There is Sunshine in My Soul Today

There is Sunshine In My (Our) Soul – even if it is cloudy and rainy in Denver. We had a tornado watch yesterday. An announcement came over the hospital intercom that told everyone there was a tornado watch and if they received a notice of a warning, they would make the another announcement and all the patients would be moved into the hallway. Dean and I had run a couple of errands when they made the announcement and Lisa and Meredith were with Ryan. Lisa was a little nervous about the announcement, but Ryan and Meredith thought it would be kind of cool!!! Ryan said, “It would have been great to have a little excitement!” Luckily, it did not happen! It seems that the weather can be bad in one area of town, but nothing in another area. We didn’t see anything, no rain, no wind, nothing!!! Today we did get a thunder, lightening and hailstorm. Dean had to take me to pick up Ryan’s car and there were rivers of water running down the streets of Englewood! There were five or six cars stalled in intersections because the water was so deep and had flooded their engines. When I was driving back to the hospital, I saw six wrecks – believe it or not, the hospital seems to be the safest place in town! Occupational Therapy posts a calendar on the door each month to let the patients know what activities are scheduled for the month. Some of the activities have to be planned, scheduled, and approved before the patients can go depending on their level of injury and rehab progress. Some of the things they do are, Ice Cream Socials, new release movies, decorating tiles, attend Rockies baseball games, Air Ballooning, wheelchair tennis, fishing, outing at the mall (one of the guys at Red Mesa said if he had to go to the mall, he would shoot himself), canoeing, manicures, stained glass projects, and most anything else you can imagine. When they announced the decorative tiles class yesterday, Ryan’s eyes lit up and he asked if he could go!!! NOT!! We all had a good laugh! Actually, they do try to do a variety of activities to try to reach out to as many patients as possible. It is fascinating to see the effort that the hospital goes to in helping their patients adjust and get back into real life. Yesterday, as I was walking to the “apartment” (which is on site), several patients were outside having a summer evening picnic in a patio area that had a built in Bar-B-Que grill and shaded with lots of trees and flowers! I know Ryan will be glad when he is able to get outside more. He had his cuff down three times today for one hour each time. We had him read his e-mails, cards and anything else we could find!! He said it is hard to find something to talk about after not being able to talk for four weeks, the nurse said that girls would not have a problem!!! The RT said tomorrow they would leave the cuff down for two hours at a time and see if he is able to handle it. It is SO nice to hear his voice. He is doing more and more physical therapy and occupation therapy each day. I guess I did not know that physical therapy is from the waist down and occupation therapy is from the waist up. So, PT works with his legs and hips, and OT works with his arms, shoulders and neck. OT also deals with the emotional and physiological effects of the injury, trying to help him get back into life. Ryan will have to have his eyes checked, he usually wears glasses, but since the accident his glasses do not work for him. They probably will have to check his eyes a couple of times, to see if his vision changes over time. The change in his prescription could be from hitting his head, or from the spinal cord injury itself. If the change stems from the spinal cord injury, his eyes may return to where they were prior to the injury, only time will tell. Lisa has been up here this week, Dean left with her tonight to take her home. She is going to be off to BYU-I the end of June to start “her life”, so she needed to get home and get things ready to leave. She was a “highlight” for Ryan. She is so bubbly and fun to be around – I know she is going to miss me when she leaves home!!! Ryan sent one of his missionary companions an email tonight and told him he would see him at the October 2005 Mission Reunion! The missionary reunions are usually held the weekend of General Conference. I was thrilled to here him say (the cuff was down so we actually heard him say it!) he is planning to get out into the real world. I told him that we would make SURE he got there! I could not get this Hymn out of my mind today so I thought I would share it. Music is wonderful and can bring so much peace and comfort. There is Sunshine in My Soul Today There is sunshine in my soul today, More glorious and bright Than glows in any earthly sky, For Jesus is my light. [Chorus] Oh, there’s sunshine, blessed sunshine When the peaceful happy moments roll. When Jesus shows his smiling face, There is sunshine in the soul. There is music in my soul today, A carol to my King, And Jesus listening can hear The songs I cannot sing. There is springtime in my soul today, For when the Lord is near, The dove of peace sings in my heart, The flow’rs of grace appear. There is gladness in my soul today, And hope and praise and love, For blessings which he gives me now, For joys “laid up” above. Aunt Geralyn and Aunt Linda sent Ryan and the rest of us very nice e-mails, helping us to see the “forest for the trees” after our Family Counsel Wednesday. We have received many blessings in the last month, we have seen so many miracles already. Just the fact that Ryan is with us is a miracle. We continue to thank our Heavenly Father for all that he has given us, most importantly a wonderful family and awesome friends who continue to love and support us on this road to recovery. We pray that He will be with each of you and your families and that we may all come to know Him personally. Love, Dean, Terry and Ryan

