Sunday, October 17, 2010

Busy, busy!

Wow! Time is just NOT on my side these days, but I continue to trudge along and keep on going forward! There's no reverse in this journey we are in. :)

A lot has happened in the past 9 days that I haven't posted. I'll try to summarize it without leaving out any details.

Last weekend, October 9th, Troy's mom, brother, sister, twin nephews, and niece were here to visit with him. It was a wonderful weekend! He joked around and we all laughed so much at his jokes by the end of the weekend my cheeks were sore. His mom brought with her different foods and cakes his mom and family had made for him and, of course, his grandmother's famous iced tea! He was so happy with all of them being here. What a blessing it was for all of them to make it here this weekend.

And yes, that's the best picture of Troy we could get. He was being SUCH a clown and wouldn't smile nice for the camera. LOL.

Our 7 year wedding anniversary was on that Sunday, October 10th. It was pretty emotional for him, especially after everyone left, because he dwelled on the fact that he couldn't drive out to go get me something. I consoled him and told him that the simple fact that he was still alive and talking with me on that day was the best gift he could have ever given me! I told him, with what you have been through and as hard as you have worked in your therapy, you don't owe me any gifts for at least the next 5 years! After that, though, you'll have to come up with some pretty neat stuff if you want me to still stick around. We both busted out laughing, both of us laughing with tears in our eyes. It was awesome to see him so happy!

On Tuesday, October 12th, it was his birthday, so I drove up to see him with the girls and we all surprised him (every patient in the house with the nurses) and came into his room singing him happy birthday with a cake! He was so surprised and again, a bit emotional, but much better this time. He was happy to see the girls and I again and I continuously reminded him how blessed he was to see this birthday! He agreed!

On Thursday of this week Troy was taken to Shepherd Center and he did some swimming therapy. I heard it went very well; Troy wasn't too happy though, he says it wore him out. But the therapist said he will now go once a week for swimming therapy to help build his strength with some low pressure exercises in the water. Also, on Friday he had an appointment at Shepherd Center to check his bladder and kidneys to see why he has been getting so many urinary tract infections. I have not gotten the results of those tests yet, so please keep that in your prayers, as well.

This Saturday, October 16th, Troy, the girls and I went to Georgia Aquarium. We were blessed with tickets to the Aquarium and the Deepo's 3D show at the Georgia Aquarium. It was amazing! We had such a wonderful time! I even got a picture of Troy standing next to the shrimp tank looking at shrimp with Tyra. His chair is behind him and his nurse (which came along with us) was standing behind him, but he held himself up there for a good 5 minutes and didn't want to sit back down...LOL)
In the picture, Tyra is the one hanging off the top of the tank in the picture and if you're wondering what that is on his head, it's his eye patch; he has to wear it so he doesn't see double.

This is a family picture of us at Georgia Aquarium.



He has that look on his face in this picture because he was crying most of time we were there. He just kept saying he was crying happy tears and he was so happy to be there with his family and enjoying us again. He kept saying how he has taken us for granted and will never do that again. Typing this now brings tears to my eyes because I know how much he wanted to be able to get up and walk around and run after Tyra and goof around like he always used to, but I also reminded Troy how this experience is humbling him and all of us in the process. We need to know that we aren't invincible and that we are nothing without God in our lives and by our side. I was so grateful for the person who blessed us with those tickets! It was definitely memorable and the look on Troy's face looking around at all the fish and sea creatures and taking it all in, was priceless!

And to finish this weekend off I took Troy and the girls to I-HOP. That was lots of fun too (except for Troy and Tyra were singing at the top of their lungs songs that came up on the intercom as we ate -- Brianna and I just had this mortified look on our faces...LOL)

Another interesting thing that happened this weekend was that Troy has decided he wants to move out West. I have asked him if he's sure over and over and in different ways and every time he says YES. He wants to move out there to get away from it all. He wants to start his new life and start fresh. I don't know when exactly that will be happening, or if it will even pan out, but I have already told Troy that I will follow him wherever he wants to go. He is thinking California, but I already told him that's not happening. So, we have compromised and are considering Washington or Oregon. Of course, nothing will happen unless God wills it so, so we'll see what happens with that. I know wherever we end up at, we'll be just fine as a family.

I do find that we now laugh more, share more, hug and kiss more than we ever did before; both as husband and wife and as a family. Troy is truly my soul mate and I'm so blessed to have him as my husband!

4 comments:

  1. God bless you all. it is so good to hear of some normal in your lives. i want to get up there soon and hope to see you all in the next few weeks. Troy this is one time i would say don't go west young man!! we will miss you to much. God bless you all. Love Brian & Linda

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  2. SO great how well he is doing! I am in tears reading about his progress!!

    How about you move North West......to Alberta, Canada!! LOL I only wish!

    Keep trucking along Troy! You and Joan are truly an inspiration to all of us who complain about the mundane things in life when that is really not what is important!

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  3. This is wonderful to read and hear of Troy's progess. Let him there is family out west too (we will be in Washington until 2014 :-)

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  4. Out West--Hmm...we're from "out West". We lived in Englewood, Colorado for 30 years. It's a great place. In fact, there is one of the nations leading rehab centers there for spinal cord and brain injury patients (Craig Hospital). But if you really want to "get away from it all," you'd better try Nevada or the Western slope of Colorado--like Grand Junction or Durango.

    Keep up the good work Troy and family. We continue to pray. God is at work and He will lead you exactly to where he wants you to be.

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