Benjamin - Three Weeks After the Accident - Update

In a couple of hours, it will mark three weeks following Benjamin's "great fall."  Fortunately, all the king's horses and all the king's men (and women) were able to put him back together again.  Praise be to God!  We still don't know fully what limitations he'll have, but we feel so blessed that he has made as much progress as he has.  This afternoon after church, we drove from Jennings to Lake Charles to visit him.  We brought a large Tony's Pizza, and he wolfed it down.  It's only a 35 minute drive and that allows us to spend most of the day with him each day.  

Normally I am able to get to his room around 11 AM.  I go and watch him in his physical and occupational therapy sessions for a while then I go back to his room where I work until he comes back and we have lunch together.  Then he naps and they wake him up at around 1 PM and he goes back for more therapy.  I'll do more computer work and then head home.  Tricia comes to the hospital and is there when he gets out of therapy and she'll stay with him until bedtime.  Then she comes back home.

If all goes as planned, Benjamin will be released this Friday to come home.  What they've been able to do with him in this short time is nothing short of miraculous.  We're so impressed.  He is making improvements day by day, and I think he is proud of the progress he's made so far.  To be honest, he's ready to come home.  He tells me he's tired of being asleep and being awakened to have his vitals taken at all hours.  He's tired of being awakened at 4:30 AM to get dressed for the day.  He also tells me he wants to sleep in his own bed.  He's just tired altogether.

Benjamin and Tricia

We've tried to encourage him to push through it for one more week - five more days, really.  We tell him that if he went home now, he'd miss out on valuable therapy time that would slow or limit the success of his recovery.  I've talked to the wonderful staff here, and they all assure me that he's doing great and that what he's feeling is normal.  I don't want his discouragement to hamstring his continued progress.  Please pray that he'll power on through this week and finish strong.

This past week they worked on building stamina in being able to stand on his load-bearing leg.  They also worked on going from a lying position to a sitting position without help, swinging his legs over the side of the bed, putting his back brace on/on by himself, going from a sitting position to a standing position with a walker. They even worked on getting him into and out of a car!  They have a Volkswagen sedan up on the second floor (I wonder how they got it up here) and have been working on this.  He'll leave in a car this Friday, so by then he'll be ready.  They have been doing an electric shock therapy on his right leg.  I know that's not the right name for it!  They are trying to stimulate the nerves so that he regains the feeling in the sole of his right foot.  He's starting to feel tingling.  They say that's a good thing.  The nerves appear to be 'waking up' in his foot.  His right hand/fingers/arm is still asleep.  They have been working with him in typing exercises.  We're praying that in time the feeling comes back.

Although he and his roommates rent a house in Lake Charles, he'll come home to Jennings for a while.  He will continue to get rehab, but it will be only three times a week and will be out-patient.  Benjamin will have appointments with his neurosurgeon and orthopedic surgeon in Lafayette.  The next big step will be getting clearance for his right leg to be load bearing.  Then rehab will ramp up in earnest.

Speaking of ramps...  Some wonderful and thoughtful friends of ours dropped off a ramp that they built in order to make our home wheelchair accessible!  I'm telling you, we have been overwhelmed with the prayers, compassion, and generosity of so many people.  I don't know how people make it through the tragedies of life that don't know the Lord and that don't have a wonderful family, friend and neighbor support system.

This photo doesn't show it, but later I put the "Home Sweet Home" door mat at the end to welcome him home at the end of the week.

The ramp was key to getting him into and out of the house and will be instrumental in getting him to rehab.  On a related note, our fall garden progress is three weeks behind.  The ramp will help get Benjamin outside.  He needs some sunshine, and I'm working on designing an apparatus that will hook a hoe or some type of cultivator to the back of his wheelchair so that he can help me get the fall garden crop in with quickness.  (I kid, I kid!)

Overall, a great week and a great report.  I look forward to telling you more good news as we get it.  We love you all and appreciate your faithful prayers.  Praise God from Whom all Blessings Flow!