Hello again faithful family, friends, and followers. We so very much appreciate your faithfulness in following Joy’s journey even in the now “new normal” times of life. This past week has generally been very positive for Joy except for one afternoon/evening where sadness and discouragement over her perceived lack of progress and the long road ahead, got the better of her. But thankfully, that was contained to that one afternoon/evening.
The week started with Joy and another dear friend celebrating their August birthdays (Joy’s isn’t until the 30th) with a close group of friends who call themselves Women Aglow. Most of this dear group of 8 have know each other for over 30 years. While Joy has met with several individually, this was the first time she was able to meet with everyone for a celebration not only focused on a birthday, but the miracle of her healing journey. Through a labor of love Joy wrote each friend a card and gave each one some of her crocheted and knitted handiwork. She was nervous about how she would handle speaking to the group and all the emotion of the reunion, but she did very well. At one point in the middle of the celebration one of her friends texted me and said, “She’s speaking so eloquently and beautifully.” She was so pleased with the time with these dear friends who have been such faithful prayer warriors throughout this journey and have supported us in so many ways. We are thankful for them all. The next day, Joy was blessed to have one of these friends coach her on a crocheting project that she needed help with and again, once shown the basics, Joy was off to the races.
The balance of the week has included the trimmed down in person therapy schedule and of course our therapy homework for PT, OT, and Speech. Our walks continue to be a special part of each day and today we completed our first three mile walk. It’s not uncommon for us to walk three miles in a day spread over two of more walks, but this was the first time we did three miles all in one.
Joy’s reading has advanced by leaps and bounds, I am so proud of her. She had wanted to read the Psalms and after starting that wanted to also read the Gospel of John. I got her an NIrV translation of the Bible which is the entire Bible written at a level of third grade English. We work on Psalms in the morning and John in the evenings. She reads and, as needed, I help prompt her with starting sounds or pronunciations she is struggling with. Again, she is doing an excellent job. While Joy’s reading has advanced exponentially, she still struggles to identify or recognize things for which she only has verbal queues. So I continue to be very conscious of checking in with her when I am speaking or explaining something to make sure she’s actually understanding even if she is nodding her head in apparent agreement.
Your prayers are so appreciated for continued healing of her aphasia and apraxia, cognition and understanding, and of course our ongoing plea for miraculous healing of her upper right quadrant field of vision cut. We value your presence all the more as you persevere with us in this “new normal” phase of day to day life and incremental improvement. It means so much to us and we value each and every one of you more than we can say.
