The brace is off!

After reviewing Sam's latest x-rays, Dr. Brown said that he is healing nicely and can begin cutting down on the amount of time he has to wear his brace. He is going without it for about 1/2 a day now and hopes to be done with it before School starts. Kris and Sam have been spending a fair amount of time at Mary Free Bed doing physical therapy 3 times a week. Sam is getting stronger and is able to do more and more. He is transferring from his wheelchair into the van without the assistance of a sliding board. He is just pulling his weight right up into the seat then yanking his legs into place.

Sam is feeling the frustration of the tedious work of dressing and other "life" things that are much harder to perform than in the past. In truth, we are all feeling that. Sometimes it is hard work to keep smiling and positive because reality is reality. It is at those times that good friends and the grace of God takes over. We are sooooooooo very proud of Sam, his attitude, and just who he is. He has a huge personality and has a gift of making us laugh and smile.

Kris and Sam went to Ada Christian yesterday to try out the building. That seemed to go well. We need to figure out how the whole bus thing will pan out yet.

Last night we had our company picnic. One of the planned events was the three leg race. Sam was not ready to be on the sidelines... we each put a leg in the brown sack and using my other leg and Sam's right wheel from his wheelchair, we took off towards the finish line. We did not win, and the sack got caught under the front wheel of his chair and almost caused us to face plant in the grass. We laughed a lot but we eventually did finish! Yes, we can still have good fun...

Have a great weekend!

Stylin'

More good pictures of Sam, this time showing off his flashy new ride (donations for a sound system now being accepted) and his moves on the tennis court. You'll soon be able to play a game with Sam on the court, but be prepared to walk away in humiliation and defeat. As before, click on the pictures for a slightly larger, more printer-friendly version:

Moving forward

As I sit here at the campground typing this blog on my laptop connected to the internet via my Nextel cell phone, I have hope that technology will continue to move forward and give Sam more and more freedoms. I just emailed a few photos to Christian Bell (the cool guy who set the website up in the first place) of Sam riding his techno bike and playing some tennis. OK, so he can not get to the ball that fast yet, but Luke sure wore out his feet trying to get Sam close enough to hit the ball! It is good to see the brothers come together and do things together. Luke has been wonderful in motivating Sam. He is currently at football camp with the GR Christian Eagles until Wednesday. He called a few hours ago and he said it was the hardest thing he has done so far in his short life.

Anyway, if Christian is in town, I am sure the pictures will arrive shortly.

If you think the bike is pretty cool, I had a friend send me a website of more cool things. Check out www.spokesnmotion.com. It is just a small example of what technology is out there for Sam to dabble with.

Camping is going well. Sam gets stuck in the sand once in awhile but keeps pushing along. He says he gets bored quicker now... but I remember him saying that many many times before the accident

Have a great week!

Some good milestones

I (Randy) see it has been awhile since we did an update. Since we have not been real regular in updating the site, I am not sure if people are still reading it. In case you are following the progress I will give a quick update... here we go!!

We are still at home and that is very good! Sam had a couple of good things that happened. Last night he had his PIC line removed. That may not sound like much, but it really is a big deal for us. The PIC line was used to administer IV's daily. The line went in his arm and stopped near his heart. Not having that in anymore means that we can swim, get it wet, stay out past 8pm (because we don't have to administer the IV), and he won't get it caught in his spokes anymore. I won't miss making the IV's. We had to follow specific steps, sterilize the right things at the right time, mix the medicines with saline using needles, connect the right tubes & bags, and hope we did it all correctly. I kept having the thought that if I mess up and stick him with the wrong drugs at the wrong time I might kill him. None of us would like that.

Amyway, he feels FREE! He is down to wearing the torso brace and his "waffle stompers" (special sleeping boots) at night. We will start weaning him off the torso brace sometime in September.

Since the PIC line was removed, he was able to do some swimming. The staff at Mary Free Bed scheduled him for a special pool session this morning so they could teach him some things before we go camping next week. Sam did GREAT. As soon has he hit the water his face just lit up. He is a fish! He practiced the crawl, back stroke, elementary stroke, and breast stroke as well as an swimming endurance test.

The recreation therapist also arranged for us to try a special hand peddle bike for a few weeks. Sine they are quite expensive, we thought it best for him to try one out before we purchase one. We will be trying that out next week. If you are riding between Holland and Grand Haven and see a 3 wheeled bike powered by a blond wearing purple converse high tops, that would be Sam. I really hope this goes well because it will be very healthy for him (to get his heart pounding) and it is something we can do as a family.

I will post a picture of him riding the bike.

Please pray for:
- continued healing of Sam & removal of lingering infection.
- that his attitude remains positive and that he does not get frustrated with some of the simple things in life that are now quite hard.
- our family that we stay positive and encouraging.
- that Sam really enjoys camping
- God will still do a miracle on his broken spinal cord.
- The transition to school goes well