University of Tennessee

Today was a day that just a few months ago was unimaginable. Jason's prognosis the beginning of April was that he would have to stay home, not be able to live out on his own, and have to take a reduced school load. Today he's living in Knoxville - far from home - and taking a full course load.

He's been off the nerve medication for three weeks. Jason feels nerve pain about ten times a day, but it is not unbearable. The good thing is he now has more stamina and no longer requires his daily afternoon nap.

Sunday we went to church in Knoxville with Kevin and Jason. At the end of the service, Kevin introduced Jason to a Campus Crusade staff member. Ryan said to Jason, "I know you. I was living in Sweden last year and we prayed for you."

Wow! We will never know the vast number of people who prayed for us, but we are so grateful and pray that God will bless each one.

I don't think I ever wrote this part of the story in the blog: Two days after the tornado Nurse Shay came into Jason's hospital room to take him to dialysis. We had been up for 48 hours at this point and I was about to lose it. She came across the room, wrapped her arms around me, began quoting Scripture and praying. Day after day she took care of Jason and told us what we could do for him when we were taking care of him. When Jason's dialysis schedule changed from daily to every other day, she would come and check on him on the off days. The last day Jason was in the hospital Nurse Shay came to his room to remove the port from Jason's neck. She told us that in 1992 her baby was 13 years old. He died in a tornado. Jason was her healing process.

It's just amazing how God knits our lives together to meet each other's needs!

Brain MRI

Today Jason had an MRI of his brain and the doctor reported to us that his brain has completely healed! Even when looking at the MRI from March and knowing the exact areas involved, there is no evidence of anything wrong. Praise the Lord!

Over the next seven weeks Jason will be gradually tapering off the nerve medication. If at any point the pain kicks back in, he can go back up but we're hoping that when he leaves in August he'll just be on the seizure medication.

Jason has been experiencing twitching all over his body. The doctor explained to us that there is nothing to worry about. This just has to do with his muscles healing.

Jason's left foot is much hairier than the right one. This has been caused by the pain syndrome. Also, the coloring of this foot is different than his right foot. This too is pain syndrome-related.

We are still working on the flexibility of the left ankle and Jason is faithfully exercising and regaining his strength. He's enjoyed victories in tennis, ping pong and golf in the past week.

Jason is taking an English class at a community college. We felt this would be good preparation for taking a full schedule at UT in the fall.

Jason is looking forward to going away to school in August and being able to drive again in September. Two more milestones on the long list of accomplishments already realized.

Thank you so very much for all your prayers and the many ways so many of you have reached out to our family in the past several months. Please continue to pray that the pain syndrome would completely burn itself out, that the nerves will fully regenerate (as Jason is still dealing with minor pain along the inside of his left foot and decreased feeling sensation in the same area and parts of his left leg), that Jason will do fine without the nerve medication, that Jason will experience the peace of God when storms come his way and that his move to Knoxville and classes there will go well.

Last Physical Therapy

It's been two weeks since Jason has been to therapy and the increase in his strength is impressive. All the hours in the gym and exercising at home have proved to be very valuable. The main item yet to work on is the flexibility of Jason's left ankle. Scar tissue or adhesions may have developed there during the several weeks of horrible nerve pain when we couldn't even touch Jason's foot. This joint has to be manually manipulated by someone other than Jason to improve the flexibility and break through any adhesions that may be there.

Mike came in from playing tennis with Jason and he was mad. He said, "I thought I'd have an advantage over him longer than this!" We are so thankful for the rapid progress Jason has made over the past six weeks.

It appears Jason has become somewhat claustrophobic from this experience. He also anxiously aware of stormy conditions.

June 17th he'll have another MRI to see if Jason's brain has healed. That day the doctor will also examine Jason concerning the Complex Regional Pain Syndrome and decide if it's time to start backing off of some of the nerve pain medicine.

Thank you so very much to all of you faithful prayer warriors. One of my Bible study friends told me how passionately she's been praying for Jason. She can related because she's a young woman who suffers from MS. She used to walk with a cane, but now can walk on her own. She prayed for "crumbs" of God's power for her healing and she prayed with the same passions for "crumbs" for Jason's healing.

Please continue to pray the the CRPS will completely go away, the brain will completely heal, there will be increased flexiblity in the ankle and for Jason to be able to deal with his fears of storms and tight places.

Tennis Anyone?!

Jason has been diligently working to regain his strength and flexibility, especially in his left ankle. He continues to go to therapy, work out at the gym, do exercises at home and hit the tennis courts as often as someone is available to play with him.

Over Mother's Day Weekend, Kevin was home and the guys got out a couple of times to play. Then at therapy that next week, Jason told his therapist areas of concern he has in being able to play tennis like he used to be able to do. She worked with him during his therapy session to re-learn how to run side to side and change direction in an instant. She explained to Jason how he has to deliberately think through what used to come naturally. He also worked on jumping up using just his left foot. It's so exciting to think he's progressed so far from learning how to walk again to fine tuning his tennis footwork!

