Woo D Woo!!!

Sorry I havent updated in a week. I took a break and went with my Mom, Dad, Sister, and Roo up to see my other Sister and celebrate our niece turning two!!! It was fun. Little Rock is actually very pretty, however I dont think Arkansas agreed with my allergies in the slightest. Now on to the crazy important news. J WALKED!!! He is using the parallel bars and they lock one leg while he swings the other but he is up and walking. Today he made it three "laps" on the bars. They want him proficient on his walker before they send him home. He needs to be able to get around the house walking. Our house is just not built for a wheelchair. He could get in the door and move around the house but the wheelchair will not fit through the door to our bathroom. Ronan and I went up today and ate lunch with him. He is looking so much better. Most of the water weight is off! He is left with a ton of stretch marks on his belly. I told that was okay, he could match me. I had Ronan and he had a water baby! We are very excited and I am so proud of him. He has come a long way in a very short time. Tomorrow we should be finding out if we get to keep the discharge date of this Friday (which is October 1st by the way...where did September go?) I hope we do. We all miss him and want him home. I got the paperwork to get him a handicap placard and the physician signed the waiver for the compassion clause for filing for SSD/SSI that waives the six month waiting period. This is good news. When J gets out I have a couple family things planned like going to the pumpkin patch and making some yard stones. I think we might be celebrating mine and Jason's four year anniversary and Halloween early this year if he has to go back in for the second round of transplant. Oh well, no complaints here! I love me some candy!!! Oh go check out my sisters' and my ETSY store. Go to google type in buttonworks designs and we should be number one on the search!!!! Prayers Welcomed!!! Kimmy

Will the real Jason please stand up?

And HE DID!!!!! Yesterday, Jason stood up for the first time in 35 days. I am so proud of him. He stood up and down a few times with help for the physical therapist. They are working him really hard using different machines down in the gym. He is really improving quickly. I am so excited I'm giddy. They are actually talking of a discharge date for next Friday!!!!! Jason is very happy. I went to Sweet Adelines on Monday and it felt so good to take some me time. Also they are kind of like my therapist so I really needed a visit. Ronan is doing okay. His stuttering is getting more noticable. He is pinching, hitting, and biting. Its hard to tell if this is an age thing or if he is acting out from stress. He also occasionally has random crying outbursts. They are sad, he looks as if his whole little world has fallen apart. Which in a way I suppose it has. I am looking into options for therapy for him but its alittle difficult because of his age. We'll just keep loving him! Prayer request...That Jason continues to improve and for me to have patience! Prayers Welcomed. Kimmy

And he's up....well 80% at least!

They moved Jason to the rehab floor and he is doing grreeeat! (<--- Tony the Tiger voice) He is getting up and dressed every morning, doing physical therapy, group therapy, and then occupational therapy. They have respiration therapist coming in like 3 times a day to help keep his lungs open. He is doing so good on this floor. Unfortunately he will be in at least next week and hopefully released the next week. Physical therapy got him on his feet and about 80% of the way standing. This is very exciting to all of us and even more so to J, he hasn't been able to walk in over a month! You can hear the difference in his voice and its a good thing to hear. By request I made him some sheppards pie and took it up to him on Thursday. I had planned to stay the night however there was no room in his room. I fixed him a plate (he ate 2 slices) and then let him rest and went home. The really good part of this story is that he rolled himself in the wheelchair to the little kitchen on the floor and got himself some left overs today for lunch!!! I am so proud of him I could just fill up an entire page with exclaimation points!!!!!!!! But I wont because that would be annoying for you all. Roo and I are going to take something different up to have dinner with him tomorrow. I think Pumpkin Pasta is on the menu.
On a completely different note my sisters' and I have finally opened an ETSY store. For those not in the know ETSY is a commerce website alot like EBAy but only features handmade and vintage items. Go check out our store http://www.etsy.com/shop/buttonworksdesigns. Let us know what you think or even better Buy something!!!

That was my commercial. I am in a much better mood now that Jason is in a better mood. Here's to getting him up and moving so we can get going on the next phase of things. Prayers Welcomed! Kimmy

Moving floors........

Alright guys... I have been insanely busy trying to get all the ducks in a row for Jason to come home. Unfortunately, it will not be this week :(. However, they are moving him to the Rehabilitation floor. Here he will three hours of physical and occupational therapy a day along with nurses who will help do therapy at other times. I am so excited by this. I finally saw him do some therapy today and it is so hard watching how much he struggles to do the simplest things that I take for granted. I literally watch the strength drain out of him when he moved from the bed to the wheelchair. On the other hand I am so proud of how determined he is. He is making progress everyday. They are switching him over to all oral medications he is eating and drinking however he needs to do more of both. Only time J has ever been told to eat more! We got the carpets steam cleaned, the tile floors clean, and the air ducts cleaned. Our house looks great, J wont even recognize it when he comes home. I took a look at his blood work today and everything is looking very good. He is pretty much back to where he was before the 4 hour nose bleed on Friday. I hope he gets to come home soon. Occupational therapy is working with him really hard to get him whatever equipment he needs to help with daily living. This is great, some his new gear my Dad wants! Hopefully when this is all said and done J can give it to him with a smile on his face! Prayers Welcomed! Kimmy

Rollin, Rollin, Rollin...........

