Craig Week 4

Tuesday

Today was a great day! Josh worked his butt off, learned some new stretches and achieved things he didn't think he could do! Thank goodness the people here make him work harder because they know he is an athlete and can do things most people can't at this point.

He did this obstacle course in fit class. He did it last week, but they moved him up from "buttercup" to "puppydog". The goal is "big dog". Haha. He almost got the fastest time of the day :)

First, warm up...

2nd, heavy rope pull 2X...

3rd, 45 sec punches...

5th, throw medicine ball up above the square 50X...

6th, 100 heavy ropes...

7th, backwards incline 3X...

Last, finish strong 1 min as fast as u can!

 

Our original OT, Mackenzie, wasn't available, so this OT girl worked on Josh today. She was getting a little too close to him for my comfort. I thought it was just me until Josh pointed it out too! Haha. Jk. She was just doing her job...right? ;)

Josh doing lower transfers with Chris in mat class.

First he had to transfer up higher than he has ever tried...

When he achieved that, they made him go even lower! He of course passed that one too!

They do this to get them prepared for floor transfers. So if there is ever a time they end up on the floor, they will know how to get back into the chair. It's crazy the things they need to learn to survive in this huge life change. (Btw, Chris is wearing a mask because its protocol if they are a little under the weather) :).

Jimmie O'Dell, CanAm's race team manager flew into town today to see Josh. He got a taste of the "behind the scenes...uncut". Haha. But it was really nice to visit with him. He is such a spiritual giant and a great example with Christ-like attributes. He took us out to dinner to a close-by Italian restaurant. That was our first time "out to dinner" in a month! The food was so delicious with flavors I haven't tasted forever! My mouth was jumping for joy! Thank you Jimmie.

 

I got a pic with Josh too :). My first in forever!

 

Wednesday

Josh passed a few more things off today in wheelchair class! He had to go down an incline 4 times in a row while keeping a wheelie the whole time. Stud!

Then he learned how to play wheelchair basketball. He will be kicking butt in that soon also!

 

The Bundy's made it here today! :D I got to kiss on Cohen's yummy, chubby cheeks! Mmmmm. They drove all night so the kids would sleep. That is an 11 hour drive! I can't believe the sacrifices our friends make for us! :')

Paige was at aunt Emily's the whole weekend, so we didn't see her much...

Thursday

The highlights of today were moving to the east side & Johnny and Sean flying in for a surprise visit! They brought him a signed and framed picture of the WORCS kids at the last race in the shape of a #2. :') Cassie Walrath is the bomb!!!

 

Johnny and Sean hung out with us for a couple of hours in our new apartment on the east side! Sooooooo much better! I do have to say, we liked our nurses and techs on the west side a lot more so far. But now we can see our tv from afar, people have a place to sit when they come visit, lots of windows, there is an actual table to eat at, and I don't have to leave him at night! Soon they will get a us a double bed we can both sleep in. We will see how long that lasts. Haha. He is now up to every 4 hours being turned. So that's much better than the every 2 hour turn time. He has to be turned every so often at night so he doesn't get bed sores. During the day, he's out in the wheelchair, so he does chair shifts every 15 min for 2 min. That time will go up as his skin get more tolerable.

It was really good for Josh to have talked to both Johnny and Jimmie this week. Ever since his crash, he has had this huge guilt of failing both Johnny(Motoworks/DWT) and Jimmie(CamAm) who have put so much time, money and trust into him. They are the ones who made this dream he has lived the last 7 years, possible. And to see the support they are giving him still is incredibly humbling. He has obviously gained more of a brotherhood with these men, than just a factory friendship. And it does not stop with these two men. We will be eternally grateful for the friendships we have made through these past 7 yrs! And I know that they will just grow from here.

