The joy of being together as a family has been wonderful. Learning logistics with both of us back at home had some challenges in the beginning. AJ had been holding down the fort for two months. Taking care of his siblings, working and finishing school. Making decisions that needed to be made and handling big responsibilities. There was an adjustment time as the ranks changed. Releasing duties but carefully protecting his Dad at the same time .
There were ideas of how things would be easier once we were home. Mostly for Jerry, not being restricted in his day to day living. Though as we returned and started living life, the reality is. Things are harder . Just going from point A to point B in the house or on the property can be very exhausting.
Jerry is walking more and more,with his walking crutches. He uses his wheel chair when we are away from home. Mostly, for his endurance. It is exhausting for him to do lots of walking on his crutches and then try to do anything else once he gets to where he needs to be, especially if it's a great distance.
Our weeks have consisted of 2-3 Dr. appointments weekly. Follow ups with surgeon. Physical therapy and occupational therapy twice a week in Bremerton.
Upon leaving the Spinal Cord Injury Unit, his diagnosis at the time is Quadraplegic (incomplete injury) C-5. Which means he has injury in all quadrants from his C-5 down. He has regained much sensory in his hands, though his hands are still problematic. his right hand seems to be the worse, he spends a lot of time trying to keep his fingers stretched open, they seem to want to curl up all the time. This is frustrating, as he wants to use his hands, he loves to be doing things and he is learning to adapt all the time. He still has loss of feeling from his belly button down. It is so interesting as to how the nerves are effected. Some days he has more sensory than others. He is on numerous Med's to control the nerve spasms and nerve pain. We live by the alarms set on his phone 4x a day to take his load of pills. His legs are strong, even though he doesn't have a lot of feeling in them. His right side is the most numb. Just in the past few weeks, he has regained some new feeling in them. Just last week he felt the wind blowing on his leg. He stepped on something off the floor and as he complained about the pain., we realized that he could feel it !! Which was a great thing ;)
Being home has meant facing reality, letting go of expectations.. and finding contentment in the journey. We are learning to grieve some things we were hoping would be transformed once Dad had surgery. We are learning to accept that this healing could take a very long time. We don't know exactly how much nerve damage will be returned completely. We are hopeful and trusting the Lord to completely restore him. We also know that the Lords plan often looks different than ours. Sometimes the most difficult part of the day is just staying encouraged. We have to be joy seekers all the time. Honestly, that is not always easy .. But giving in to discouragement and doubt can wipe you out mentally and the time it takes away from progressing is not worth the loss. We have found ourselves there a few times since being home, and those were some hard days.
Thankfully, Joy does come each day. The first few weeks, just having the younger two kids run into our room to "make sure we were still there " was so heart tugging and wonderful. The gift of "Time" together , I can not say enough about how much I treasure that more than anything. Seriously, if we had to do this all over again, I would go through it just for the gift of Time together we have been given.
The blessings that have been poured out upon our family have been so amazing and beyond anything we could imagine. We have always tried to live in full surrender to the Lord, trusting Him for our daily bread, our every need. It is a daily walk in faith when you are trusting Him for each and every need. Having your own business reminds you that each day is all you can count on. Jerry hasn't worked since Jan 3, 2015. We have been blessed so many times above and beyond. Just as I would start to wonder how we could make the house payment or get some thing that we needed, the need has always been met. We are completely in Awe of how much the Lord Loves us and has surrounded us with friends and family whom are obedient to his promptings. We want to always make sure we are not taking any gift for granted. Our desire is to stay humble and yet we want to scream from the Mountaintops all the ways he has blessed us. Shortly after arriving home, friends showed up in our driveway and gave us keys to a newer van for us so that all the driving would be comfy and in a reliable vehicle. A recliner that would lift to standing for Jerry to use was brought over. Our freezer was filled with meat. A patio table, so we could be outside and enjoy the summertime. New fans were placed inside the house before we returned to keep us cool. Numerous other things have happened and my list goes on and on. A few weeks back we were coming close to a bill needing paid and AJ's scout troop had done a collection and it was just what we needed. This has happened time and again in so many ways.I am finishing this post as we are visiting the Ocean on a mini vacation we were blessed with to recharge before our schedules are filled with all the activities that come when school starts. We just want to say Thank you over and over to all of you for your Love.
Jerry applied for Social Security Disability and they said it would take about 6 months, we just got a letter that it is starting up already. Just another way to know we are being carried through each step of this journey. We have had so much peace during this entire year, it is only the peace that can come from the Lord. If our hope was not anchored in our Faith and trust this whole journey could be so dismal and full of discouragement and anger. We do not wish to ever go there, we will keep our eyes lifted and Trust in the Lord as he continues to shine brightly on this journey.
This was a long read thanks for sticking with me to the end. I pray you are encouraged in whatever you are going through today and that no matter how difficult it seems , remember there is a purpose to our trials. Sometimes we just have to wait and settle in and see what is in store for us.
We Praise the Lord for his continued faithfulness to our family.
We are thankful for Jerry's continued healing and his strength each day.
Thankful for the guys who are stepping up to help me get Jerry to his appointments, such a huge blessing as I try to get our homeschool days going again.
Please pray with us for him to continue regaining strength and feeling in his body
Pray that he would stay encouraged , when the days are hard and that he can remember how far he has came in just a short time.
Pray that our busy schedule for the fall would come together smoothly.
Thank you for coming and being part of our journey, we Love you and are greatful for each of you.
Tammy, Jerry, AJ, Katie, Sarah and Isaia
Here are some pics to enjoy..Some memories as we "Ended summer better than it started "
It was a bit breezy, Jerry was not ready to tackle the sand. Thankful for the Promenade at Seaside to give him some sidewalks to enjoy the ocean.
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