Alright, so for those on facebook know that yesterday Jason made it from his bed to the wheelchair!!! He did a lap around the nursing pod. Wahoo. He did it again today and even started pulling himself along with his feet. Hopefully there will be a discharge date of next week. Ronan and I are so ready for him to be home. His spirits are lifting and Im sure that has to do with him being able to get around a bit more. As for the home front myself and my family are working on decluttering, reorgainzing the house. That is almost complete, then its on to the "deep cleaning". I only have til MOnday to get this done because the steam cleaner/air duct/ tile cleaner people will be coming. Nothing makes me more productive than the last minute! Also to top everything off, the master cylinder and slave cylinder have decided to caput in my car. Thats car talk for my clutch goes to the floor and wont come back up and it wont come out of neutral. The good news is that when I took it in apparently there was a recall item on it and that will be fixed and of course they kindly remind you that the timing belt needed to be changed at 90000. Oh well what can you do. However I will vent for just a second. Mr. Service counter guy is it really necessary to act like I dont know anything about cars? Here is how the converstation went. Daddy and I were sweating because we had to tow the car to the dealership and well Daddy's back was hurting him so my one legged gimpiness got on the ground to hook up the cars. When we got to the dealership one of the service guys told my Dad that there was water in the fridge. Daddy goes to get us one. While this is happening Mr. Service Counter guy asks me whats wrong with my car. I tell him that the clutch decompresses to the floorboard and wont come back up unless you pick it up and that the car will not shift out of neutral. His reply "Is it a standard or automatic?" Im laughing on the inside because in automatics one doesnt decompress the clutch themself. But I reply " Standard." He looks at me bewildered and says "You drive a standard?" To which I reply " Oh no I cant. Maybe thats whats wrong with it." Unfortunately he was one of those guys who did not quite cotton on to my sarcasm. The car is in the shop and they are going to fix it I suppose that is all that really matters. Then after this is fixed I can take it to go get the body work done from the wreck we had in April! Oh the fun of automobiles. Funny Ronan story, we were watching cartoons and the character on TV wanted to take their little sister back to the "baby store". Ronan then asked me if he could go to the baby store, he wants a little sister. My reply, "YOu'll have to share your toys with her." He says "No, I dont want to go then." I love my lil guy. I go up to see Jason tomorrow,then its back home on Saturday to clean! Continued prayers for Jason's improvement. Prayers Welcomed! Kimmy

Because one mobility impaired person in the family is not enough...

We had a fantastic garage sale! Thank you Austinites!!! Thank you for the donation of items and for coming and buying. Also a huge thanks to Uncle Kenny and gang for the selling hotdogs and keeping the workers fed. The weather on Saturday was perfect, could not have planned for better. So as for the title. Well for those who actually know me, know how entirely graceful I am so it might come as a big surprise that I did a faceplant in the parking lot. Shocking I know. So I now have a very sprained ankle ( it comes with its own multicolored decorations) and a bruised knee. To top that off, when I thought I was in the shade, I was apparently roasting the inside of my leg. I have a wonderful air brace shaped burn line and have sunburned the leg so bad it has blistered. Go me! Its not comfortable in the slightest.
Now on to Jason. I went and saw him this afternoon ( I am staying at home a bit more to get the house ready for when he can come home). He looks so much better, he sounds like Jason, however his hands are peeling from the chemo and it looks really bizarre. He is still not up and walking yet but he is sitting more on the side of the bed. I think that physical therapy needs to come in twice a day to work with him. Im going to email and find out if this is possible. He is very ready to come home and this is what is holding him back. He is eating but unfortunately everything he eats does not taste the way its supposed to. I brought him in a slice of chocolate cream pie , he took one bite and said it tasted like charcoal. Of course it didnt but thats how off his tastes buds are. Although one does wonder when he has tasted charcoal. I plan on staying home tomorrow and working on the house. Everything takes 5 times longer because of the ankle. Jason has requested I bring him homemade meatloaf, mash potatoes, and Italian Wedding Soup. I suppose I will be taking those up on Thursday.
Ronan is awesome! Its great because you are beginning to be able to have more of a conversation with him. At the garage sale he was telling people hello and just having a ball. Thats about all for now. Today's prayer requests is for added physical therapy for Jason to help him be able to rebuild strength faster. Prayers Welcomed!!! Kimmy

Not feeling creative at the moment....

Today was September 1. Jason has now been in the hospital for 3 weeks. Wow...so much has happened. The good news is he ate about a 1/3 of a bowl of cream of wheat at breakfast and a bowl of mac and cheese at dinner. Thats more food than he has had in the past 15 or so days. Physical therapy came in and did some strength training on his legs and arms. Occupational therapy came in and made him bathe as much of himself as he could. He needs to start asserting some independence. Tomorrow they will put him on the tilt table again. I asked him after he got snippy with me about doing his breathing exercises if he really thought he was trying his hardest at getting up and going. At first he said he did , then he said no that he could try harder. We had a talk today and I told him that the only thing keeping him here now was himself. That I couldnt make him walk, eat, and drink. I would do if for him in a sec if I could but this stretch is all about determination. I think tomorrow he will try to push himself a little more. I can understand how easy it is to get down when you are stuck in the same room for all this time. I suppose its just one of those days for him. On the other hand he got to see Ronan yesterday and both were very happy about that. Ronan was cutie as usual giving hugs and blowing kisses to the nurses as he left the floor. Tomorrow I am going up to Austin for a few days to help with the benefit garage sale. I feel really guilty leaving J, but everyone keeps assuring me it's okay to leave him here. I suppose we both are just ready to be out of the hospital. Dont fret, Im not as down as this post sounds, just as usual I have a lot of stuff on my mind. Prayers Welcomed! Kimmy