2/7 - Sam's Journey - Day 57

No, I have not fallen off the face of the earth. I just went back to work. Teaching, if done correctly, is exhausting under the very best of circumstances. (I can almost hear the collective "Amen" from my colleagues as they read this.)  While it is that though, I love my job, and throughout all of the journey with Sam, I have really missed being in the classroom. I love my kids, and I love what I do, and it was time to go back. What I missed the most this week while returning to the real world were, in reverse order of importance were the sneakers in which I have been living, going to the bathroom at will, and Sam. Other than that, it was very good to be back. All of that being said, it is looking like I'll be doing a blog post once a week, unless something urgent arises. I didn't want anyone going into blog withdrawal or anything like that. 

Overall, it was a good week for Sam, too. He continues to impress his therapists. PT got him onto his stomach for a while. It was the most comfortable he's looked in ages. There is also talk about getting him on a treadmill. They have some contraption where he's somewhat suspended over a treadmill. The idea is that since his right leg is working to some degree (I'll talk more about that a little later) that it might encourage the left leg to take a little walk, too. His left arm and leg have been moving a very little bit. It's very much like the right side started moving. That's really promising to us and where he's headed. His right side is freakishly strong for someone who's mostly been in a bed for 2 months, and he's really started moving that leg. This weekend, he was grabbing his knee and shin, and after I left today, he was lifting his whole leg up off the bed. Not sure exactly why he did that, but we'll take it as a positive sign. 

Another big positive of the week is that he's been working a lot with the speaking valve. It's a workout in and of itself since he's really forced to do more of the work of breathing. We're also getting to hear his voice more and more. That is very assuring to us. And, it moves him one step closer to cap trials, meaning the end of the trach being his primary airway. We will most likely keep the trach for a while because they want to keep a protected airway in case anything goes wrong, but it's still exciting nonetheless.

Last night Sam and I had a really good game of ball. I would hold the ball in different places so he had to track it and told him to grab it. After he did that, I asked him to put it back in my hand, which he also did. We did that 5-10 times before he decided it was definitely his ball and refused to give it back to me. That might not seem big, but to me it was stinking huge. This is great step toward that waking up we've all been waiting for!

Even as Sam moves forward, he continues to struggle with (usually) daily throwing up and the occasional lip biting. The biting isn't as frequent as before, but it seems that as soon as the lip is just about to heal again, he has a biting session. It's still much better than it was. As for the throwing up, we're trying really hard to convince people to wait to do respiratory care or move him at all within a half hour of eating. Because after all...

People are really coming around to our point of view because they're tired of being barfed on. We would just like him to not lose any more weight. 

Friday night was the choir dessert show, where last year, Sam sang She's Always a Woman--which, naturally was the first song on the radio today as I headed home. I was doing fine with the concert until the men's choir sang For the Longest Time. I managed to hold it together, but my heart hurt a little knowing my boy wasn't up there singing with them. On a much more positive note, we did procure our five tickets to the Billy Joel concert in San Antonio this coming December. We plan on it being a family celebration, as it will be almost one year since the accident by then. And in the meantime, if Billy wants to join #TeamSam, we will certainly welcome him with open arms!

Moving forward, please keep those prayers coming! We're still waiting for the big wake up, and we'd love to see all of these little setbacks stop getting in the way of that. And even though the blog posts have been a little more sparse, we know you are still with us. Thanks for all of the messages of encouragement. They mean the world to us!

Today's picture is from almost a year ago when Sam went to his first All State Choir performance. As he continues his work with the speaking valve, we're really looking forward to hearing his voice again!