Thursday, April 23, 2009

Day 327 - Apr 23, 2009

Today was a really great day. Kevin just woke up in a good mood and it went from there. He was sad to see my brother go home today, but he didn't let it get him down for long. He was also very mad for a while today. His occupational therapist didn't show up for the third time this week (out of 4 days - not good, huh?)

Tonight was actually the first night we spent in our house alone. I was worried a little bit, but there was no reason to be. We did just fine. We actually stopped at Wal-Mart on the way home from the hospital and bought some 'things' to do. So we came home and ate, then we both took a nap and then we just did things. We cleaned - and Kevin even had to push the broom around. I told him it's his house and I'm not his maid so he can start sweeping. He didn't really like it, but I'm not a huge fan of cleaning either, lol. Here's a pic of him sweeping:



This is just my way of re-teaching him responsibility. And notice the big broom - this place is huge and it's all tile. No little broom for us!

And I finally got to take a couple of pics of the formal living room and dining room. Here they are:





I will slowly take more pictures as I get rooms completely done. I do have some artwork that needs hung in the dining room, but figured I would take the photo anyway.

And now let me recap the meetings that we went to. First, the video conference with BAMC went well. We will probably be leaving next Friday and they are estimating that we will be there about 2 weeks. That's perfect because our home adaptations should be done then by the time we get back. Hopefully the bulk of the pool will be done as well.

The outpatient meeting went well too. We will actually be discharging from this hospital on the same day that we will be leaving for TX. There just wasn't time to get his outpatient therapies organized before then so we all opted to go that route. I believe we were originally going to discharge tomorrow, but what's one more week at this point, right?

I am disappointed to learn that Kev will have to go to the hospital for all of his therapies and they all only want to see him 3 days a week. The bad thing about this is that Kevin can't handle a straight 4 hours of therapy each of those three days so I will probably still have to take him over 5 days a week. I so wanted to cut the days down so we could rest some, but I guess that's not happening.

We will be getting a home health aid though and we have been approved for 40 hours a week. I don't know if we would really need someone for that length of time a week, but we'll see. It might be nice to sleep in once in a while...

And finally, here is a picture of Kevin's new wheelchair. I made him temporarily take the right leg rest off because he needs to start using it to help propel the chair. He walks it completely with his left leg and he needs to walk it with the right too.



And here is a close-up of the emblem on his chair. Pretty nice, huh?



Ok, that's enough for me tonight. Tomorrow I want to remember to talk about the speech pathologist's testing so I am mentioning it here as a reminder.

Oh and before I go - I did buy Kevin a puzzle today. Just a small 24 piece children's one, but he managed to get it all together. It took him quite a while, but I just left him alone to get it done and he did it. He was so proud (as was his Mama, lol)

PS - does anyone from Brady know who is in charge of Riverfest this year? I need a contact number, please...

10 comments:

Denver said...

Many congratulations! You are both doing a great job.

Vicki Chrisman said...

I loved seeing the photos of your new home... it's beautiful! And the photos of Kevin amazing... man has that kid come along way!!! Impressive!

Anonymous said...

WOW....KEVIN IS COMING SO FAR SO FAST...WHAT A FIGHTER HE IS. WE ARE STILL PRAYING FOR YOU ALL. YOU ARE IN OUR THOUGHTS DAILY.TAKE CARE AND KEEP FIGHTING KEVIN.
AJ AND JOHN KUSICK

Anonymous said...

Leslie,
Here is some contact info for 2009
EB Riverfest...hope it helps you.

Laura:724-526-5370
Toots:724-526-5346
Sally:724-526-5174

email:
eastbradyareariverfest@yahoo.com

By the way the house is beautiful.
It's nice to see a guy cleaning
the house (lol).Love the wheelchair too.Good luck Kevin in Texas.Keep up the good job both of you.
Kim

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for showing the pictures! They were so fun to see! Kevin looks so happy in his new home. The wheelchair is really nice- love the emblem too!
Things are really coming along!
Have a great weekend!
Kathy in IA

Jodi said...

Love the pictures! The house is beautiful! Kevin does NOT look happy pushing that broom. LOL! So much good news. Warms my heart and puts tears in my eyes. Thank you for sharing everything with us. These next few weeks are going to be tough for us, and seeing how well Kevin is doing is going to help get thru these weeks. I love you guys and am so happy for you.

How is Breezy doing? How is your dad doing?

Oh, and Breezy....I love the recipe you put in the cookbook about "Kevin's all time favorite" on page 125. I laughed my butt off when I read that!!

Healing and positive thoughts for Kevin.
Strength for Leslie and Breezy.
Safe thoughts for all military personnel and strength for their families.
BIG HUGS AND ALL MY LOVE TO ALL OF YOU!!!!
Andrew's Aunt Jodi

Anonymous said...

There's no Herd patch on the chair!

Anonymous said...

I absolutely LOVE your new home Kevin!! The living room is beautiful and to see you relaxing in the chair is wonderful. You're doing a great job (as are you, Leslie) and I can't wait to see pictures of you in the pool when you get back from Texas! Prayers and Angel Hugs,

Terri Chambers
Soldiers' Angel

Anonymous said...

I come back to this site now and then to see how things are going. It was so wonderful to see how well your son is doing. You are a remarkable mother, with strength that is so motivating. You and your daughters love for Kevin is so wonderful. God Bless you. I hope your weekend is filled with joy.

Jessica said...

Kevin's house is beautiful...although he doesn't look too thrilled to be the one keeping it beautiful! LOL! But, the sweeping is good therapy, right? And the wheelchair looks great, especially with the emblem.

I'm glad to hear the meetings went so well and that Kevin will be going so soon for surgery. I'll be praying that everything will go smoothly! So many good things to report, yay! Praise God!

I'll be thinking of you all and praying for you.