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By admin,



Longing for spring. Please pray for Ian’s energy and for therapy.

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By admin,

again i need to apologize for not keeping the blog up very well. there is nothing too new to report. ian had some testing done in pittsburgh today that went well. this weekend i’ll start moving into our new house, plus we’re running a 5k for brain cancer research in DC on Sunday.

Almost exactly four months until we get married. it’s going fast, but at the same time i feel like we’ve been engaged forever. still praying that ian will be walking and standing at our wedding, but trying not to put my hope in that.
thank you for praying. please continue to pray for ian’s memory and that he would initiate conversation.
i&l

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Ungratefulness, Part 2

By admin,

This post is titled Part 2 because I know that very recently I had a similar one titled “Ungratefulness.” Shocking- I’m still ungrateful.

I had a particularly frustrating day today, where everything from adjusting to full-time work, to finding a back-up wedding site, to paying my first round of bills was mounting up. And it was mounting up on only me because Ian can’t do those things. When Ian and I first got to the new house tonight for dinner, I kept finding myself angry or annoyed at him because of his brain injury. I had a million things to do and was bitter at him that he wasn’t able to help me with any of it.
But then we took a walk (my only way of keeping Ian around after he said he was bored and wanted to go home), and even as we were walking away from the house I really felt like God was going to teach me something on that walk..
I was convicted about 1,000 times on our walk because of things Ian shared with me but also was freshly encouraged by the idea of mercy.
I remember when one of my greatest prayers was that Ian would be able to speak to me about his feelings for me. I didn’t question whether or not he still loved me, but I just wanted to hear it. I wanted to hear him thank me for giving him his medicine or give me a reason of why he likes being with me.
Ian shared so much with me tonight and encouraged me immensely in our decision to get married. As he was sharing his thoughts, I was freshly reminded of how I was witnessing an answered prayer. A prayer that, in that moment, I had forgotten I had ever prayed. It seems as though as soon as Ian regained his speech and started being able to do things like sharing his feelings with me, I all of a sudden moved on to the next thing that I wanted to see happen in him. But God brought me back to mercy tonight. I will forget again and again and again all of the answered prayers. I will continue to forget the gospel when I should be applying it. I will give in again and again to anger with Ian because of his disabilities. But there is mercy. God is rich in mercy. I know that He will bring moments, even brief, of refreshment and encouragement. I know God will give Ian and I great peaks together, even while we are in a very deep valley.
We are so grateful for mercy.
Larissa

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By admin,


Ian wanted me to write a post to update you on his progress. Ian’s really doing well with his initiation and his memory. Also, he’s showing huge signs of progress with his cognitive awareness.

Ian asked for prayer for our marriage- specifically for our communication.
216 days until our wedding!!
Thank you
I&L

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Coming Home

By admin,

We met with Ian’s therapy team today at The Children’s Institute, and despite his condition (still “a solid 3” out of a possible 8 on the coma scale) they set a goal for discharge of 8-10 weeks from today (1-26-7) assuming no unexpected setbacks in that time. Since all of his medical issues are slowly being addressed, they believe that the familiar surroundings of home and family would be a better context than isolation in an infectious disease room at the hospital. Their concern is that he could have a kind of “ICU psychosis,” an inexact term they used to describe a tendency they’ve noticed in patients like Ian isolated in an infectious disease room away from roommates and other stimuli that would be common in everyday life. They believe he might make more progress neurologically (i.e. waking up) at home.

Ian can’t go into his old room upstairs because of his injuries. To accomodate him, we believe at this point that the best choice would be to build an addition onto the back of our house with a design some have called a mother-in-law suite (a big bedroom and a big bathroom with an exterior entrance). We would then fill the room with all the familiar furnishings from his old room.

Pray for Ian.

Steve

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The Board of Re-Education

By admin,


Several people have asked about the standing “box” or standing “board” that the therapists have been using with Ian. It’s actually less of a box and more of a board that tilts and is on wheels. Imagine a 4’x8′ sheet of plywood that pivots like a see-saw and can be locked at any angle. The board has straps to hold him on it, and the whole contraption is on wheels.

The purpose of the board is to re-orient him to the upright position. He’s been in a prone position for the most part for over three months, and his body thinks that’s normal now. Getting him upright again will require a gradual re-education. During the few times he’s been in the standing box, he’s been at about a 75 degree angle. For those of you who weren’t math majors in college we all walk at a 90 degree angle, so he’s just a little tilted back. He doesn’t like being in it, though. The nursing staff were laughing, apparently, when they put him in his wheelchair from the standing board, because Ian let out a long heavy sigh as if to say, “finally, I’m out of that torture board.”

With all this activity in various therapy sessions, he’s often pretty worn out. In the past, we’ve wanted to provide as much stimulation for him as possible to wake him up. But, if you visit these days, don’t worry about trying to wake him up. If you visit and he’s asleep, let him sleep; he’s probably experienced plenty of stimulation during the day. The next day will likely bring just as much stimulation, so he needs to rest up.

Thanks for praying….

Steve

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I think we wore him out

By admin,

Today, Ian was moving his shoulder a lot as if he was trying to figure out how that arm thing worked. He got it a few times, too, lifting it in the air when we asked him. He moves his fingers and toes and squeezes Larissa’s hand. We’ve been noticing Ian moving a lot. The medical people remain suspicious, though, and from their experience it’s probably appropriate. There was a point today when it seemed really obvious to us that he was just worn out from all the activity. It was as though he just went back to sleep. He blinks pretty regularly normally, but when he was “asleep” he wasn’t even doing that.

Mary recorded our family, especially Lydia, on a small cassette player and then left the player and the tape in the room for us to play over and over again for him. It could be our imagination, but I think he really likes listening to it.

I’m praying that God would heal Ian, and, as a father, I don’t care whether it comes through a sudden miracle or if it’s through a gradual healing process. I just want my son well. So, I’m praying for a miracle, and I’m praying for smaller steps of healing. Please pray for a miracle. Pray with me, also, that Ian would respond to the medical staff on command and stop when they tell him to stop. Their acknowledgement that Ian is responding will significantly affect which rehab we can get him into. If he’s responding, we’re more likely to get him into a more aggressive program. Also, pray that the strength of Ian’s normal cough would grow. A good solid cough regularly would lead them to take the trach out.

So many are praying…thank you.

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Race for Hop D.C.

By admin,

Several of us will be running the the Race for Hope again in D.C. in May. Ian will be coming this year too! If you want to join our team, click here. We’re doing this in honor of Steve.

Thanks, as always.

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