Hi!
Well, yesterday was a big day for Josh. He started college! Yet another hurdle crossed..hallelujah! He did call me in a panic, not being able to find the building where his first class was, but he finally located it and had two classes yesterday and also managed to get back and forth to two buildings and juggle the bookstore in there as well.
He decided to take his wheelchair because he had no idea the distance he would need to cover and he was thankful that he did, as he got quite a workout with his arms pushing himself all over the place! He seemed quite pleased with his efforts when he arrived home and was in very high spirits.
Josh had a real difficult time with school as a youngster through highschool. His graduation from high school was certainly a triumphant day for all of us! So, if you have a moment today, pray that he would experience great success and happiness as he embarks on this new chapter in his life, and recovery. He is pursuing a degree in the computer sciences, something he enjoys greatly and won't have too much of a deficit with his hands.
Vocational Rehab really came through for him big time, giving him all kinds of software for his laptop, voice recognition and a digital recorder for note taking, where he can attach it to his laptop and it digitally downloads the notes of each class onto his laptop. It's truly very amazing technology and we are thankful for the assistance that Robin, our voc. rehab. rep. continues to do for Josh. They also paid for his books, which was a very nice surprise.
Today he has one class, 2 on mon. & wed. and two on thurs. And, in addition to that, he continues to work with Rob at therapy and also go to the gym on his off days of therapy. We are very proud of his efforts and his hard work and tenacious spirit is paying off. He is now walking ONLY with his cane, refusing the walker anymore, so that will be garage saled along with the other things he left behind, a long time ago.
In fact, everywhere I go, people stop me and tell me that they see him at the gym and are amazed at what he is doing there...I'm always soooo happy to hear these reports. And apparently, he is really helping others stick to their new years goals! Imagine that?!
Next week he will be 20 and I'm reminded of the flood of birthday cards he received last year while we were in Atlanta @ Shepherd. Dip n Dots were delivered to the gym and we had a lot of fun. This year, we are FINALLY home and it is so nice. He won't be here for his birthday, as Brittany called me last week and Frazier is doing their national training next week, and of course, they always want Josh there as a patient for the students to work on. He's excited, because they pay him $150.00/day...ka-ching! Off to the Mac House for him to visit with our wonderful friends there, who became like family to us, he's looking forward to this!
Well, that's about it, sorry I've been so long. Have a beautiful day one and all, and thank you Lord for your MANY blessings and miracles in Josh's life

Karen