Monday October 26

I have recently gotten some questions about the t-shirts for the softball tournament so I decided to grab my two favorite models to give you an idea of how great they look! If you would like to buy a t-shirt or a raffle ticket, please check back to the blog from October 7...all the order information is there.

Over the weekend, John continued to work hard to increase his endurance. Lately, each day that passes marks seconds or minutes longer he is able to stand, walk or perform daily activities. John showered himself unassisted for the first time since June 2 today. As most of you know, John is a very clean person and has consistently enjoyed getting a shower but he seemed really happy to be able to do it on his own. Part of his progression involves him becoming more and more self-sufficient. John has been able to do things such as feed himself or let us know if he needs something or if he is in pain but up until today, showering has required some assistance from staff or more often, from Holly. He has also become less and less fearful of standing and walking on his own and although at times we remind him to keep his arms at his sides or to take a second to get his balance, he doesn't reach out to grab our hands and arms or nearby objects nearly as often and there is confidence in his gait.

There are a lot of nuances which exist when a loved one has a brain injury but since we see John daily, we sometimes forget just how much he has improved. Sometimes we are reminded of his vast progress in the most amazing ways. Over the weekend, Holly and John were walking down the hallway together and they ran into a wonderful lady named Yolanda. She works for TIRR and came to Triumph back in July to assess John for whether he would be appropriate for TIRR. At that time, John was on dialysis and still had some tubes going into his body. He had barely begun to talk and was unable to feed himself and even sitting up was difficult for him. Holly was overwhelmed with meeting with physicians that day so I met with Yolanda to plead John's case to her. Essentially, I begged her to make the move to TIRR happen and I promised her that John would be a success story. When she saw John this weekend she simply couldn't believe her eyes and kept saying..."He looks so great and he is walking!" I'm not sure what her true expectations were of John when she first met him but it seems that she had some doubt about what he might be able to do mixed with a glimmer of hope that TIRR was the right place for him to go next. I must say that we also had several other facilities come to evaluate John but the overall feeling was that at TIRR, John would be given the best opportunity to thrive so him being moved there was a huge relief.

Seeing Yolanda was a great reminder for us and Holly and I reminisced about the past almost five months and we really gained new appreciation for how far John has come. This has been a tumultuous time but as John's journey continues, and we remain sideline participants and spectators, words simply cannot express our gratitude. This is not a path that you expect in life or one that you can ever be prepared for but it is our path and we are thankful each day for John's strength and resiliency.