A better day - Thursday Jan 29

To state that this journey is a roller coaster ride would be an understatement, Tuesday was one of the more difficult days of the last couple of weeks. Without going into to much detail let me just say adjusting to a roommate is a little tough, I got about 4 hours of broken sleep last night. Amazingly enough I'm back at the top of the roller coaster. God has been faithful in answering prayer, I felt energized and strong and content even with the lack of sleep. God has given me once again what I need to get through the day.

Dennis slept at home last night and spent the day at home drawing up plans for Jerry's new room. For those of you not familiar with our home we have a two story home on a hillside. The upstairs of the house is at ground level and is the main part of the house, living room, kitchen, bathroom and Dennis and I's bedroom. Downstairs we have 3 bedrooms, bathroom, and laundry room. We can't put Jerry downstairs there's no way he can get up and down the stairs so we need to keep him upstairs and we need to be near him. We are going to add a bedroom for Jerry next to our bedroom and make the bathroom larger with a shower that we can roll a wheel chair into. It will be nice for him to have his own space and yet he'll be close enough for us to be right there, we will have a door from our room into his room. Dennis also spent some time at the auto dealer today, there's a lot near the hospital that sales the vans with wheelchair lifts. We will need to purchase a van with a lift as Jerry's wheelchair weighs about 400 lbs. Unfortunately they did not have any used vehicles only new $50,000, fagetaboutit! We will find a used van for half that hopefully.

So now on to the meat and potatoes, the Jer man. The doctors have been encouraging Jerry for the last two weeks to start a medication Norotton (I think that's how it's spelled). We have been very resistant and refused this medication for fear that it will dull the impulses that is enabling the little movement Jerry has. This medication is supposed to dull the impulses that cause Jerry to experience all these strange sensations like his chest and fingernails are burning and his lungs are hitting his organs and all these other sensations he's been having. They tried to manage these sensations that are making Jerry so uncomfortable with two other medications that are milder however it's not been successful. Last night Jerry decided he had to try Norotton, he was at his wits end and with much assurance from the doctors we relented. The doctors assure us it will not dull the good impulses which could improve his mobility. Jerry probably had his best night sleep since the beginning. He woke up this morning in good spirits and his pain was very manageable today. So now the really good news Jerry was able to have controlled movement in his feet, yes I said feet not toe. Jerry's been getting more intense involuntary spasms, Jessica describes it as it looks like he did the worm. Jerry was working on controlling the leg spasms by using patterns that exhibited he was controlling the movement. Jerry would focus I'm going to move the left foot and it would move, then the right foot and it would move. To be certain he tried more difficult patterns like move the left foot 3 times then move the right one time. Or move the left two times then move the right three times. Hallelujah!! Praise God!!! Yesterday Jerry had doubt that the controlled movement he has had was really him making the movement. He felt like they were just spasms even though he was able to control which toe moved. He can't feel it moving so he was discouraged. I have to give a shout out to my friend Robin a man who is a patient at the center who was in a car accident that left him paralyzed. Robin also had injury to C3 & C4 however he has been regaining a lot of movement. Robin can move his arms and hands but he does not have the fine motor skills in his hands yet. The moral of the story, Robin told Jerry that he can hold his hands in front of his own face and move his fingers, he can see them move and knows he's moving them, but he can't feel them. I think that had a huge impact on Jerry believing the controlled movement he's having in his feet is really him making the movement. So thanks for that one Robin. Praise God for these wonderful signs that keeps hope alive.

Good night and thanks for continued prayer.
Katie