Baltimore Mini Vaca!

We did it! We successfully traveled overnight for the first time! Thank you for all your prayers! We took a three day mini vacation to Baltimore to check out Kennedy Krieger's outpatient program. We were defiantly impressed! The staff really filled us with hope, by making Kyle feel that nothing was impossible. Their gym was amazing as well as the therapists. It seems like it would be a program that would push K to the max! They would love to see Kyle enter their program for a two week period, five days a week for 6 hours a day. They will help him come up with an agressive program to do at home. After that two week period, he would go down every couple of months for a tune up! Keep praying for God's direction and timing!

We also had a great time playing at the Inner Harbor! We ate great seafood and had a blast at the aquarium. We were also excited that the hotel was very accessible.

Thank you all for your prayers and excitement!

Baltimore Update!

I have my 'evaluation' on August 6th! It starts at 8:30 am and wraps up around 4 pm. I will meet with doctors, OT's, and PT's. Lots of poking & prodding! The evaluation will determine how many hrs/day, duration, lodging, and most important - if we get accepted. I'm a little nervous but very excited about this opportunity!!

We are going out on a limb and making it a mini 3 day vacation! Great seafood, the Inner Harbor, and the Baltimore Aquarium ... and our first time staying overnite somewhere besides our house! We are really excited about our first vacation in the chair!

Hoff Hotel!

We've had the pleasure of hosting friends and family in the month of July.

We've dogsat, babysat and enjoyed a visit from the Palmer family!

We had a blast sharing our very tight quarters with everyone!

Caroline helping Kyle bowl!

Our cool nephew Nick getting cozy at the Drive In!

Our buddy Kolby came to stay while his family went on vacation. We were so greatful for his company!

Here is Rocky.... Kyle's lap dog :)

August will be so lonely!!!!

International Center for Spinal Cord Injury!

The International Center for SCI has an aggressive outpatient program (5+ hrs/day) that I have applied for! It is located in Baltimore, MD in a brand new wing of the Kennedy Krieger Institute. They are really involved in curing SCI and promoting nerve regeneration through Research Restoration Recovery. They use Activity Based Restoration Therapy techniques to "remind" the spinal cord of the movement and hopefully be able move again. They use alot of E-stim, aquatherapy, and the standing frame. My favorite things ...

"For many years, conventional wisdom held that most improvement from spinal cord injuries occurred in the first six months of recovery, and that improvement was impossible after two years. "Rehabilitation" focused mostly on teaching patients how to compensate for injuries thought to be irreversible. Conventional wisdom was wrong. The International Center for Spinal Cord Injury (ICSCI) at Kennedy Krieger was founded on the philosophy that individuals with paralysis can always hope for recovery of sensation, function, mobility and independence, even many months or years after their injuries." - from their website ....

Here's how it works: we would go there for a minimum of 3 weeks 4-5 days a week, they would develop a Home Program (for our new house) and help get the equipment approved. Every couple of months we would go back for a refresher. I am really excited and hope I get accepted! The Inner Harbor and crabcakes are an added bonus!

http://www.spinalcordrecovery.org/index.jsp their website - the videos are awesome and give me hope!!

The story of patient Brian Keefer and his experience in the new aquatic therapy center.
http://www.foxbaltimore.com/newsroom/features/cover_story/videos/vid_478.shtml
*Note: 4-5 second wait as the video loads

The grand opening celebration of their new outpatient center and interviews
http://wjz.com/local/kennedy.krieger.spinal.2.1022626.html
*Note: video will appear top right with play icon superimposed

Pray that I get in!

I hope my first "solo" post is as good as Britt's

New Pool Tricks!

This video was taken of K in the pool at therapy. K has been working on balance and using his trunk muscles. He has also been practicing rolling side to side and was unable to until recently. We are ecstatic that because he has been able to roll completely over that God is working K's muscles in his lower back and hips. (Sorry you have to turn sideways!)

For the first time, K has been able to use his back muscles and hips to bring himself almost to a full stand independently! K's body floats on his back when he is in the water, and they normally have to put weights on his ankles to make his legs go down. Because of this new muscle return, K is able to visualize about standing and put his legs down towards the bottom of the pool! We are really excited about this new development!

This video is similar to the one above only K's therapist his helping him come to full stand by pulling his hips forward. This is a great workout for his trunk muscles because there is nothing supporting his upper body.

UpDaTe!

We've been getting lots of requests to update the blog! Let's see, what have we been up to ....

* We're still waiting to here from the insurance company about the house. PLEASE pray for patience! We are blessed to be home, but are excited for a new adventure.

* K is working out hard and really gaining muscle! Watch out Arnold! He is still doing therapy four days a week, including aqua therapy. He is now doing two hours of physical therapy and doing occupational things independently.

* K volunteered at the end of March at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. He was asked by a P.T student at Good Shepherd to come in for a lab that was about wheelchair evaluations. The students appreciated Kyle coming in and giving advice as a patient on how to properly order a wheelchair and therapy/life in general. He loves volunteering and hopes more opportunities arise. I teasingly call him the "lab rat".

* We are excited about the warmer weather! Even though we are fans of winter, we are ready to "play" outside.

*We met with the Neurosurgeon who did K's neck surgery. For Kyle, it was like meeting him for the first time, since he was so out of it in the hospital. We were surprised that him and his colleagues remembered us so well. Kyle's injury really stuck out to them. He was pleased that K's neck looks great and excited about his progress. It was interesting looking at the MRI from when he first got hurt. We never knew that the vertebrae that damaged his spinal cord was split in a perfect cross!

*B joined the gym to keep up with "the hulk", and is helping her mom sell her amazing art work and craft/art shows.

That's about all for now, but we will try to be better post-ers :)

Little Blessings!

We had the honor in the beginning of the month to babysit our cousin Morgan! We appreciated the opportunity to take care of her, because it gave us an idea of what a little addition to our family would be like. (No, don't get any ideas... we aren't trying yet!) It was great to see how Kyle was able to interact with her. She has such a sweet personality and brought us lots of smiles! She was fascinated with the lights on his wheelchair and was in awe when he spun around in circles! We loved having this little joy visit! What a blessing she is!!!