One thing Sean said that has stuck in my mind was that 'he is so excited to see what is next for Josh. That he thinks God has a plan for him and it is going to be huge!'. Thank you Sean. :') I have to say I totally agree. He really is an incredible man, and not just physically. There is a much bigger plan for him and I just hope I can keep up;)

 

Friday

Today was a crappy day:(. Josh was having some serious muscle spasms in his legs and it was making him nauseous. He kept dry heaving and then would break out into a cold sweat. So, our big outing to REI we had planned for the day with our team was a no-go. :(. So they upped his meds and gave him some Valium, which helped tremendously! Wish we had it earlier:/ He's feeling much better now though. We did go outside for a couple of hours and got some sun in this beautiful weather we were having. It was wonderful! Hopefully tomorrow Josh is feeling good so he can take me out to the movies with the Bundy's! I'm so missing our date nights:/

Saturday

Well, josh woke up the same as yesterday. Spasms causing him to dry heave. :/. So they. Gave him more drugs, and by noon was feeling much better, so we went and hung out with the Bundy's at Nathan's sister's apartment pool just down the street. It was nice to get out and hang out with friends. Later, we went out to eat and bagged the movie so we could watch supercross. So me n Kylie played cards while the boys watched supercross on the iPad and basketball on t.v. Haha. It defiantly made our long weekend go by much faster and more enjoyable having them here. They are putting together a benefit dinner and auction for us in a couple of weeks in Moapa. Plus, they already did a 10% of all sales at their 2da9z store in Mesquite this month! Seriously some of the most sincere people I know :'). We are so blessed.

The Bundy's acting like the Rowley's.....or at least Codey. Haha!

Cohen getting mauled by his cousin and big sister. Haha!

 

Sunday

Today we just relaxed and hung out together. It was so nice outside, so we spent some time outside. Josh is finally getting some color to his skin. Speaking of color, check out how purple his scar is!

I guess it doesn't really look that purple, but in real life it does!

Josh and I took a little nap together in my bed at the apartments before I moved all the way out. It felt weird "moving out of my apartment and into my husband's apartment". It was like moving in together all over again after we got married....without the honeymoon :/ But it was WONDERFUL to snuggle next to him, even if it was only for a couple of hours. I have missed that so much!

Well, it has been 5 weeks since our life changing experience. Josh has come so far and has accomplished way more than we could have ever imagined. Whenever we are faced with overbearing trials, we automatically think 'how in the hell are we ever going to make it through this'? Even when we are being told over and over again that everything will all workout. People make it through this all the time. The best way I have made it thought these last 5 weeks was first, just taking it one day at a time. Whenever I start to look into the future, I feel like I can't breathe. But when I look at where I just came from, I realize it really wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I know that was because I didn't do this alone. I chose to not do this alone. Heavenly Father has helped us both through this. I know he won't give anyone a trial they cannot handle. So I have had to put my complete trust in The Lord that he knows what he is doing, why we are going through this and that he will not leave us alone. I do not know the first two reasons, but I do know for a fact that he has not left us alone. If anything, this has brought us closer to Him than ever before and I know we will grow even closer as we continue on with our kids through this new life trial/blessing. However you want to look at it. To me, it depends on the day.

 

Monday

Today for wheelchair class, we went on a 2 mile "hike" to Starbucks. I guess Chris needed a coffee? Haha. The hospital is located on a hill, so no matter where you go, you will definately have a serious hill to climb! It was quite a workout, but it was a beautiful day to get out.

Mackenzie had Josh practice on independent padding and bed turns in a shared bed so he can get passed off for a queen bed soon and get out of his hospital bed. That is going to be interesting. But I am so glad to be able to at least sleep by him again. :) And anything will be better than this horrible pull out bed!

Then for PT, Joe tought him how to travel and transfer on an airplane.

 

 

Of course, no problem for him :)

We also met with the people who get him ready to drive with hand controls. I say, just give him a thumb throttle and he will be golden! Haha! He has been cleared to drive, soooooo.....<:0 They also will get us on the right path to getting the best hand controls for our vehicles and prepared for the DMV test he will have to pass when we get home. Fun...

 

Posted with Blogsy

Craig: Week 3

Tuesday

Today was a busy day for Josh. Lots of therapy and classes. In wheel chair class they learned how to repair and change tires on their wheel chairs. Josh's repair was the only one that actually worked, and it was a slashed tire. Haha. He's used to changing tires. I made him do mine sometimes ;).

It snowed again today. I thought it was spring? More to come tomorrow. But it'll clear up by Thursday. Good thing because Max n Sandy are flying here with my kids then and if its snowing, Max will turn that plane right around! Haha. He don't do snow.

