Week 52 : June 8 - June 14, 15 & 16

Johnny,

What a difference a year makes!! Today has been a year since your accident. I am so thankful that you are still with us although the journey for you has been hard! You have really made some great strides this week and had a set back or two but that's been true for this whole year! There was a point this year when Mom said that if all you were ever able to do was tell you daughter you love her, that would be enough and you do that ... and so much more! Your family is so proud of you and love you so much!!

I've included a few pictures from a year ago so we can remember how far you've come. This picture is of you and Jackie at Select Specialty. You were still in a coma and it was still very much touch and go. At one point during your stay at this hospital, the doctor told Mom that it was inhuman for her to leave you hooked up to your feeding tube. He suggested that we turn it off and let you pass. Oh Lord! That was not the right thing to say to our mother! You were not in that hospital for too much longer. Mom can not wait for the day that you walk into that doctors office and say what a mistake you suggested!

Your still in a coma but we were told that you could hear the music so mom would play your favorite songs for you through out the day.

Johnny and Mom at Select Specialty. That woman barely left your bedside! She was and continues to be dedicated to your care. You are so blessed!

Jackie and Jennifer praying for you. It was so hard seeing you like that! I remember the first time I saw you open your eyes just a sliver. I thought for sure you were waking up from your coma. I yelled for the nurse and she came in and said, oh, that's great progress ... I was a little disappointed! I wanted you to wake up now! At this point, we still didn't know the extent of your injuries to your brain.


Fast forward to the present:

You were typing on your dynavox this morning (6/8/10) while waiting for your physical therapist to arrive. You typed out "take me home". Mom explained to you that you had an accident and where you were, etc. Then you typed "I'm ready". Mom told you that you needed more therapy before you could live in your own house. You typed "when can I". Mom took you outside for a while and y'all watched Jackie swim. Mom asked you if you were hot and if you wanted to go in the house. You said something that sounded like "home" and pointed towards where you had lived. Mom was so heartbroken but she knows that it is yet another step in your recovery process. Now we're going to have to be careful because as you become more able to more you will begin to try to get out of bed and go home. Later that afternoon, mom asked you to tell her what you wantedand you immediately spelled "outside" so she took you out for a while. You chose to watch Jackie in the pool again.

Mom walked into your room this evening (6/8/10) and you had sweat on your forehead. Your AC was set on 73 and the temperature gauge showed 75.2. Mom asked you if you were cold. You raised up in the bed and said a string of words that she couldn't understand. Mom got the magnetic letters and you immediately spelled "I'm freezing" At least one thing about you hasn't changed...you are always cold. You seem to want so much to talk.

6/9/10
This morning Mom put the dynavox on keyboard and you spelled "I'm ready for this to end". We know this is a stage you have to go through but it is still upsetting! Tonight when Dad and Diana came over you pointed to your chest and then pointed to Diana and then towards the window. Mom thought you were saying you wanted to go outside with Diana. She got the magnetic letters and you wrote "lets go outside". After 10 minutes outside you were cold and wanted to go back to bed. You are so smart! When Mom got home from church, Jackie went into see you and told you to give her a kiss. You did. Then she told you she loved you and gave you the sign for I love you. You pointed to yourself, made the I love you sign and then pointed at her. How amazing! That's what we said all along...that would be good enough... but now we want the whole Johnny package back!
6/10/10
This morning you typed "I'm ry to end". When mom asked you what you were ready to end you typed "all of this". I know it's hard Johnny and I know your tired but, you have no choice...you have to beat this! We love you!!

Jackie is reading you a book. You seemed to enjoy it.

6/11/10
Mom and Robert ran some errands and while they were gone, Dad visited you.
At some point you wrote with your magnetic letters “my right toes”. When mom got home, she put you in bed and took off your shoes…then saw what you wrote. Whatever the problem was with your toes must have been worked out with the removal of the shoes. I love how you communicate now! Speaking of communicating, you typed out tonight: “I need to pee”, “how do I pee”, “I swear this is a joke”…mom asked you what was a joke and you typed “everything” and “when can I go home”. Mom took pictures of what you typed and then asked you whose camera she was using. You pointed to mom. Mom said, no, it’s your camera. You asked her “where did I buy camera”. Mom asked you some specific questions you could answer yes or no to, we are trying to determine what year your mentally in. She asked you who your best friend in school was...was it Bob? You said no. Was it Mike? You said no. Was it Donny? You said yes. That's correct. Mom asked you if you have a daughter and you said yes. She asked if you were ever married and you said no. She asked if you knew someone named Ashlee and you said yes. She asked did she have a daughter and you said yes. She said was Ashlee married and you said no. She asked if you were ever divorced and you said no. She asked if Ashlee had more than one child and you said yes. (You and Ashlee were married and divorced and Ashlee does have a daughter but no other children, so you got that partly right) She asked if you knew Adena and you said yes. She asked if Adena had a daughter and you said yes. She asked if Adena was married and you said no. She asked if Adena had any other children and you said no. (Adena was a friend from high school. She is married and has 4 children, so you got this one partly right too). She asked if your friends had been visiting you and you said no. (They have been visiting) She said, do you know Buddy and you said yes. She said, has Buddy been coming to visit you and you said no. She told you that in fact Buddy had been coming to see you since he found out about your accident. You didn’t remember that. She asked if you remembered your passwords to email or facebook and you said no. I'm sure all the questions are frustrating for you. It's a big help to know what you remember though. For anyone who reads this, I don't post this to hurt feelings...I look forward to the day when I can post and say Johnny remembers EVERYTHING!!

