May/ June Update Lots of end of year craziness for us—end of year soccer banquets, two graduations, prom, moving Heidi home, etc. but all went well! Wendy continues to make lots of progress as she works toward a full recovery. Below are the latest update and some pictures of Wendy in action. 1. Wendy schedule is currently all over the place as we work through vacations and graduations. On most weeks she has PT/ OT on Monday from 10 to 12 then speech followed by friends coming over. Tuesday is her day off (unless she has something on Friday). Wednesday it is PT/ OT from 10 to 12 and then speech. Thursday is now horse back riding in the morning, followed by speech. Friday is PT/OT from 10 to 12 unless we are out of town or at the doctors. 2. PT and OT continue to go very well. She is spending lots of time in the pool at Spero as this helps facilitate the balance she is going to need when she starts walking by herself. Also helps her work on her technique as the buoyancy makes it easier her for her to lift her legs and move her arms. With cameras to look at her legs, a treadmill to help with her speed and jets to provide resistance she gets quite a workout on pool days (and usually ends up being a noodle on those afternoons). Her OT goal is to be able to put her arm straight out in front of her and then raise it up over her head. She works on this all the time in the car (which can be scary for the driver). 3. Walking is going well. Wendy can now walk significant distances with her walker (40 minutes at our last outing at the mall) and with increasing speed (smashed her distance record yesterday—going from Fredricks to 5-7-9: we measure distance in stores). She now walks into PT (when I don’t forget the walker) and we are hoping soon that we can eliminate the wheelchair completely on some trips. She is also starting to take steps without the walker! 4. Wendy continues to work out at the Y, on our elliptical machine and/or in the bathroom (squats in the shower) on almost every day that she does not have therapy and even on some days when she does. She uses lots of different equipment at the Y and by the end usually both Wendy and Kip are exhausted. We now take our own bungy cords to the Y as it seems the leg straps on the bicycle are always broken. 5. Her speech has improved dramatically and she is easy to understand on the phone or with Skype. Call her and see for yourself! Recent assignments include calling HEB and Home Depot and asking questions. After claiming for two weeks that she was going to win the gift basket that they giving at St. Christus—they had the drawing and guess who won—Wendy! Goes to speech three times a week and loves her therapist, Lori. Please pray for her as she was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. 6. Ryan continues to work hard in Chicago teaching high school science in an inner city alternative school as part of Teach for America. Looking forward to spending a couple of weeks with him this summer during our vacation. He came home as a surprise for Heidi’s ring dunk. Heidi graduated from A&M in the longest ceremony that we have ever been part of. But it was exciting to see her walk across the stage. She got done with her student teaching 4 weeks before school ended so she had lots of time to celebrate before graduation. Now she is at home getting ready to go to Rwanda in August, where she will be teaching at a orphanage/ church school for a year. Thanks to everyone for your donations that made this possible! 7. Soccer season wrapped up for Kelly with a heartbreaking OT loss one game short of going to states. Kelly was selected the district defensive MVP, to the all city team and to the first team for the state of Texas. Way to go girl!! No soccer in college as she plans to take in the full college experience at Texas A&M (whoop). Wendy, Kelly and I went to College Station last week and Kelly registered for her classes—current plan is to major in kinesiology and then get a Physical Therapist doctorate. Kelly’s graduation was last Saturday and she won an iPad mini at the after prom party. Next fall we are only going to have one at home—hard to believe. Scott finished up club soccer and headed off for Young Life camp in Colorado. Missed Kelly’s graduation but did not seem to upset. No plans to work this summer as we will be all over the place. Got his driver’s license (the new set up in Rosenberg is awesome) and is currently more than happy to run any errand that involves driving. We will see how long that lasts. 8. Outings for Wendy over the last several months include a trip to Philly with Kip, lunches with the Sassy Sistas, nails and mall walking with Dawn, going downtown to see Spamalot and Flashdance, walks to see Karen with Peggy and Denise, and movies and Memorial Day with the Wrights (which included eating corn off the cob). Wendy is a good person to take with you—get to park in the front row! She has also decided to go out front and water her flowers several times a week. Kip wheels her to different spots in the yard and then she sprays the flowers. Afterwards we have to clean the mud out of the wheelchair tires. Finally we went to a number of fun graduation parties for her high school girls. 9. Saturday is a good time to come for a visit or call as I am usually working around the house and Wendy often gets bored. Text me (at 713.416.7761) if you want to know if we are around. Wendy is now much easier to understand and you can get a hold of her on Skype (kip.thomson), Facetime ([email protected]), or via the home phone (281.392.7486). She is also active on email (wendythomson7@gmail), texts and computer games (words with friends, hanging with friends, drawing with friends, etc.) 10. Retirement (which I am now calling sabbatical as I am going to have to go back to work for a couple more years) is going well. Spending lots of time helping Wendy get stronger. Plus I am helping get Kelly ready to go to A&M and Heidi to Rwanda. Throw in some projects around the house and working with the insurance company and it seems like a full time job. Plan is to stay retired until we get Wendy up and walking and then start figuring out what God wants me to do next. Leaning toward consulting on marketing and packaging but leaving my options open. 11. We are going to be all over the place this summer starting this weekend with a wedding in Austin. Then next Friday we go to Pine Cove for a day to see our Bluff week 3 and Tyler friends. Saturday is a wedding in Dallas and then Sunday Scott and I go to Lufkin for the SH mission trip. Come home on Thursday and then fly to Pittsburgh on Friday for my 50 year old brother’s wedding (his first). Going to State College for a visit on the way to Philly, where we will hang out with Wendy’s parents and brother for the week. Then a week at beach in Avalon, NJ with my parents, siblings and the grandkids. We are home for a week and then Kelly and I head to Costa Rica for another mission trip. Home for August with Kelly going to A&M camps and Heidi getting ready to go to Rwanda. Right now the plan is for me to go with her if we can figure out how to take care of Wendy while I am gone. Prayer requests (please pray to help get Wendy over the last few steps to recovery!): 1. For Wendy’s balance to continue to get better, for confidence in her abilities and for her legs to get stronger so she can walk on her own. This will make her so much more independent. 2. For Wendy’s left arm to continue to grow stronger so that she can use both arms effectively and for the upcoming Botox shots (June 27) to work well and eliminate the “tone” in her shoulder, thighs and ankles that is keeping her from getting full functionality in her arms and legs. 3. For Wendy’s speech to continue to improve 4. For God’s direction on what Kip should do next. 5. For great memories as we hang out with our family for the two weeks of vacation this summer 6. For Ryan to continue to do well in building relationships in his teaching job and for him to make an impact in the lives of the students that he interacts with. 7. For the final logistics to work out for Heidi as she prepares for a year of teaching in Rwanda 8. For Wendy to understand or at least be at peace with why this happened and why God has decided not to immediately heal her. 9. For help with Wendy so Kip can go to Rwanda with Heidi to help her get set up. 10. For our friends Lori, Karen, Mark, Mary Jo, Annie, Tim, Teresa and Debbie that need God’s healing touch. 11. For Kelly to make friends with a great set of kids at A&M. 12. That God will use this whole series of events, including the answers to the prayers above, to bring Glory to His Name.
Posted on: Sat, 15 Jun 2013 18:10:08 +0000
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