8-17-14: Well Matt spent his first night alone last night (other than some of the nights in ICU). I left in tears at 11 p.m. - sort of the same type of feeling you get when you leave your child at school on the first day of kindergarten - you know you are doing the right thing for them and they are completely fine with it - but youre a total mess! The nurse and NA were very kind to me - assured me they would keep a very close eye on him. I also have to keep in mind that if I have truly entrusted Matt and his recovery to God, then God doesnt need me to sit by Matts bedside and hover over him all the time. Possibly my hovering is what caused Matt to suddenly blurt out Shes crazy. Since we were the only 2 in the room, I asked Whos crazy? He replied My mother! That little stinker!! So I said Hey! Youre talking about me!! And he just started laughing. He will tease me a lot if I say anything he thinks is old-fashioned or old person-like or just plain silly by saying Youre crazy Mom. It did my heart good to see more evidence of his sense of humor and to also see he remembered some of our earlier teasing. The nurse told me that Matt woke up at 7 a.m. today and asked to be gotten up. That is another typical habit of Matts - early rising. He stayed up over 5 hours driving himself around the unit. He got back in bed a little after noon, but rather than going to sleep, he was pretty chatty. At one point , he was talking about Joel. I thought that was pretty neat that he remembered that Dads name isnt just Dad - its also Joel. We called Joel a little bit later, and I put him on speaker phone. Joel said Hey Buddy and Matt said Hey Dad, then Joel said something else and Matt said I like your voice Dad It was such a dear, sweet moment. Another sweet moment was when I was telling him that Hillary was at work today, but would be over on her lunch break. I asked if he knew who Hillary was and he nodded yes. To be sure, I then asked Is she your girlfriend?. He nodded yes and then said I love her. So, so sweet. A little after 2:00 Matt had company, so I had to leave the unit so they could come in. The nurse put Matt back in his chair to visit. His friends said they went down to the dining room to visit and Matt just sits back in his chair and plops both his feet right up on the table! Thats definitely another Mattism - kicking back and putting his feet up. Later when I was with him he did the exact same thing. As his mom I couldnt let him get away with such bad manners - I told him to get those clodhoppers off the table where people had to eat their dinner. :) He took them right down and we went across to the sitting area where I told him to go ahead and put his feet up on the couch. When Hillary came over on her break, she said his face just lit up when he saw her and he was smiling and laughing. Those two really love each other and it is very sweet to watch. She told me at one point Matt asked her if she could tape her mouth for 5 minutes LOL!! She said she figured that was his way of saying she was talking too much. Im pretty sure it was Matts way of teasing some more. He had other company a little later in the day, and as they were leaving I heard him say something along the line of Okay - bye - give me a call. Only God truly knows how much it lightens my heart when Matt says something that is very understandable and entirely in context, and I continue to thank Him for those moments. After I did my very long update last night and tried to thank all of the people that I forgot to thank in my little speech, I remembered someone else I wanted to publicly thank and that is Robs mom Tammy Doss. When I got to the Fundraiser right after it started yesterday, Tammy was sitting in the sun selling raffle tickets and bracelets. When I got back last night at 6:30 she was in the same chair (and had been all day). When I left at 8:15 last night she was still there. Ultimately I dont know how long she sat in that chair, but I know it was at least 8 straight hours, so Tammy I thank you very much. It was such a pleasure finally meeting you yesterday, and I thank you for being such a faithful prayer warrior - and also for raising such a fine son. He has been a very loyal friend to my son. Matt has a very big day of therapy planned tomorrow - 4 hours total! Thank you all for continuing to pray for his progress - he seems to be moving ahead in leaps and bounds - and I give God all of the glory and praise for this. I know He has heard all of your prayers! I would like to ask everyone to specifically pray for Matt as he learns to swallow again. Much to my surprise I have learned that this is a very complicated process and not something that we do reflexively. It seems reflexive to us because we do it all the time, but Matt has not really needed to do it in 6 weeks, so now must re-learn it. We thank God continually for all of you. Our prayer is that He blesses all of you, just as you have all been such a blessing to us. You have truly lessened our burdens. Love, Cheryl & Joel Galatians 6:2 Bear one anothers burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
Posted on: Mon, 18 Aug 2014 03:26:34 +0000
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