 

Wednesday

Today was a bummer day. First thing this morning they came in and pumped his veins full of dye so he could do a bone scan. They are worried he might have this thing called Heterotopic Ossification because he has some of the symtoms of it. HO is the abnormal growth of bone in the muscle, tendons or other soft tissue. And when it develops, new bone grows 3 times the normal rate resulting in jagged painful joints. And since it occurs below his level of injury and can't feel it, he could go into Autonomic Dysreflexia. AD is a whole other issue we had to get educated about. Very scary:(. We have not heard back from the results yet.

He also had to have his bladder scoped to make sure he hadn't developed any stones since it is very common with SCI patients. So that's always fun! But his bladder looked good! So because of all the tests and scopes, he had to miss fit class, so that bummed him out.

Well, Josh got upgraded to a less-restricting brace! He didn't know how he felt about that though. It felt weird to have so much more freedom. But he got over that real quick. :) He got to do physical therapy on his stomach. Joe had him do different strength exercises he couldn't do if he had that huge brace on. He worked him pretty hard!

Josh also got a different chair to try out for a couple of days. It's so hard to tell how they feel with a brace on though. :/. After lunch he did the FES bike and OT with Mackenzie. She will be helping us figure out our home mods and which chairs he would need to make his morning routines a little easier. After that Josh did not feel good. Probably from the dye they put in him this morning. So that ended his day.

Haha! So true!

We are so excited to see our kids tomorrow!!!

Thursday

Our sweet little angels made it today! It has been 16 days since I have seen them, but It feels like over a month. I was so happy to see them, I was bawling. Jaxyn was looking at me like what is the matter?! Haha. Well, they got to see their dad in action today. He got to show off his wheelie skills. They thought that was pretty neat! Then he learned how to go through fast closing doors. That was a peice of cake for him though. We hung outside for a bit since it was beautiful. But it didn't take long and the kids were bored. Shocker. Thank goodness my apartment has toys you can check out for the kids. Jaxyn was in heaven! New toys!

The bone scan came back negative for HO! Thank goodness! But, he is not out of the woods. It just confirms the symptoms he is having now are not related to Ho.

Well after dinner I took my boys to my cousin, Emily Bundy's salon to get their hair cut! It was so bad, you couldnt see their ears! Haha! She was so sweet to cut their hair after hours. Plus it was really nice to hang out and talk to her.

Gavyn passed out on the way to Emily's salon.

So we made sure we were really quiet.

Meanwhile, Maddy stayed with Josh and just hung out;)

Then we went back to the apartment and the kids got ready for bed while I got Josh ready for bed :) I hope the kids don't get too bored tomorrow...

Friday

Not much excitement for today. We sat down with our P.T. and O.T. and went over our home modifications. They were really impressed at how wheelchair accessible or house is. I must have been inspired when I was making up the house plans. Josh is going to try out a few transfers next week with the measurements we have now to see how much modifying we really need to do. It may not be as much as I had thought:). We will know for sure next week. Our good friends are ready with a bunch of volunteers to jump in and modify whatever needs to be done. What a huge load off of our shoulders! We are so blessed!

We didn't do much today with the kids. The highlight of their day was going to get groceries at Walmart! I need to do something with them tomorrow. Probably just go to a movie or the aquarium they have here. Josh isn't quite comfortable going out n about just yet. They said he could have a car pass, because his car transfers are really good, but we just aren't ready. Too many 'what ifs' I need answered still. We will have to fly them back out in a month, right before we go home, and go to the zoo or something. I feel bad, but they came to see both of us, not just me. So we will just stick around and hang out. :). I don't know how it's going to work out when they leave though. Jaxyn won't leave my side for a minute! He keeps saying he wants to go home with me, dad, Gavyn and Madalynn. :'). It is so cute and funny, but makes me really sad. I wish he could stay, but he will be soooooo bored and I wouldn't be able to learn all that I need to, which is still a lot! I hope this doesn't scar any of my kids. It's just a couple of months....

 

The kids fighting over giving me snuggles. It turned into more of a doggie pile.

 

Saturday

Today we took the kids to the park. This was Josh's first time leaving the hospital grounds. He did very well on his car transfers. Plus it was a beautiful day, so he got some very much needed vitamin D. After lunch I took the kids to the movie while josh took a nap. We went to see The Croods. It was very funny and the kids enjoyed it too.... Or maybe they were just glad to go do something?