Technical Difficulties

My Mom has been having problems with her computer. She has been trying to send out some emails, but don't know if they are being received. If they aren't received, please know that we love and appreciate all of you!!

Two Roads

Whew, we had the Family Conference – I don’t think we were quite ready for that!!! It was WAY too much for Ryan. Ryan’s doctor is on vacation this week, so the resident doctor, Dr. Gonzales, was there and showed us the results of the MRI and CAT scan. We were able to see where both the C1 and the C2 vertebrae were cracked and where the C2 vertebra had hit the spinal cord; luckily, the spinal cord was not severed. The doctor in Idaho Falls did a great job in resetting the spinal column; they told us today that it looked good and would heal over time. Ryan will have to wear the “halo” until the end of July in order for the two vertebrae to fuse together; which will eliminate the need for surgery – which as we all know is quite risky that close to the spinal cord. We talked a “little” bit about his breathing and lungs; the pulmonary doctor was not there. However, he came in earlier in the day and said Ryan’s lungs sounded very good! Later in the day his lungs sounded a little raspy, Ryan asked the RT if he could listen and she let him; he said, “That does sound raspy. Now I can hear what you are hearing”!! After we got done with the discussion of the MRI, CAT scan, and respiratory, “reality” hit!!! The head nurse led the discussion, or actually the “lecture” on catheter care, bladder management, urinary tract infection, digit bowel management, skin diseases, etc. etc. At this point, we (Ryan, Dean, Terry, Meredith and Lisa) got pretty quiet and somber. They continued!! Wheel chair needs, size, shape, (we didn’t talk about color – that’s where I would have jumped in!!), vehicle accessibility, home remodeling needs, insurance requirements, etc. etc. At this point, we were grey in the face and could not even look at them or each other – it was pretty overwhelming, to say the least. After being asked three or four times if we had any questions, and just sitting there nodding in the negative, the conference was adjourned!!! Dr. Gonzalez came up to me and kindly stated, “if you have any questions, please let me know, it is better to talk about it than hold it all in”. Lucky for him, I held it in – Niagara was about to flow! Poor guy!!! We left the room and went and sat on the bridge for a little bit – we could not say a word. After a bit, I tried to get Ryan to talk and he couldn’t – he didn’t know what to say. One of the tech’s saved the day and came and got Ryan to take him for some x-rays. The rest of us shed several tears and tried to cheer each other up!! When they brought Ryan back to his room, he slept for about four hours – the morning had done him in!! After he was awake for a bit, they deflated his cuff and the first thing he did was apologize to us for being in a bad mood earlier in the day!! We told him not to worry, we weren’t in too hot of moods either!! We reminded each other that the docs have to give us the facts for liability purposes – Dean reminded us all that we are traveling two roads – one is the medical and the other is the spiritual. We continue to pray for the strength to endure and for the blessings of our Heavenly Father to heal Ryan. After he ate a good meal, we played cards and watch the basketball game. We were in great spirits until the Suns lost!!! We love you all – it is great to hear from you. Love, Dean, Terry and Ryan