Andy's Physical Therapy

Well, I FINALLY have some really great news to report about Andy’s back: Andy started seeing a physical therapist for his back 6 days ago and had his second treatment today. I am very excited and thrilled to say that he has been PAIN FREE now for 6 days!!!!! I have explained the whole story to many of you, but want to write it down for my own sake here so I won’t forget it! When we found out that we did not get approved for the loan for the laser surgery that he was going to go to Laser Spine Institute in Florida for, we were so discouraged. Andy had been dealing with intense pain in his back off and on for nearly 2 years. The chiropractor was able to help him tremendously with his upper back, neck and migraine headaches, but would not work on his lower back because of the amount of pain Andy was in down there. After we sent out our Christmas letter, a friend of Andy’s (Shawn) called him and told him about the physical therapist that got him back into shape after he had had back surgery. Andy went to see him, and found out that his “SI” joint, the sacroiliac, needed to be adjusted and it lies below the pelvis and is hard for a chiropractor to get to (or so we were told.) Anyway, after hearing that the insurance wouldn’t cover the cost of the therapy, we were debating what to do since we are in the worst time of year to have extra expenses coming our way. I had been trying to avoid asking my cousin Stephanie (the PT in our family) about the issue because she was on leave from doing physical therapy, has two girls under the age of two that she is at home taking care of and has been trying to get settled from a move here from Arizona, But, I finally broke down and e-mailed her because I was at the end of my frazzled and very fraying rope. I asked her advice of whether she agreed with this other physical therapist that this might, in fact, give relief to Andy. After talking with her over Christmas and the days following, we were very encouraged to hear that there was a big light of hope at the end of our very long and dark tunnel we had been looking through for so many months. She actually just started working in a physical therapy office filled with phenomenal therapists and referred Andy to the best she knew. Last Thursday he had his first session where she tested all his movement and reflexes and talked about what kind of pain he had been experiencing. She then put his “SI” joint back into place and showed him three different exercises she wants him to do twice a day. It was amazing because when he did the preliminary movement of turning from side to side from the waist, he couldn’t hardly move to the left and after the therapy, he got up and turned to the left as much as he had to the right! It was phenomenal!!! He and I were both in complete shock! He also bent over and touched his toes and came back up with no effort. He also did many other motions that I won’t go into, but you get the point—HE IS BETTER!!! I told the physical therapist that she was an angel!!!!! After the therapy session was over, Andy was on cloud 10 1/2 (yes, he soared way above cloud 9!!!!!) He said, “I don’t know what to do with myself. I don’t want to walk, sit down, get in my car, lay down…..I just want to stand right here, because I have absolutely no pain and I haven’t felt like this in as long as I can remember!!!” The whole rest of the night was the same way. He was just in la-la land because he just couldn’t believe that all the pain he had suffered for 2 years was gone in just a matter of minutes. It was simply amazing! Granted, the exercises he is doing are making his unused muscles very very sore, but he says he’ll gladly take that soreness over the stabbing pain any day of the year. He is going to go back in for at least 6 more sessions of physical therapy to learn different things and how to protect this from every happening again and to make sure he is working the muscles the way he should be to support his back. Today’s session was primarily to unlock the muscles that had been completely locked up on him. Two therapists worked his muscles over real good and said they had probably been like that for many years. He has been talking about the relief all day long! It is so nice to see him up moving around and coherent again!!! He feels like his life has been given back to him and says he has learned so much from the whole experience. The possibility of having laser surgery is not completely out of the realm of possibility for the future simply for the bone spurs and scar tissue, but for right now, he has what he has needed for a very long time--to be PAIN FREE!!!!!! I don’t know who all reads this blog, but I want to say a few very special thank yous first to my aunt Pat for introducing the thought process that there could be something other than laser surgery that might help Andy; to Shawn for introducing the concept of the sacralliac joint to us and telling us about his physical therapist; to Stephanie and for all the therapy she’s done free of charge for us along the way, for ALL her advice, and for getting us hooked up with Elite Physical Therapy and Judy; to Mike G. for his GENEROUS offer and for caring enough to even offer; all our family and friends who have prayed so faithfully for us throughout the past 2 years. We truly feel like our prayers have been answered. We don’t understand why it has taken so long, but believe that everything happens for a reason. Hopefully what we’ve been through can help someone else who needs the same advice we’ve been given. So I am going to say this, if you or someone you know has pain anywhere in your back, head, neck, knees, joints, etc. don’t feel like you need to take medicine for the rest of your life or live with the pain, either get in touch with a good physical therapist (call us if you want the number of Andy’s) or see a good chiropractor who does X-rays, massage and gentle manipulation. If you aren’t getting results with the chiropractor, you need physical therapy. $300-500 is a very, very, very small price to pay to live pain free and get your life back!!!!! And it is spread out over the course of treatment. Be proactive and stop living with pain. Life is too short!!!!! There, I’ve said my peace! Love you all! Thank you for your prayers, and keep them coming for complete recovery.

