Day 544 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends,

Grayson was back to slow motion again today and clearly not as alert as the last several days. He generally had trouble initiating and responding to directions. His speech was quite muted and he was back to scratching his head off and on all day. He was edgy and there seemed to be neurological "noise" going on in him.

It really makes us wonder what goes on in his body and mind to have him simply wake up either "on" or "off" each day.

We continue to work on building muscle and brain pathways and we continue to look for the moments of opportunity that will meet his needs that particular day.

What a ride life is.

P.S. Happy Birthday and love to my husband and friend.

Regina

Technical Update – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

I apologize for the delay in the most recent blog posting. For the first time in 18 months, the Blogger site was down for updates for almost 24 hours. It appears that we are back to business as usual now!

Pax!

Brant

Day 543 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends,

Grayson and I spent a wonderful day together today. As Brant mentioned yesterday, Grayson has had several days in a row noticeably more alert. Most people would probably not even notice a difference but when you live in slow motion and measure progress in inches, you notice.

For example, many of you know Grayson is still incontinent. We don't mention it much, but it is a challenging part of life. As with all of his other routines, we use repetition to move him more toward independence. We cue him to use the restroom hourly during his waking hours and break the routine into small steps from start to finish. Sometimes he needs more cueing than other times but he is definitely better than a year ago.

Grayson will stand up and move toward the restroom whenever we remind him. Today was different. At one point Grayson stood up on his own, walked to the restroom, and successfully completed most of the routine. This is a BIG DEAL! Initiation is a major step forward.

I thank God for the inches, for the alertness, and for the opportunity to be here to celebrate and encourage him.

Grace and peace,

Regina

Day 542 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

Grayson was alert and "with it" one more day. The day started with a bit of a scare. Grayson awoke with quite a nosebleed and while that would normally be of little concern, he is on blood thinners due to clotting concerns after his recent arrhythmia. We were able to get it under control after 20 minutes or so. Not the way we like to start our days! Fortunately everything is washable.

He was a bit more verbal than usual today. This evening he helped me put away items from our ski trip (about time isn't it!). We also started to summer-ize our equipment and pack it away for the next 10 months. We are a few loads of laundry away from putting it all away, but we are a lot closer to storage!

Pax!

Brant

Day 541 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

Grayson was bright and alert all day! Regina spent time working with Grayson this morning and he was talking more than he has been in a while. Mind you that isn't very much, but words are words! After I finished work this evening, Grayson and I went on our regular walk – a one-mile round-trip up hill to the golf course and back.

Austin and Xixi came by and joined us for dinner this evening and we were delighted to have a house full of family once again this week.

Home therapy may not be as good as the clinic, but so far we are doing OK. We just need to find someone else that we can depend on to do it while we are away from home!

Pax!

Brant

Day 540 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

Today was a slow starter – I think that we were all still recovering from the Mother's Day celebration yesterday!

Today was the start of Grayson's first full week at home – no clinical therapies anymore, and no caregiver. Life will be a bit of a challenge as we figure our way through this current dilemma. In the meantime, Grayson is in good spirits and probably loves the fact that no one is pushing him to get on the treadmill or to work too hard on expressing himself verbally!

Austin and Xixi came by for a bit then left Austin here while she went and tutored a student. Grayson, Austin and I piled in to the car to get our skis "summer-ized" – a tune up and storage wax for the off season. We grabbed some food at the market and had a nice meal at home until Austin had to leave.

Pax!

Brant

Day 539 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

Today was a wonderful day! Grayson, Lauren, Regina and I enjoyed a wonderful church service this morning then this evening we were surrounded with all of our kids (including Xixi) as well as Rita and Richard.

Family time together is special time. As our kids grow older these moments become rarer and even more precious.

What a wonderful Mother's Day!

Pax!

Brant