Day 111-117

Joe has spent his last week at Craig Hospital finishing up therapy evaluations. Tuesday, we were in conference with Joseph’s doctors, therapists, case worker, and head nurse. Dr. Weintraub viewed Joe’s records before he came to Craig, and stated that Joe was doing much better than he had expected. However, Joe is still in the early stages of his injury and still recovering, according to Dr. Barry, and there will be a variety of changes neuro-chemically and physically. Dr. Weintraub also informed us that with Joe’s injury, he expriences problems with attention span, reasoning and problem solving. Both doctors highly recommended a transitional living program where Joseph is safe, and will have professional help with dealing in real life situations of functioning and problem solving.

Joe’s physical therapists recommended that he have special insoles that would give his feet the proper support. His occupational therapist felt that he needed separate glasses for reading instead of bifocals. Dr. Weintraub stated that another piece to the puzzle was having surgery to put cartilage together in the right ear which would help with balance. We were thrilled to hear that the hearing in Joe’s right ear was almost perfect. (The ear he was not supposed to hear out of because all of the bones were broken.)

We met with representatives from Learning Services in North Carolina and the Centre for Neuro Skills in California Wednesday and Thursday. Both centers seem to have excellent programs, but for us all signs seem to be pointing towards Learning Services. We are still praying about this matter, and plan to make a final decision within the next few days.

We arrived in Knoxville late Thursday night, and we were greeted at the airport by Jennifer and Joe’s cousin, Ashley. It was great being at our home church Sunday for Mother’s Day. Pastor Triplett and his wife had just arrived Saturday evening from their missions trip to Russia. There is no better feeling in this world than worshipping in your home church next to the folks who stand beside you in good times and bad. We give thanks to Jesus Christ who is our strength and refuge.

Jennifer boarded her flight Sunday afternoon for Rome, Italy to study abroad for the summer. Jennifer had been very apprehensive about leaving, but Joseph constantly encouraged her to keep her plans.

We are continually grateful to all of you, our wonderful friends and family, for all your kindnesses, love, support, and most of all your prayers.

David, Mona, & Jennifer

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 15th, 2007 at 9:32 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.