Hello faithful family, friends, and followers. This week, while presenting some new challenges, was mostly characterized by wonderful times with family and friends and encouraging feedback. Both Joy and I had either in-person or phone call conversations with dear friends and Joy had additional calls with her mother who continues to do well. We enjoyed a special breakfast with Alyx and Ethan and two delightful dinners with friends that have been dear to us for many years, but who have been especially instrumental in Joy’s healing journey, although we only have pictures from one of them. On both occasions, having the opportunity to hear our friends observations of Joy’s dramatic healing and recovery and their expressions of the “joy” that, Joy, brings them was so heartwarming and affirming.
I’ve shared before about how I’ve found our time at Courage Kenny Rehabilitation inspiring, motivating, and encouraging, and this week offered yet another example. On Monday Joy and I were at her OT session and at a table near us was a young couple, probably in their 30’s, that appeared to be there for their intake session. He was the patient, either a stroke or brain injury survivor and his wife was there for support. While the age difference was obviously significant, the intense and earnest looks on their faces, their hanging on the therapist’s every word, their full engagement, and that look of, “oh please let this help us,” reminded me of our time at Joy’s intake sessions back in May. My mind flooded with images of the therapy journey Joy has been on over these months, the hard work, the victories, the tears, and the thankfulness for so many miracles experienced and so many gains in Joy’s physical and cognitive health. While we certainly have a long way to go, at least cognitively, which I’ll share in a moment, we are literally awe-struck daily at the reality of the “near normal” life we live, when compared with, the “what could have been” realities based on the seriousness of Joy’s injuries. We ended up following the young couple down the hall as we left our session, we were leaving to go home and wrapping up our therapy journey, they sat back down in the waiting area for their next appointment, just as we had done so many times before with multiple sessions in a day. I don’t know their names, but I’ve been praying for this couple because they encouraged and inspired me, but also because my heart goes out to them starting this journey in their 30’s, not at 69 like we are. While this isn’t the retirement we had planned, we have been blessed to have the capacity to do this work without the stress of employment and financial strain that would be put on younger individuals. So once again, we are thankful, oh so thankful.
I mentioned Joy’s ongoing cognitive challenges and I share the following example to encourage your continued prayers for her extended recovery. We were driving to her PT appointment Wednesday morning when I started talking about two articles I had read the evening before which talked about the importance of protein in seniors’ breakfasts. I was jabbering on about this idea and that idea for upping our breakfast protein intake, when I looked over at Joy and saw tears welling up in her eyes. I said, “Honey, what’s wrong?” And she responded, “I don’t know what protein is.” At first I only made matters worse by quickly trying to explain proteins, fats, and carbohydrates, which of course compounded the problem and the tears, because those words meant nothing to her as well. So I shut up and let Joy calm down before we got to PT. Fortunately, she had a wonderful therapy session and as we left I told her, “I know that no other patient makes your therapist smile as much as you do.” As I’ve said many times, Joy’s hard work and good-natured approach to her sessions frequently brings smiles to the therapists working with her and I am so proud of her for that.
Despite the newly discovered cognitive challenges, we have also experienced gains. Joy’s reading, which has been expanding (she is on the third book of the Laura Ingalls Wilder series), is still laboriously slow with frequent pauses to sound out words, even some of the most basic. But the other day, as she finished a devotional she is reading out loud, she said, “I know I’m still very slow in my reading, but I feel like I am finally really understanding more and more.” She said this through tears in her eyes and a big smile on her face. We are thankful for many things, but increased reading comprehension is one of the most desired and special.
Last week I had written about Joy’s thankfulness for the strength to do housework, including cleaning the bathrooms. 😊 This week, she admitted to me that at some point in that cleaning process, she had turned and hit her head because of her blindness to the upper right side. This is something that we recognize is, by all medical standards and physical evidence, permanent, but we also continue to pray and ask you to continue to join us, for miraculous healing of her vision in that area. We also invite and encourage, prayers of praise and thankfulness, because we are so genuinely blessed. And, we encourage and welcome you to let us know how we could pray for you. We hold you up collectively in prayer with thankful appreciation, for blessings, and safety for you all, but would also consider it a privilege to pray specifically for anyone who wishes to share a need with us. I promise, it won’t show up in a future blog post.
This coming week, health and weather permitting, we are traveling back to Iowa to enjoy Thanksgiving with Joy’s mother, brother, and sister-in-law. We want to wish you all a blessed, safe, and happy Thanksgiving and please know, that this Thanksgiving, each of you are at the top of our list in what we are most thankful for!
