Continued Progress

Day 5 of Rehab, and we continue to be so grateful for the astonishing improvement.  Steve's therapists are somewhat agast:  "We tell you to do something, and you do it!"  Steve scratches his head ... "Well, you told me to do it... so I did it..."  In other words, Steve is focused and driven, trusts his therapists and lets them guide him through literally each step.

To answer some of the FAQ's...
Because of the location of the fracture, Steve has no muscle control on his calves, his hamstrings, his ankles, feet and glutes.  His feet have only tingling sensation right now.  His quads are strong, so he is using his quads a great deal to move.  We anticipate that slowly those muscles will begin to return, but nerve regrowth takes a very long time.

The therapists are breaking down the mechanics of walking, and exercising each isolated bit of walking.  There is muscle memory there, and going through the motions "wakes up" the nerves that remain intact.

He has back pain from the injury, but at present it is manageable with the medications he's on.  He has pain in the incisions as well.  We believe he will get the staples out in the next week.  His feet are painful because they are in a constant state of pins-and-needles, and it feels like his feet are always immersed in ice water.

Steve's progress has surprised even his therapists.  They did not anticipate that he would be doing so well so quickly.  I am preparing my emotions for some dips and plateaus, but regardless, this is all extremely promising.

I got to go to church this morning, and Steve got to participate via Skype!  It was fun to glance back at the a/v booth and see Steve listening.  It was very encouraging to me!  The kids had a tough time at church.  Søren is supposed to be transitioning into the Kindergarten class, and just isn't really ready for it.  Lucy has been sitting restlessly with us lately in church, and neither of them are at a comfortable place right now.  You can pray for me as I figure out how to care for them at church.  Christi Watson took them outside for me so I could stay today, and it just fed my soul to be there with my church family, giving glory to God.

My parents left this morning, and all of us seemed to feel it all catching up with us.  We were all tired and/or cranky in turns.  We realize this is part of the process, so we are just letting today be today, making allowances for ourselves, and making the goal for the day to rest well.  God can even work through my crankiness.  This is perhaps the time when it is most important for me to cling to God, when the crisis has passed and the long plodding begins.  He is faithful in all things.