Week 48 : May 11 - May 17

Johnny,

You have not been a happy camper this week...concerning your hands. Your hands have to be serial casted in order to help with the contractures of your fingers and wrists. Wednesday the 12th was the first casting. You didn't like it too much but so far your fingers are not swollen or red. These casts will come off Sunday (the 16th )and a new pair will go on again Wednesday (the 19th).
Your therapists are putting on your casts.

Your laying in your bed after having your casts put on.

Sitting in your chair with your new casts.

Well, you survived your first day with the casts. Mom said that you don't seem quite so miserable today (the 13th) but that the day had just started. She doesn't think she'll be taking you outside for a while in fear that it might make you sweat in them.

Mom and Robert's annual fish fry was Saturday (the 15th) You and I stayed inside most of the time...I took you outside once and you and I both started sweating, it's a very humid day, so we went back inside in the AC!! You seemed to handle all the people pretty good. At one point you and I went to your room and put in a movie and cranked the AC to 68 degrees.
This is a picture of your niece Ivy, she hasn't seen you since before your accident so she was a little worried to stand too close. You told her hi.

Mom's giving you some frozen ice.

Dad came over Sunday and he and mom took your casts off.

Mom said that she's trying to work as much as she can with your hands while the casts are off. You've been working with your dynavox. You pushed the button that said "Jackie come here please" and then you asked her "how is band?". She showed you her new braces and then you pushed the "are you wearing that to school?" button. You, mom and Jackie all laughed - it was like you were asking if she was wearing her braces to school. Mom had you type on your keyboard a while and you typed "I needeed tttto take a nap" When you typed the four t's, mom told you she didn't know of any words that had four t's in them. You laughed. Then she read it like it was written like she was stuttering and you laughed. Mom got you layed down in bed to nap and told you you never take naps...Robert told you he was going "tttto take a nap" and you laughed at him. You are becoming such a funny guy!

You have developed a new sore on an old sore on your back and it's caused mom some concern. She's going to call the doctor on it or see if Angels at Home can come out to look at it. We are thinking it's caused by your new wheelchair. Bed sores are a real concern and mom is on a great mission to prevent them! She's doing a great job!

Mom said she tried to get you to say Okay by making an exaggerated O and K. You didn't respond. Mom said, Don't leave me hangin and you laughed outloud. Mom told you that her face might freeze like that and you thought that was funny.

Mom told you that it was getting hot outside and that you would like that. She reminded you that you always mowed your lawn during the heat of the day. You just grinned.

Mom was shaving you and told you she wouldn't want to have to shave every day. She told you that maybe God intended for men to be hairy and have a beard down to here. You thought that was pretty funny.

Mom asked you to type on your dynavox the name of someone you might like to see. You typed "no one". She asked you if there was anything you wanted and you typed "nothing". I told mom well, at least he knows what he doesn't want.

Robert helping you in the standing chair.

Picture of Cody's new shirt : )


Love you!! Xo Jen

Week 47 : May 4 - May 10

Johnny,

Well, it would be nice if the doctors that failed your swallow test could get a look at you now! You ate a jar of turkey and a 1/2 jar of apple blueberry this week. You gulped them down no problem! Your speech therapist took these pictures of you feeding yourself. You did an awesome job!


I absolutely love your sense of humor...you are so funny and you make your own jokes when you can!! Mom said that she was having you practice the sounds : la, lo, le and in the middle of it, she sneezed. She told you you didn't have to try to say that (the sneeze) and you started laughing. We all live for moments like these! Your such a happy man!
This is a picture of you laughing at one of your therapist, April's jokes.

On another speech therapy day, Lisa tried to get you to eat some turkey and you didn't want it. Mom suggested she try oatmeal apple and you did better with it. She also gave you swallows of water and you did fine with it as long as it was 1 ml at a time. The night before you ate an entire jar of banana strawberry and you did great. Again...where are the doctors when you need them to see something : )

Mom said your getting better on your dynavox. You were working on it and you pressed the button "come here mom" and she was standing right next to you. She put her face to your face and asked you if this was close enough...ha! You both started laughing! Such a great sense of humor you have : )

I know you are so proud of your daughter, she was inducted into the National Honor's Society Friday evening. Mom said you went to the ceremony and were a little nervous but very proud of her. She looked very pretty but you'll have to take my word for it, the battery was dead in the camera so there isn't a picture...sorry!

You stood in your standing frame at 90% ... WOW!! That's so great! Here's a picture of you and Cody before you were standing.

This is you standing...I know it's hard Johnny but your doing such an awesome job!!

You, mom and Diana : )

Look at you go! Your working a puzzle and doing great! You even pick up pieces of puzzle using the edge of the table. Your a little slow on the release but your getting the job done! So proud of you : )


Mickey and I came out Saturday and spent the day with you and also mom...it's Mother's Day weekend. You and Mickey were cracking yourselves up all day! On the drive back home, Mickey kept talking about all the things that made you laugh. You were a lot of fun today : ) It was a great day!!!

Love you so much!! XO Jen

Week 46 : April 27 - May 3

Johnny,

Well, I said in my last post that I would blog about your dysphasia test (swallow test). You did not do too good. I guess you could say you failed the test. Mom and Diana feel like you were set up to fail. Meaning, they didn't listen to the people that are around you and know you most...including your speech therapist. You'll get another chance to do the test again later. After your appointment, Your speech therapist worked with you under a tree at the hospital on your dynavox. Your really getting good at it!

Jackie, Robert and Mom put you in your standing frame for about 30 minutes. This is a picture of them getting you set up in it. You got to 60% standing. It's really an ordeal putting you in the frame and getting it all set up for as little amount of time your in it but it is so beneficial!! Mom took a couple of really cute pictures of Jackie helping out but didn't realize she didn't have the memory card in the camera. She blamed it on a senile moment but you and I both know that that is how our mother rolls!! She didn't take pictures of it but did tell me that she put your shoes on the wrong feet again...what you must be thinking while she's doing it...ha! Her first mistake is repeating her "senile" moment to the one in charge of the blog...(insert evil laugh).


Brian, Monty, Mom, Robert, Jackie and her friend Erin all worked on painting the new addition to the house on Saturday. When Mickey, Cody and I got to Mom's on Sunday, you couldn't tell where the new began and the old ended. It really looks nice!

Jackie and Erin helping out with the painting.


Mom and Robert's church was having a youth auction to raise money for the youth and they took you. This is a picture of you and Robert arriving at the church.

Your in the church during the auction. You can see Jackie in the background in the church kitchen. The youth raised $16,000 dollars during this auction.

You and Mom left the auction early...Mom told Robert she would be fine getting you back in bed by herself. She would use a method called lift, pivot and turn. Well, she forgot one thing ... she didn't lock the bed. She got you lifted, she got you pivoted, she, you and the bed went rolling and you and mom ended up on the floor. Mom said you were on your knees on the floor and it looked like you were praying...ha! This is a picture of you finally making it from the floor to the bed. Do I dare ask her if this was another of her senile moments...ha, ha!! You really have to laugh to keep from crying!


You had an appointment today to get botox. This is a picture of you waiting on your doctor. You got 11 injections with a 3 inch needle. Mom said you didn't even blink. The nurse told mom that each needle cost $2,000 so you had $22,000 dollars worth of botox injected in you today.

The botox machine, Pretty interesting.

After your appointment, you were pretty wore out...this is on the drive home.


Well, all in all you had a pretty great week. I'm proud of you!!

Love you!! XO!! Jen