Chris is getting on great with his brace, that we have since nicknamed Larry the Leg. Ever determined, Chris ditched the walker after a week of use and is solely using crutches. Which is awesome. He started off by walking three houses away from ours, would become exhausted and make his way back to our house. His goal was to add one more house everyday. I am happy to say he now can walk all the way around our block, which is about a half a mile. He tries to get out there everyday (weather permitting) and cruise around the block. He gets much encouragement from the neighbors who come out to cheer him on.
At that end of January we went to Northern California (left the girls for the first time ever, Grandma Casey was kind enough to travel down from Santa Maria to spend the weekend with her favorite grandchildren, ok, yes, her only grandchildren). We flew to San Francisco with Chris' parents for a childhood friends wedding celebration. This was when Chris was still using the walker but again, ever determined, Chris did not want to take the walker OR his wheelchair on this trip. I thought maybe we should as a backup but Chris said no. I had to admire his determination, so we took Larry the leg, his crutches and were on our way. It was great to get away for the weekend, catch up with some old friends, we even got Chris on the dance floor for a song or two. It felt like a great accomplishment, getting on a place, realizing we can still do things like traveling.
Chris continues his therapy three times a week, at St Jude's in Brea. The therapists are still working on "waking up" his left leg. Three weeks ago they put Chris on a treadmill in a harness ( without the brace) and tried to stimulate his left leg. Unfortunately his leg did not respond. Chris came home very upset and really was depressed for two days until he went back to therapy two days later. His main therapist explained that this was just the first attempt and not to give up hope. It is just going to take a little longer for it to get moving. They make no promises about his left leg moving but they sound hopeful, only time will tell. His left hand is still paralyzed and they are not able to do much with it in therapy until the strength returns. Luckily his right hand is getting stronger, so strong in fact, they are probably going to stop therapy on the right hand because it has gained more than 50% of it's strength back and that is "good enough" according insurance (which we are STILL fighting to get).
Chris' mom aka MIL (mother in law) was with us for the last two months which was such a blessing between the therapies, taking the girls to and from school and just keeping up with the house, we kept her busy. She had to return to work and so we sadly put her on an airplane two weeks ago. We miss her and I KNOW she misses the weather (as well as all of us). She has had nothing but snow and rain since she returned to Connecticut. I hated to tell her two days after she left the weather here is in the 80's!!! We miss you June!
Don (aka FIL) is still here to help around the house and with transportation. He gets up at the crack on dawn, walks the dog (she is SO attached to him), empties the dishwasher and makes the coffee all before anyone else in the house opens their eyes. It will be very hard to see him leave in a week but I know that he needs to head home for awhile. Our lives will change again. We have had help with us here for over 7 months. I guess it is time for us to figure how to manage everything on our own. I have been so grateful for everyone's help. It will be a new chapter for us.
Chris is also continuing his weekly massage therapy which has been instrumental in his gaining leg strength. If I could I would send him twice a week. We are also looking into getting Chris a membership to the Goodwill gym in Santa Ana that was built specifically for patients with disabilities. The goal would be for Chris to work out there maybe twice a week. Chris is going to be tested on his ability to drive in the next week or so, which would really be helpful.
Thank you to all who asked for the blog to be updated, I promise I will try to do this more often.
Love and gratitude,
Christy
