am amazed at what they are already teaching him. We are facing this head on but continuously praying for miraculous healing. We have nothing to lose by giving rehab our all but having faith that God is ABLE!!!

Prayer Requests:

-Sleep!!!

-Finger movement

-TOTAL healing 

 

2/12/07 7:10 p.m.

Another pretty rough day today. Josh did not sleep last night so it made for another tough day. We're glad the day is almost over and that he's already feeling tired. 

Josh's left wrist is showing some strong improvement which is very encouraging.  His PT was saying he lifted it significantly further than he has before. She said he will be able to do a lot with this improvement.  

MFB had a Valentine's dinner for families tonight that turned out to be pretty nice.  They had a pianist playing concert tunes and the food was catered in. We even got MFB plastic wine glasses (with candy in it) with the hospital logo.  Wow you say! Pretty special stuff.  :-) 

Josh did some more work with sitting up and working at pushing his legs over.  He will use these skills when moving himself one day.  It seems as though every day is a new activity.  We also had a visit from some people here from the hospital who looked at our house as a temporary housing situation after Josh gets out of rehab.  We talked about ramps, putting his bedroom in the dining room and having no access to a bathroom or shower.  They did say we could use the showers here when he comes for outpatient rehab. 

One other thing they talked about was finding a temporary form of transportation for Josh in the next few weeks.  Pretty soon they will give him day passes on the weekend where he can go somewhere off the hospital campus, but we will need van transportation.  This is something we are looking into.  There seems to be a lot of things to think about as we get into the thick of rehab. 

That's all for tonight. As our night draws to a close, we feel hope for tomorrow.  Although we are unsure of what tomorrow brings, we know we are in the middle of God's plan for us.  That is keeping us hanging on.

Prayer Requests:

-Total healing!!!!!!

-Josh's fingers

-Emotional stability