Christmas Celebrations

We're not having the best luck with our internet connection when it comes to blogspot apparently, but I refuse to give up. Mom just got internet on her computer at work, so I'll take the time to do this...(love ya Mom!) (Dad, you too!) :) We had three Christmas celebrations this year, as usual. We had Christmas Eve with my Dad's side of the family at my brother and sister-in-laws house this year. It was so awesome to have EVERYONE there this year!!! I wish we could have gotten a whole family shot, but with 8 grandkids (7 being 3 and under) the night was a little full and hectic and no one thought of it at the time, bummer! This is my precious Grandpa and Grandma who I am so incredibly thankful they were both here to celebrate another Christmas. (My Grandpa had 5 bypass surgery in Nov. 2006 and we nearly lost him, so every holiday is a gift with him)My Aunt Ronda had two girls, and now both of her girls have two girls (Abby doesn't like posing for pictures right now. She's not in the pic) At least Lilly will have some girls to play with on this side of the family :) Hanging out before dinner... After we ate, "Santa" made a guest appearance. It was so much fun seeing more of the grandkids get in on the action this year. Ben, of course, greeted Santa at the door. This was the look on Braden's face when he saw Santa. He wasn't too sure what to think. As soon as he found me he clung onto me for dear life, cried for a few seconds and then just watched cautiously for a few minutes. Ben was SOOOOOOO excited to see Santa this year and talked about it for weeks beforehand. He's been Santa's helper since he was old enough to walk. After "Santa" gave Braden a "choo-choo" work belt (which he wore proudly for much of the evening) he warmed up to him.When Lilly saw Santa was handing out gifts, she warmed up to him too and even sat right beside him. ;)Ben's an old pro at sitting on Santa's lap. It was so funny at the end of the night, he was talking to my Uncle Mike and told him that his voice sounds just like "Santa's" voice. Uncle Mike said, "Oh, really? You think so, huh??" Then I chimed in, "Maybe Uncle Mike is related to Santa somehow." We all laughed and changed the subject real quick. I think Ben knows, but he doesn't really want to admit it to himself. He likes believing in him as much as we like watching him believe in him. It's fun. I think he'll have almost as much fun with it though when he does know but keeps it a secret from the younger ones b/c he loves knowing things that other people don't know. Braden with his "choo-choo" belt.

While we were opening gifts, Braden found the dessert table and kept disappearing into the other room when I wasn't looking and coming out with something new to snack on...can you tell?

Andy didn't get there until midway through dinner. We had a candlelight service at our church, and he went to help out with that.

Braden is very ANTI-picture taking this year. He does NOT want to pose! We just took what we could get. Luckily Ben is actually doing very well with photo taking right now so at least we get one smiling.

CHRISTMAS DAY

Again, not liking the photo taking--if it's not Braden's idea, it's not happening without a fight.

This was Christmas Day at our house. We usually spend Christmas Day with Andy's extended side of the family, but since his Uncle Ray's death, it's been a little hard on the family. We originally thought they weren't going to do anything for Christmas, but at the last minute called and invited us. Well, Andy had already invited his Mom, Dad, Sister and brother-in-law over to spend lunch with us, so we kept that plan. We felt bad, but everyone agreed that it was already planned so we just did it this way for this year. We had sandwiches and the kids had fun catching up and playing together. We so rarely get to see Sammie and Sarah, so they always have a lot of catching up to do with Ben and Braden. All the grandkids. Our little picture hater, yea! He'll laugh at this someday. Ah ha!!! Caught him off guard when he was coming out of Ben's room. There's that cute smile! Here he is with my niece, Sammie. We had to trick Braden into this one. He was playing with his "new" train set and we had the other three kids go sit around him and we snapped a few pics real quick. It was like a circus! After we ate and opened presents, it was such a gorgeous day that we went outside and played. Andy, Dave, Sammie, Ben and Sarah played catch with a football for a while, then shot some hoops in Ben's basketball goal. Braden got a little nap while we were outside. CHRISTMAS NIGHT As soon as Maggie, Dave and the girls left, we headed over to my parents house for our final celebration of the year. Jeremy, Sheila, Lilly and Isaiah. Isaiah wasn't into posing for pics either. It must be an age thing since Braden and Isaiah are only 2 weeks apart. Our little Princess Lillian did great though! My Mom and the two youngest.

It was fun this year seeing all the kids getting into the spirit of opening presents (the little ones didn't do much last year.) It was so funny to see Braden and Isaiah fighting over the nerf balls that they got. Braden's new word, "MINE," was used quite frequently throughout the night! We had to separate them a few times. They'll learn... I guess Braden decided that if he sat on his ball, Isaiah couldn't get to it. :) ...so funny! And it looks like Isaiah is protecting his too. Little stinkers! Ben got a ton of fun stuff for Christmas including this Army radio and some walkie talkies that he has used a LOT since Christmas already! "Princess Lillian" got a new Dora table and chairs set which she was very proud of! Braden was very excited about his new "Choo-choo busssssss" that Grandpa is helping him open in this photo.

Ahhh, Braden and Isaiah finally found something they could play together without fighting--how nice. Ironically enough though, this was taken after they opened all their gifts and this wasn't even a Christmas present of either of theirs. Go figure! Why do we even bother at this age. HA! My cute little nephew, Isaiah.

We have quite the story to tell about this Christmas and Isaiah this year. On Christmas Eve he began a fit of coughing and throwing up towards the end of the night and after about 30 minutes of it, Jer and Sheila took him to Children's Mercy Hospital. He apparently had had an allergic reaction to a tiny bite of something that had peanut butter in it. His sister, Lilly, is allergic to peanuts, but they didn't know if he was yet or not......well, apparently worse than Lilly. The three of them spent Christmas Eve night in the hospital because the epi-shot, and breathing treatments didn't clear him up immediately, so they kept him and did more breathing treatments and intravenous shots of steroid antibiotics and benadryl (I think I got that right?) Anyway, we were all pretty worried about him for a while, but he was just as chipper as could be Christmas night after a whirlwind 20 hours. Needless to say, there will be no peanuts within reaching distance of those two in any of our houses for a very long time! Poor little guy!Just as we were all getting ready to go home, Braden and Lilly found Grandma's "bear bench" and decided to take a load off. I happened to come downstairs just in the nick of time to catch these adorable pics of them together. That'll be a classic, i'm sure. And this one too. Braden and Isaiah gaze out into the night. I wonder what they're thinking....

:)