Seven Months

Seven months already!  I do feel like life is about as close to "normal" as we could hope for at the moment. The only real thing left for Jason to do in terms of independent living is get back behind the wheel of a car. Hopefully, we'll make some progress with purchasing a new car in the next month or two (for those interested, the current front runners are...the Mini Countryman, Infiniti EX, and Audi A3).  It should only take a few hours to get the hand controls installed and then, once he re-passes his driving test, we'll be good to go.  So, without further ado, here's where we're at seven months out...

Mobility:  Great.  He's excellent at maneuvering, and loves doing wheelies all over the place.  He's begun practicing a bit more with going down curbs in the last few days (We're a little scarred from a previous attempts at curbs that ended with him lying flat on the pavement in a parking garage...)

Pain: The only pain he has is around the scar from his surgery, presumably from the rods that were placed in to stabilize his spine.  This isn't an everyday occurrence, and we think it's exacerbated by the seatback on his wheelchair, which, fingers crossed, will be replaced on Monday.

Exercise and Therapy: Six hours per week at SCI-FIT.  He also got a referral to return to PT to begin work with braces.  I'll be surprised, though, if that has started in the next month (have to go to PT, get evaluated, get fitted, get insurance approval, wait for braces to be made and delivered, and THEN he gets to start work...)

Daily Life Activities:  Fully independent, minus the driving.  I'm still a bit of a chauffeur (though the Google shuttle has saved me considerable amounts of time).

Sensation/Motor Control: Nothing too much new here, though lots of smaller things coming online (or, more accurately, things that he has felt before are getting stronger).

Biggest Problem Area: Having the patience to wait on medical companies/doctors...ugh.  It's taken almost two months to get a new wheelchair back...and that's with us paying out of pocket!

Biggest Success: Having a great check-up with his doctor yesterday at Santa Clara.  The resident who met with him was very surprised by all he's gotten back, and even asked what we needed them for since we were doing so well on our own :)

In the next month, we hope to... seriously get a new chair back!  And make some progress with the braces.

Love you all,

Ashley