Thursday, October 30, 2008

keep rollin....

WHEN LIFE GETS TOO HARD TO STAND...... KEEP ON ROLLIN!!!

I LOVE YOU RICK!!!

Friday, October 24, 2008

count your many blessings....

Well sometimes we get so caught up in waiting and finding our big miracle, that we forget to count the blessings we get every day. But lately we've had so many blessings that I need to write and say how blessed we are. On my very last day of work I was feeling pretty stressed and worried and sad on my way home from work. I just didn't know what we'd do for money and I didn't know what kind of job would hire me only three days a week and for only a couple hours because I need to be home with Rick. Then I found out about a home health and hospice place in Salina that was interested in hiring me. They found out that our branch went out of business. So the day I lost a job, another job became available. I went and had my interview today and I got the job and I start Monday. I'll get paid a little more and I get more patients. So that was a BIG blessing. We'll now be able to pay our bills! And while we're on that subject, we also got accepted for social security disability! Which I hear it's almost impossible to file for disability and have it all work out, but ours was way easy! We filed one day and we were excepted a short time later. So that's also a huge relief! We also get to keep our medicaid, we just have to pay a little more a month. But that means we'll still get reembursed for our gas to go to therapy. So those are three huge blessings all in a row!

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Fun Fall

So lately I'm just not very good with updating our blog. It's not that our lives aren't interesting, its just that I feel like I write the same thing every week. I don't want people to get bored with our blog so I keep putting it off thinking that I'll write when something huge happens. But I've come to the realization that I should write about all the little things that happen in our lives because everything, big and small, are blessings.

I love fall!!!!! I love this time of year. I know that most people do too, but I love the look of it, and the smell, and everything that goes along with it. I have to admit I wasn't too happy when it snowed a while ago though. I had to wake up before church and shovel our ramp before church. I told Rick that I would have no objections if he started walking before the next snow fall because I'm not one to go out there and shovel way early in the morning. Our ramp comes out the back of our house and it would be really bad if it got icy. So I'm not ready for the snow part, but the rest of it is wonderful. I'm trying to explore my crafty side lately, and for fall I'm trying to make some cute stuff. For anyone who knows me, I don't have a crafty bone in my body, but I'm trying to learn and bring that side out in me. So I would say I'll post pictures of my new projects but I can't make any promises till they turn out and I see how I do. So if anyone has any cute ideas for fall decorations that aren't to hard to make and don't involve any sewing let me know.

Well Rick's therapy is going great! I am so proud of how hard he works. I have more videos of his therapy but I'm going to wait till after this weeks therapy and get some more videos and then put them all together. I never thought about all the things that come along with having a spinal cord injury. To tell you the truth I never thought about a spinal cord injury ever before it happened to us. But a huge issue lately is Rick's temp. He gets cold so easy, and once he does get cold it takes so long for him to warm back up again. Rick always use to be so hot, so it's way weird to be the one that's asking him if we can turn the heat down. Your spinal cord controls your temp and since his is kinda messed up right now that's causing us alot of problems. So needless to say, I'm not excited for winter to hit till we get him back to normal. At therapy we've seen some people that have injured their spinal cord at the same level as Rick. One of them has got his hands back and all sorts of things back, and the there's one who has to use a power chair and can't transfer or do alot of things that Rick can do. And there's alot inbetween the two. But Rick is doing so awesome, and it's such a good feeling and knowledge to us that he'll just keep getting better. It's fun to look around and say, "Won't it be fun when you can do that!" But really from when Rick first started therapy to now, it's like a whole different person. So I guess we should just enjoy the time we have together and be grateful for our layed back lives right now because I'm sure before we know it we'll be so busy with jobs, school, kids and that whole package.

Well I'm sorry if my blog is kinda boring lately. But tuesday through thursday we're up in salt lake doing therapy, and the rest of the time we're trying to do therapy at home and just hanging out. I'm still on the hunt for a job that I can do at home and be with Rick. So if anyone out there has cute ideas for decorations or a job..... let me know!!

Sunday, October 5, 2008

therapy and taylorsville

Well it's been a pretty crazy week! I'll start with Rick's therapy. In this video he's doing a bike called a F.E.S. bike. They hook electrodes (not sure I spelled that right) on is legs. They put two on top of his thigh, two on the bottom and two on his butt. They hook him up to the bike and then his muscles get shocked and they move. His muscles last about 15 minutes and then the bike switches over to passive therapy, which means it stops shocking him and the motor in the bike just runs. It switches over because his muscles get fatigued. But the more he does it, the longer his muscles will go and the stronger they'll get. It's a really cool bike. Christopher Reeve's (superman) was actually doing this bike before he died, and from what I hear he was making great progress. Another video that's on there is a nustep bike. He moves it with his arms and it moves his legs. It's a great work out for him. And the other video is just him doing some sit ups. Therapy is going great!! We love it there! This last time we went they just sent him into the gym and got a workout plan. He was so sore the next few days. He is going to get so buff!! They work on his transfers all the time, and he's getting great at them. We've met so many amazing people there. It's so cool because so many people there have had spinal cord injuries and it's fun to talk to people that are in your same situation. There's people there that are higher injuries then Rick and lower. So it's neat to see how everyone does everything and all the different levels of spinal cord injuries. It makes us feel blessed because we meet so many people that have it harder than we do, and it always reminds us that no matter how hard we have it, someone has it harder and we should count our blessings.

Well after therapy on tuesday we drove home and I went to work on wednesday morning. When I got to work I found out that my home health company is going out of business! So that wasn't very good news! But hopefully I can find a job that works with therapy and being home with rick soon. After that we drove back to salt lake (well taylorsville) and went to my parents house. We haven't been there since Rick's accident, and it sure felt good to go there. I grew up in the same house my whole life and I was so excited to go stay. On Wednesday we just drove up there and just hung out at home that night. On Thursday we went to therapy in the morning and then went to the Provo hospital for some doctor's app. We had a wound care app. and they said how amazed they were how his wound looks. She said we must have been praying really hard, and I told her, "Oh believe me we have!" Hopefully we'll be done with his wound here in the next month. I am so happy and thankful every day that we didn't do that surgery and have him on bed rest for weeks and weeks! Then we went to his outpatient rehab doc just for a check up, and he said everything is good. Then we went and had x-rays for his neuro doc app the next day. On Friday we went to his neurosurgeon and waited in the waiting room for an hour!! People kept going in, and me and Rick continued to sit there, and sit there, and sit there. When we finally got in, his doc said, "Yep, everything looks good. You don't have to come see us anymore." And that was it!!! We waited for ever, for a 5 min app!!! I was so mad!! But at least everything is good. My cute little nephews came and stayed on Friday night, and they were cracking me up the whole time! In the video below, there's a video I took of my nephew Carter. Sorry it's so shakey, but I was laughing so hard I couldn't keep the camera still!! On Saturday we watched conference and headed out. I was so sad to leave because we had so much fun, and I just love my family so much! My parents sent us home with the best food ever! We're going to eat like kings for the next couple weeks. I wished we could have stayed longer, but I guess I'll have to wait till next time. It just feels so good to be with family. On Saturday night we went to our friends house and played poker. I kicked butt! Then Saturday we hung out with Rick's family and watched conference. We are so blessed for the wonderful families we have! So sorry for such a long post, but there's our week!