Pops Update

It's been over a month so I'd say it's finally time for an update on Pops. It's hard to remember all that's happened since the "drinking of the pee" incident...there haven't necessarily been any huge steps made but dad continues to plug along at his daily routine. Overall, he's doing pretty well. The hardest thing for him continues to be the intense nerve pain that he almost constantly has in his left arm. On good days it's there but he can deal with it. On bad days it keeps him from doing much of anything as, according to him, it feels like being constantly stabbed with knives. It's awful. It seems so unfair...he's paralyzed and can't move yet he feels this horrible pain. Not cool. We are still told it could be good, that eventually he could get some movement back but there's no guarantee. To think that this pain could last forever makes us all cringe. The ray of hope is that he will most likely be having nerve transplant surgery in the next month that will allow him more use of that arm. Another possible surgery could give him more movement in his right hand. These possible surgeries give him and all of us hope. At this point the nerve pain is so bad some days I think he'd just like to amputate the darn thing. But he's being patient and hoping the surgery will be a success.

An exciting thing happened last week when he finally had his trach hole surgically closed. The trach hole that was supposed to close 3-5 days after the tube was removed has remained open the last 4 months so they had to do a skin graft to get it to close. All this time he has had to cover it with his hand to speak cause he would lose a lot of air. He sounded louder even right after the surgery and is happy to finally be able to scream. Well, not exactly scream but certainly speak with authority.

Another exciting thing was that we got their house cleaned out and already have an accepted offer! What a huge relief that was...mom worked her butt off sorting through years of 'precious things' (a.k.a. crap) and after many late nights the place is finally empty. We picked on her a lot for keeping so much junk over the years but we actually had a lot of fun looking through old stuff and laughing. Dad had to say goodbye to his "man room" (if you've seen it you know how cool it was) which was tough. Even tougher for him to deal with was the fact that none of us kids wanted many of his 'prized possessions', most of which he had found on the roadside or were discarded in dumpsters. He was also astounded nobody wanted his First Place Booster Club Trophy for Best Homecoming Float in 1995, but, um, aren't memories meant to be kept in your head anyways? We had fun but are all glad it's over.

Now mom and dad are working on getting totally unpacked and settled into their place at Mike and Becky's, and it's fun to see the routine that's unfolded. Cole wakes them up when the nurse comes in the morning, and there's usually some driveway races in the morning with Bapa and the kids. Cole usually wins but only if Bapa stays in Drive 1. In Drive 2, let's face it, those kids are toast. Fans and I are over there at least twice a week since Fans is officially the captain of the "Shower Team". Mom continues to reign as decorated captain of the "B-Team", and after last month's performance she now holds the title of "P-Team" Captain as well. God love her. They are still busy with a few trips to Froedtert each week and dialysis on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. The good news is that his Wednesdays have been reduced from 3 hours to 1 1/2. The less dialysis for Pops, the better...he doesn't enjoy it one bit, especially when his nerve pain is bad.

Overall, things are going well. Dad has had fun reconnecting with friends and family and enjoying a slower paced life. There are still many blessings pouring out of his accident and it's pretty amazing to watch it all unfold. Relationships being reconciled, faith being deepened, life being appreciated all because of one spinal cord injury. Even with the hard days, the exhaustion, and the frustration that is inevitable, there is still immeasurable joy. I see it in both mom and dad and when I do, I thank God. He really is the ultimate healer. A reminder that we are all being healed through dad's experience, that God does not want us to be the same we used to be. He wants us changed. It's easy for me to forget that, it's easy for me to slip into my old ways, to not hunger for God like I did when dad was so sick in the hospital. But when I see dad laughing, loving, being a better father than he ever used to be, God reminds me what He has done, and it is GOOD. What an amazing God we serve.

To HIM be the glory.