When can I go home?

I swear its a joke (everything)

How do I pee?

my right toes

You are asking Jackie if she had a good time at church.

Jackie is feeding you while you are spelling.


I picked you up a surprise when I went shopping...a head massager...Your enjoying it.

Your holding your head massager and laughing about something I said. We decided to call your head massager BOB so if you want someone to use it on you all you have to do is spell Bob.

6/14/10
After two days of constant pain, your waiting for Dr. Thomas to make it all better. Dr. Thomas increased the Baclofen pump by 15%. It is now at 543.7. Originally they told us it would need to be at 600 to 700 to get the full effect. They also prescribed you some liquid baclofen so you could get some immediate relief if this happened again. Seems your brain is starting to register pain and you have pain from arthritis caused by previous injuries. You seem pretty comfortable now.

After your pain management appointment, you had a dentist appointment. The dentist fixed some of your teeth that were damaged and you did really well. After the appoinment, mom and Robert drove you home but first they went through a state park.
Mom was thinking it might be a nice place to picnic until she saw a sign that there were alligators in the park. Ha! She changed her mind pretty quick.

This is a picture of the sunflowers outside you window. They came up from the seeds that fell from your birdfeeder.


6/16/10
Well, today is officially 1 year since...Your work is not over. April came and casted your right hand and your fingers are nearly straight. The left hand is a little behind, it's stiff from not being casted for a while so maybe next time you can have a straighter cast. We need to get your hands all fixed up so you can hold your nephew if he ever comes : )

Johnny, we are so proud of you. Keep up the great work!!

Love you!! Xo Jen

Week 51 : June 1 - June 7

Johnny,

I am in awe of you!! You have been communicating so much lately. We give credit to the serial casting...once you got the casts off, you took off!! Mom told me that she took you outside with pen and paper and Robert told you to write his name. Robert wrote "Robert" on your paper and you got mad! You scratched out what Robert had wrote and wrote "Robert" yourself. Mom said it was like you were saying ... No! I'll do it! Mom also asked you to look around and write what you see and you wrote "fruit trees".







Well, Jackie is offically out of school for the summer. That should be fun for you to see her everyday, all day long. Mom said you're using your dynavox to call her more...ya'll laugh when you ask her if she's going to wear "that" to school.

Cody turned 19 on the 3rd. We went to Joe's Crab Shack for his birthday dinner. He was such a good sport when they asked him to turn his crab bib backwards and fly around the whole restaurant like superman!


It looks like you might get to meet your nephew a little sooner then planned. I've been having contractions for the past week and a half. The doctor told me that he'd like for me to hold off until atleast the 14th ... that will put me at 36 weeks and the baby's lungs should be developed by then. The 16th will mark "one year" for you since your accident. It's just so amazing to me how much we have all been through this year. In all honesty, you shouldn't be with us and yet you are and making great progress towards recovery! I shouldn't be expecting a baby but I am...he's a little miracle! Dad and Diana should still be living in Red Oak. Mom should still be working and driving to dallas every day. God never gives us more than we can handle...right?!! I miss you! And, I love you! And, I'm so so proud of you!!

Love you!! XO Jen

Week 50 : May 25 - May 31

Johnny,

Well, You've had a busy week. On the 25th, your daughter turned 13...she's a teenager now!! It's so hard to believe!! I can remember the day she was born with all that black hair and so tiny!! Do you remember Cody was still in his body cast and we just wheeled him in to see her in his wheelchair. You would be very proud of your little girl, I know she's proud of you!!

Speaking of being proud, Cody bought a truck this week and one of the things he said was, "Uncle Johnny would be proud I got a Chevrolet".
This is a picture of Cody counting out his down payment.


Standing next to his new ride.

He was so ready for me to put down the camera so he could drive off in his truck : )

YES! I cried as he drove off the lot!! That's a mother's choice! I did think about you laughing at me crying as Cody drove away and then I decided your still a butthole and I didn't care! So, I took a few more pictures and cried some more! It's hard to believe how fast our kids are growing up!!

Jackie is singing "Johnny Angel" to you ... look at how you are looking at her.

Jackie dancing for you as she sings to you.

Mom took Jackie and a friend to Hawaiian Falls for her birthday. (Isn't mom brave!) Mickey and I came out to see you and spend the day with you. We decided to take you for a ride and ended up at dad's new place in Hubbard. It's the first time you've been there and you just kept looking around...it's a lot different then their house in Red Oak. You did really well and for our first solo trip with you, that was a good thing!

When we got back from Dad's, you were tired so we put you back in bed.

On mom's way home from the water park, she bought a pool. This is the some assembly required part : )

You're getting ready to go outside. It was still morning but man was it already getting hot! I'm sure you were sweat'n in your casts!

We watched mom dig up her potatoes.

Looks good! Didn't mom do a great job ... there were onions too but I didn't take a picture of those, I don't like onions : )

Enjoying the outside.

Jackie taking a morning dip in her new pool...she's talking to you.


You got your new casts put on Tuesday the 26th and taken off again on the 30th. You'll have them put on again June 2nd. The therapist is planning on doing this atleast two more times. It's already an improvement.

Love you Johnny!! XO Jen

Week 49 : May 18 - May 24

Johnny,

You are working hard to strengthen your swallow muscles and to improve your speech. In this picture, your therapist put the electrodes on your cheeks. You tolerated this therapy very well!!



You got new casts put on May 19th and they will come off again on the 23rd or 24th. The serial casting is working, you're able to open your hands more.

Love you!! XO Jen

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