This week has been a great week. I know it sounds like a repeat of last week, but each week gets better. The therapists have been noticing stronger hand and finger signals firing in the wrist, which indicate there is a very good chance Wes will get some or all of his fingers back. There will be a lot of hard work involved but it looks like the raw materials are there and the nerves are firing with muscles. This is a result of the many prayers that Wes has been receiving.
Prayers are being answered. From my limited understand Heavenly Father always works with the natural laws he has put in place. He allows miracles to happen through these natural laws and Wesley is definitely a recipient of these miracles.
Hurrah- Wesley has been given a departure date of the hospital in-patient rehab. We leave here Friday, April 20. I know Karen and I are going to miss sleeping on this twin sized cot. we will miss being woken up so many times during the night and getting by on just a few hours of sleep each night. Our bodies will not know how to react to several hours of continuous sleep.
For the last few weeks we have told the nursing staff to please stay out of Wesley’s room and we will take care of him. They have been doing that and it has helped immensely.
Seriously, we will miss the three therapists that have made a huge difference in Wesley’s recovery and that would be Barb, who is his physical therapist. She has been a champion for Wes from the very beginning. We will miss her excitement, enthusiasm and her constant smile. She is an awesome cheerleader and she lets everyone know when Wes has accomplished something major.
We will also miss his two occupational therapists, Jordan and Susan. They focus on fine motor skills and work with wrists, arms, and fingers. They have been diligent, kind, and encouraging. Wes has made amazing progress with them. Last week we posted a video that showed Wes stacking blocks and he got an amazing 13 blocks stacked on top of each other. This week Susan had Wesley stacking blocks again and his brother, Trevor, decided to make a contest out of it. Wesley is competitive so the game was on. Wes stacked 17 blocks and Trevor stacked 18. Wes only missed by one block and Trev couldn’t get any hire. Susan said in all her years of rehab she had never seen a patient stack 17 blocks and she said that is way more than she could stack.
Wes is doing amazingly well. He has had an excellent doctor, Dr, Kwasnica, and her FNP, Suzanne Kelley. They have been wonderful in caring for Wes and taking into account our feedback. They have also given us all the passes we have requested in leaving the hospital and placed great confidence in our ability to take care of Wes outside of the hospital. The nursing staff and techs have been the best. All of them have been very kind and caring and willing to help in any way. We have loved our experience at Barrows and would highly recommend them to anyone who finds themselves in need of a first class rehabilitation facility. Our case manager, Bonnie, has also been amazing.
Friday night our son-in-law, Nate, and granddaughter, Ari, came and spent the night with Wes. It was like a daddy daughter campout at the hospital and they invited Wes to come along as well. Karen and I got to sleep in a regular bed at Britt’s house. We are so grateful to our kids and all their help with Wes. We came to Arizona for rehab because we knew that Wes would respond well with his brothers and sisters and our grandchildren. Our plans are to stay in Arizona until May 19th with Barrows out-patient rehab and then go to Montana for a long weekend and then start out-patient rehab in Salt Lake City at a place called Neuroworx which focus on spinal cord injuries. We are really excited to be in Salt Lake. We are staying Arizona for four weeks so that Wes can get stronger, get used to being in the water, and build up more tolerance for standing on his feet. Being in Salt Lake will allow us to come home for some weekends and spend time at the cabin which we are looking forward too.
This morning was Saturday and we left the hospital at 9:30AM and went to my sister, Lacy’s, ward building for her son, Cayson’s baptism. It was nice to have Wes there. We spent time with Britt and Dall and their families.We had a great day and Wes did so well.
We do not have any fears about leaving the hospital and caring for Wes. The staff at Barrows has done great job teaching us to care for our son. It won’t be too long and he will be caring for himself. We continue to appreciate our daughter, Ryanne, for keeping up the blog.
Several years ago our friends, Greg and JoRita Nielsen, were in our stake. Greg served as a counselor in the Paradise Valley, Arizona Stake. A week ago today their married daughter, Brittany Schramm, was injured in a very serious moutain bike accident and broker her neck and back. She is married to Jeff and they have two beautiful children. She is working hard to heal to the point that she can come to Barrow’s for rehab. She is an amazing fighter and is already showing great courage and progress. Karen and I had the blessing of visiting Greg, JoRita, Brittany, and Jeff this last week. Our hearts go out to their family and we have a little bit of an idea what they are going through and we know their prayers are being answered. We know that Brittany and Jeff have great faith and will have a great recovery and she will continue to influence and bless the lives of their children.
We know our friends will do very well and they will help many others as they overcome this challenge and learn to enjoy the journey. Learning to enjoy the journey is easier said than done, but it is possible as we get used to carrying this new challenge. As we carry this challenge we get strong and get used to the burden and eventually the burden becomes lighter and we find ourselves reaching out to others to help lighten their burden. We know how to lighten others burdens because of all the love and support we have received from others, who have helpe lighten our burdens and helped us, loved us, and given positive encouragement and because of the ever present spirit of God.
Friday, we had great friends come and visit us from Richland, Washington. It was Kristen Hunt and their daughter, Aubrey. They were with us in the Greenway Ward here in Arizona a few years ago. Kristen served as the primary president in our ward and was one of the best we had ever seen. They brought with them letters from the seminary students in their ward who have been following Wesley’s blog and they brought a high school shirt and hat. It is nice to know so many are continuing to pray for Wes and influencing his life. Thank you seminary students everywhere for your convictions to live the gospel and be such a positive influence on others.
Hi Wesley and family,
ReplyDeleteI read this post and was so amazed at the progress and also saddened to hear of your family friend who was injured. They will be in our prayers as well. I just finished reading Stephanie Nielsens memoir called "Heaven is Here" and wept through the entire book. I also had my testimony built, my desire for endurance encouraged and of course thought of Wes and your family as I read. You inspire so many.
Tami Schall