Maddy showing her dad the new trailer for Dispicable Me 2.

So today is the WORCS Side X Side race at Sand Hollow in Utah. It's really a bummer not being there. Tomorrow will even more of a bummer:/ Anyways, they are doing this silent auction there for Josh today. All sorts of people in the industry came together and donated so generously. They even made up these sweet T-shirts and limited edition hats to sell to go towards Josh's foundation. Everyone has been so supportive and generous that words cannot even express how grateful we are. Like I've said before, we are SO feeling loved!!! :')

Sunday

I got to go to church for the first time in a month! Me and Sandy took the kids to the nearest LDS chapel. The people there were so nice, introducing theirselves and asking why we were visiting and when they found out wanted to help in any way possible. Total strangers and already offering to do what ever we needed. We were able to arrange for some priesthood leaders to bring Josh the sacrament today and every week until he can get to church himself. It's so good to know that wherever you are, the church is there for you.

After church we got Josh out of bed and he came and hung out with us in the apartment. Jaxyn helped his dad get there. So sweet :')

This is how we spend time with our kids???

Later that day we took the kids to a huge park to feed the ducks and geese. It was a beautiful day! We took a loaf of bread and let's just say all the ducks, fish and squirrels were all stuffed! Haha

The kids with their piece of bread in hand.

 

We even found a turtle!

My cousin Keith and his wife Kristy swung by and hung out with us at the park too! They live in Green River, but came to Denver to get a truck. So perfect timing:). Then later that evening, Josh's cousin Christel brang us some delicious lasagna. It was so nice to have a home cooked meal and visit with her. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family!

 

Monday

I am so bummed my kids left this morning. :'(. But before they took off, Jaxyn puked in the car! Thankfully they were just loaded up and hadn't left yet, because as soon as he puked, my older kids made the fastest exit ever! Haha! He told us he had a headache in his tummy. Well, they made it home without any more excitement.

Josh had a full day today! This is what his week looks like right now...

They also put in mat class, which he just LOVES, at 10 today.

They worked on him dressing himself. Hopefully that gets easier. It should without his brace and foley. Then they kicked his but in fit class. They bumped him up to the big dogs today!

That is a 10 lb ball. Not a basketball....

 

Cranking it on his intervals.

His balance has improved so much from last week! He couldn't even put both his arms straight out in front of him without falling to the side. Now he can! Yay! He is transferring so much better and faster. He just learned how to take his wheelchair apart to put it in the car when he is driving by himself. That is a pain in the butt! I'd make sure I had somebody with me or stay home! But, like everything else he's done, it'll get easier.

 

Transferring onto a much higher platform than before. :)

So we have been here at Craig for 3 weeks now. So far they have lived up to all the hype everyone has put out there. We feel so blessed to have the oppertunity to be here. I know this is the place that will get Josh back to normal, even if its a 'new normal'.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Craig: Week 2

Tuesday

Well, today they ordered Josh to get a 'post chest tube' MRI. Since he had one when he first got here, not that he remembers, they figured he would be just fine. Well, he wasnt. He lasted not even a minute! I guess they didnt realize how much valium he still had in his system. Haha. So they rescheduled it for tomorrow. :/ This time they will sedate him. But he still got to do stuff with his therapists afterwards.

He got hooked up to this FES bike for the first time. That was awesome! They put electrodes on different parts of his leg muscles to stimulate them and after a while they actually get to where they are pedaling on their own! It's a great workout and it helps keep his leg muscles so if he does regain any feeling, he will not have to start from scratch.

Oh, and Chase left today. So it just got a little more lame around here:/

 

Wednesday

Josh got his MRI done with no problems. ;) By the time he got done and the sedation all wore off, he just had time to work with Joe, his PT, and Makenzie, his OT. They had him work on car transfers. And even though they don't usually introduce that until much later, they felt he could do it. Well, it was super hard for him, but with a little help, he surely impressed them!

Thursday

Today was Josh's first fit class. He got an hours worth of total upper body strength training. Since that is what will be getting him around for now, he's gotta get it stronger than ever!

