"Always be joyful, never stop praying, be thankful in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." -Thessalonians 5:16-18
Another very busy week, lots of ups and downs, Jared is such a warrior guys, let me tell you, this guy has been through so much, and he just keeps on pushing! I am always amazed at all the things he is overcoming, and yes it has and is taking time, but it is happening by the grace of God and Jared's determination. We are getting to see more and more of his personality come out, getting to hear little bits of his voice. My sister got such a wonderful treat in the beginning of the week, when he said "Hey Krissy!" This moment was so special I almost don't want to share it on here, only because like I keep saying, these little snippets of video and still pictures do not do justice for what is happening in the moment just being with Jared. However awesome you may think these videos are when you see them on here, they are 1000x more so in person.
Early on in the week he had some amazing therapy sessions, he walked the most he had so far since being at Pate. He walked 300 feet using the EVA walker, with minimal rest breaks. PT has been working on steps, side stepping, stepping over things, propelling himself in a wheelchair and overall standing balance with weight shifting. Occupational therapy continues to work on strengthening his right side, visual scanning games and activities, and reaching across his body. Speech is working with Jared to find his voice and now getting to eat food so he can continue to strengthen his swallow.
On Tuesday, Jared had a MBSS (Modified Barium swallow study) at Baylor McKinney! It uses video of Barium and fluoroscopy for imaging of his upper gastrointestinal (GI) tract. HE DID GREAT! His doctor and speech therapist moved him from an NPO diet (everything via tube feed) to a 50/50 diet, where he gets to start eating purees and nectar thick liquids. This is amazing, a big step for Jared, though it seems to be a bit of a yucky one and a trialing one, it is a step in the right direction towards eating regular food. He is still getting food via his peg tube along with water flushes to hep keep him hydrated and full of all the necessary vitamins until he can consume enough orally.
From Wednesday on, he had a bit of a tough week, as his body is adjusting to all the changes all at once. His GI tract was being put through the wringer, very unsure of what to do and how to process food, as it hasn’t had to in the past 9 months. So I am asking for huge prayers that his body gets used to all the changes that are being thrown at it.
As I have told y'all, weekends are generally for rest and rejuvenation for the week ahead. Jared likes to take it easy and lay in bed most of the day on Saturdays and Sundays. Being that he had a tough end of the week, and his stomach was unsettled the last couple days we had to take a little trip to Baylor McKinney Saturday evening to sort some things out. We were concerned that something may have been wrong with his peg tube. After a CT scan, some blood work and fluids, we were able to head back to Pate.
Earlier that day Jared’s dad, Ron and stepmom, Angela came for a visit. They haven’t seen Jared since a week after his accident when he was still in the trauma ICU on a ventilator, post crani and very banged up. They got to see the miracle that he is nine and a half months later. They shared some memories from his hometown of Lubbock and asked if he remembered certain places from there and he signaled to them that he did. They shared some pictures with him and because Jared loves to look at whatever you are looking at, he was super interested although it was a quick visit it was nice to see them and for them to witness all that Jared has overcome. This morning, although he was exhausted, he got a nice little treat when his mom, sister, grandpa and niece stopped in for some family time.
We tried a few different foods with Jared; for lunch the house had made a Thanksgiving like meal, potato salad, stuffing, candied yams, and broccoli, cheese, rice. He had a bite of each, but didn’t seem to love any of it. For dinner we he had some blended chicken noodle soup and he did pretty good with that eating about 30% of it. So much of these next steps with him eating pureed food will be trial and error to find out what he likes and what doesn't seem so terrible once it has gone through a blender or food processor, so I am open to any ideas or suggestions for things to try with Jared. Regardless, it's a big step and we are excited to ease him into eating food again!
And on a non related note to Jared, my sister and I were lucky enough to get to have a 4 legged baby in our house this weekend, Charlee girl came to hang with us while her parents were out of town, so I have included some of the pictures I got of this sweet girl!
Prayer Requests:
We continue to have the resources to stay at Pate and Jared will continue to make progress.
Jared's body will adjust and adapt to all the changes he is putting it through, like eating food!
Jared will find his voice and be able to speak...LOUD
Continued strengthening of his swallow
Strength and mobility to keep getting stronger and more consistent on the right side of his body.
I am able to find the right contractor to get started on the bathroom remodel and renovations around the house.
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