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.