Wed, 10/12 - Progress, Busy Schedule, LouLou visit & Thank you!
Joshua is continuing to progress and becoming increasingly independent. His spirits have been good and seem to have improved a bit each day.
His typical daily schedule:
9-11 Therapy (physical, occupational, speech)
11 Education to start T/Th
1-2 Teen Room (pinball, air hockey, foosball, etc)
2-3:30 Therapy (physical, occupational)
3:30-4 Music Therapy M/W
Visitors, meals, and personal time all get squeezed in there too. He's definitely staying busy, which is good. Once he's walking around enough, they'll take him off a stronger blood thinner, which is helpful when a patient is sitting or in bed a lot to prevent blood clots.
Physically, he's started getting himself to the bathroom and back all by himself, with the use of the wheelchair or the walker. When riding the therapy bike, they unstrapped his right foot, which is a great sign of improvement. He pushes himself longer distances in the wheelchair. He's started attempting to write and type.
Emotionally, he's had some time to process everything that's happened in the past 8 days. The genetics side of this still scares him, as it's the most unknown part of all this and has thrown him some curveballs. But, overall, he's coping well.
Spiritually, his spirits (and his parents) were boosted on Sunday, after a wonderful church sacrament meeting with wonderful people sharing their stories, thoughts, and testimonies. Then a visit home was much appreciated, where he saw all his family, grandparents, and a few friends. That was obviously a social boost, as well.
There are many doctors, nurses, other hospital staff, U of U students, and others who come in and out all day most days (especially weekdays), even when Josh isn't in the room. When we're not in the room (either with Josh in therapy or someone else has been with him), we're regularly given messages of personnel we missed and will need to meet or talk with. It's getting a bit less but it can feel super busy. Even so, the hospital can also be a quiet place, which gives some time to think and get caught up on e-mails, etc. It can be a bit rough, going between worlds of home and busyness with the other kids and "regular" home life and hospital which is a mix of busy overwhelm and calm, but there are pros too. I personally enjoy the drive time, when I can listen to music, scriptures, podcasts, my own thoughts or have time to pray and be still. Often a mix of many of those.
We are GRATEFUL for the service rendered! My mom, or LouLou to the grandkids, came last Wednesday night and has been here a full week now. What a blessing she's been for us! She's stayed with Joshua overnight a few times and taken care of children, meals, and other things at home. And now, she'll be taking our four other children to my sister's house in St. George for Fall Break. We are so thankful for all of that help (even though we got practically no pictures of my mama).
We are also grateful for the many others who have helped in a myriad of ways. I hope to write a separate post on just this, but I'll briefly mention that Rodney's dad came and helped give Josh a blessing early on, friends and family have visited, kids have been driven to and from places. Rodney's work team at Hilti sent gorgeous flowers and have been so supportive by being flexible with his work schedule. Meals, gifts, donations, treats, groceries, well-wishes, love, and cards have been given. People have fasted and prayed for us and we know prayers are continuing.
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