Thursday we headed to Knoxville for orientation at UT. We also spent a few days there so we could see Kevin and his girlfriend, who are both working this summer in Knoxville.

At the end of April, Mike, Debbie and Kevin signed up to play volleyball this summer. At that time we didn't think Jason would be physically able to join us. A couple of weeks later we found out that Kevin won't be here. We called and had Jason added to our roster in Kevin's place. It's amazing the progress he's made is such a short amount of time!

When Jason was in a lot of pain we were amazed at how the threat of storms really didn't seem to bother him. Now that he doesn't have the distraction of being miserable, stormy weather and news stories about weather-related catastrophies are much more difficult for him to handle.

Thank you for the many, many prayers on our behalf. God has been so good to us. Please continue to pray that the pain syndrome and the bruise on his brain would completely heal. Also, especially when the weather is bad, please remember to pray for Jason to have the peace of God during inclement weather.

Sooooo Much Improvement and Good News!

For about the past week Jason has been sleeping through the night. As of Saturday, he's also kicked the afternoon nap habit.

This past Saturday Mike, Jason and Steven headed to the tennis courts. Jason was able to return shots hit to him as Mike and Jason played against Steven.

Then Sunday the boys went out in the backyard and tossed the baseball around.

Monday Jason drove for the first time in three months. Jason and Debbie handed out drinks at a school fund-raising golf outing. (It will be four more months before Jason can drive a car.)

Jason frequently works out at the gym and at home. He's gained 6 pounds of pure muscle! Today he did his gimp-style of running making it 1/4 of a mile.

We went to the doctor this afternoon. She was so pleased to see his progress. The last time she saw him, just four weeks ago, he was wearing his brace, using crutches, not sleeping well, still in significant pain and really bummed out. Today he can walk almost normally, was able to be touched and poked by the doctor and has good strength in holding his foot up. The muscle just below the ankle bone towards the toe that allows your big toe to pull up and to turn your foot inside is very weak. His foot still shows mild symptoms of the Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, which is being controlled by 2400mg of Neurontin. June 17th we'll see his seizure doctor who will examine him and determine if he's made enough progress by then to start weaning him off the Neurontin.

Jason got the big news he was hoping for, he will be able to go to the University of Tennessee in Knoxville in August.

Thank you so much for your prayers. Please continue to pray that the CRPS will completely go away and that the bruise on his brain will heal.

A Trip to the Zoo

Tuesday Jason and Debbie went to the Memphis Zoo. It was a beautiful afternoon. Jason was able to walk for an hour and a half -- and then he was exhausted!

Monday at physical therapy, Jason was interviewed for the ABC TV station in Jackson. Three students, Cheryl, Matt and Jason, will be featured this coming Sunday, Monday and Tuesday everning.

Jason therapists said that his quads and hamstrings appeared to be about back to the same strength as his right leg. He's also gained two more degrees of movement in the ankle (five more to go). The strength of his calf is now the focus. Jason stood on his left leg and tossed a weighted ball into a trampoline and then caught it. His therapist had to stabilize him at his waist. Jason's almost able to stand on his left leg without holding on to anything. In order to run you also need to be able to push up to the ball and toes of your foot, that's yet to come.

Our insurance declined our request to extend Jason's number of physical therapy treatments, so we'll go just once a week for the next three weeks to stretch out our time there.

Now that Jason is getting stronger, we'll be going to the gym so he can use the machines there to get his workout

Thank you so much for all your prayers. Please continue to pray for complete healing. Jason is really looking forward to being able to run and play tennis.

Great week!

Jason has had a great week! He's walking slowly without using the brace or crutches and walking more normally and smoothly each day.

This past weekend we went to Arkansas for Steven's basketball tournament. Jason went with us and did well walking around and being able to sit with his foot in a dependant position for extended lengths of time. Saturday afternoon we left Jason in the hotel room to take his customary afternoon nap.

At physical therapy on Monday, Jason worked out on an eliptical machine for five minutes. He still needs to get 5 more degrees of movement with his left ankle (pulling up his toes towards his knee). He also needs to concentrate on increasing the strength of his foot when turning the toes inward and outward.

Tuesday we had an appointment with Jason's seizure doctor. It's been a month since he has seen Jason and was so pleased with his progress. Last month he couldn't even touch Jason's foot, now he can move his foot all around, test his foot strength and test it with different touches and stimulation. The skin on his big toe is very dry. This is due to the nerves not completely functioning as they used to. He also doesn't have feeling on the side of this toe. We will have another MRI in the summer to see if the brain bruise is healed.

Please pray that Jason will know God's will for him for this coming fall school semester. For his healing, please continue to pray for the strength and flexibilty to increase in his left ankle, the nerves to completely heal and the bruise in his brain to completely heal.