Lots of News

Boy do I have a lot to write about today. First off I want to thank Sara, Savannah, Sage, Brice and Clay for drawing Jess pictures. He absolutely loves them. So kids keep them coming!

We have had a great couple of days. Sunday was another lazy day. We spent most of it in his room hanging out as a family and watching more football :)



Yesterday was a great day with both ot and pt. Jess is getting so much better on his balance. He was able to sit unassisted and balance for 50 seconds. We also did our first transfer by ourselves. I helped him transfer from his wheelchair to the pt mat and then back again. I couldn't believe how much of the transfer he does himself. On the second transfer I barely had to help him at all. It's pretty amazing how well he is doing, especially with his left arm.

We also got some REALLY big news yesterday. The doctors have decided to send us home on December 18th. We will be in Dillon for about a month and then need to come back to Craig and finish off rehab. There were a lot of factors that went into this decision. One of the main reasons is that Jess has to ware the TLSO brace until January 16th, and there are a lot of things that He will not be able to work on until the brace is off. Another big factor is his left arm. The more time we can give it to heal the easier it will be for him to learn some of the more advance transfers.

We are so excited to spend the holidays at home, but we're a little nervous at the same time. It just seems so fast. We have a lot to learn and a lot to do in the next 4 weeks. But were up for the challenge.

So if anyone knows of a single story house with no stairs available let us know.

This morning Jess had pool therapy for the first time. And for all of you who know Jess, you know how much he LOVES the water. Because of the weightlessness he was able to do things with his left arm that he hasn't been able to do.

The pool therapist even thought she felt one of his leg muscles contract! She wasn't sure, but we'll take "thought" any day :)

After pool therapy we had to hurry upstairs and get him dried off and changed in just 15 minutes for pt. We didn't quite make it on time, but he had a great pt session.

One of the things they worked on in pt was a electrical impulse test on his leg muscles. When Stephanie, his physical therapist, tested his muscles they responded! That means that he is will be able to do some therapy on one of the bikes they have here. They hook your legs onto the bike as well as an electrical machine that shocks your muscles, which makes your legs peddle the bike. The bike reads how much work your muscles are doing on there own and then decreases the impulse accordingly.

From my understanding the bike is just used to exercise your muscles. It doesn't help with the signals sent through your spinal cord. But it sure is encouraging to know that the muscles are still reacting.

Another exciting thing that happened today was Jess was able to stand up in a standing chair. He had to transfer over to this "chair" they have and they adjusted it to his height, strapped him in, and pulled a lever that propped the seat up slowly. It sure was crazy seeing him stand up. I had forgotten how tall he is.

So today was another great day and tomorrow is going to be even better! Candy, Dave, Lindsey, Anna, and Pat come in tomorrow for Thanksgiving. We are so excited to see them and spend Thanksgiving as a family. We have SO MUCH to be thankful for!!!