After fit class, we met with our psychologist, Lester Butt. Lol. But, we call him Les for short ;) His job is to make sure we don't lose it while going through all of this, and to have someone to yell at if we do lose it. Haha. He's been here at Craig for 33 yrs! Josh said he will probably go into retirement after a few private sessions with him. Hahaha!

After our visit with Les, we ventured outside for the first time with Joe. He's having Josh try out a different wheel chairs, so we took it for a stroll around the hospital. It was so nice for Josh to get some fresh air! And real sun! :D The wheel chair was real tippy, but after some adjustments, it was perfect! Way better and lighter than his last one. He will be trying out a few more before choosing the one they will make for him to take home. Well, we got back to our room and they did an ultrasound on his right leg because this morning it measured 2 cm bigger since he's been here. That is how they check for blood clots. Well, the ultrasound found a small blood clot in his right femur, so he was put on 24 hr bedrest with restrictions like keeping that leg straight, no blood pressure, I.V.s, or labs! And he was put on some serious blood thinners. What happened was when he got here, they took him off blood thinners because they were taking out his chest tube and stuff. Well, the Dr. ordered him to go back on them two days after, and the pharmacy totally dropped the ball. SCARY! So glad they found it, but another minor setback:/ So that ended our day at 1pm.

Friday

Josh had been sleeping better lately, so I sleep in my own bed at my apartment last night for the first time since being here!!! Soooooo much better! I honestly don't know how in the hell I had been able to sleep in this fold out chair for the last 10 days!? I guess you do what you gotta do...

So bed rest in the morning. Lame. But they let him get out of bed at 1pm so they were able to fill up his afternoon real good. That way he will go into the weekend stronger. :D. He got to get into this contraption that let him actually stand up straight. Josh really liked that.

It's not a high chair....

They have some really neat stuff here. Especially for those who start to get ANY feeling back. They say it is so critical that you start "walking" as soon as that feeling hits your legs. I took some pics of other people in those walking contraptions. So don't mistake them for Josh...

 

The Long Weekend...

So we had to watch some videos and take tests on them before they would give Josh an off-campus pass. Well, we just finished them up last night, so now he gets to go outside or over to my apartment or around the block if we wanted, etc. So, we spent most of the weekend at my apartment, which is a lot more cozier. That was so nice. :) The Gordon family came down to visit Saturday. :) Their little guy was totally making me miss my baby :'(. Hes the same age as Jaxyn. We were so glad they stopped by though.

Sunday I should have found a church to go to, but didn't want to leave Josh just yet, so we just watched a few more LDS conference talks that we missed last week and called it good. Later that day we had a few more visitors, which was super nice. It makes the long weekends go by so much faster since there is no therapy. We got our schedule for next week and it is jammed packed! Hopefully there are no more setbacks...

Monday

Josh had a full schedule today. This morning he had FES bike and mat class, which was tough! He had to stretch on his own and the worst was balancing. Lots of different balancing moves that are very hard when you don't have the strength of your abs:/. It'll be amazing to see him improve on that!

Then we had a conference meeting with all of Josh's team. They showed us CAT scans and MRIs they had taken. Went over his rapid progression. Told us mostly what we have already been told, and gave Josh a discharge date of June 6th. But it was so nice to hear all the good things they had to say about Josh.

This is an MRI of Josh's spine right now. The metal kind of distorts it, but you can see where the spinal cord is damaged. :/

Then this afternoon Joe had him practice bed transfers, toilet and tub transfers, and another car transfer. He did awesome! It's amazing how much improvement he has had in 1 week!!! He got in and out of that car with pretty much no help! We will be out on the town in no time! ;)

After that Josh had his first wheelchair class. They really stress the importance of learning and mastering wheelies! He was not excited about that. Even though he's probably super good at wheelies on a quad, this is way out of his comfort zone. So they want them to be able to hold the wheelie for at least 30 sec., then work their way up to 2 min! They said it usually takes a couple of days to get up to that. At first, he could barely do 15 sec. Then after 20 min of trying, he had held it for 3 1/2 min! Show off! :P Then he had to pass off 3 full circles while in a wheelie. That was tough too, but he passed that off also before the end of class! What a stud!!!

Well it has been snowing most of the day, with more to come:/. It's SPRING! HELLO!!! This is so why I live I the desert. I need some vitamin D so bad!

 

 

 

Posted with Blogsy