Wednesday, November 17, 2010 at 2221

He Da Man!

David had a fantastic day today. He didn't have any early morning appointments so he slept in a bit and he headed to the hospital about 1230. It was necessary for me to do a bit of running around taking care of errands for him and he went ahead and started his PT without me. I was a bit jealous that I wasn't there.

Yesterday I tried to do some of his exercises with David. He was using a 12 pound medicine ball so I grabbed one and laid down next to him and was trying to mimic his motions. It was not that easy. He told me the area on my sides that this particular exercise was suppose to help and I told him I couldn't really feel anything there so he told me "don't use your legs", oh my gosh, I took them out of the equation and I could feel everything. It's hard to play like you don't have legs when you do. I'm sure it's even worse to play like you have legs when you don't.

I'm going to be learning a bit more about mirror therapy so I can try to help David. David has told me that your nerves seem to remember their last impulse before they no longer existed. David's feet always feel like his heels are being pushed really hard and that his toes are forward, curled under and being crushed. In mirror therapy, Lynn (his therapist) tries to put her leg in a position that makes it look like it is an extension of his leg through the mirror - she then asks him to direct her in putting her foot in the exact position he feels. Once that is achieved, she begins to slowly move her toes and straighten her foot and relax her heal - David can feel her every movement. It is very important that we learn the technique so he can get some relief. He has been told that if he can consistently do the mirror therapy for a few weeks, the pain may completely go away.

Yesterday we also went to Dermatology. There is a laser specialist that met with us and now David is scheduled for surgery on the 6th of December. They will be working on both legs, on his right hand and arm, and on his stomach scars. This laser surgery should relieve some tight area where the scar sights have attached themselves to the muscles instead of being more like natural skin and can be moved around. The offered to permanently take the hair off of his legs but Pete, his Prosthestist (sp) is not sold on the idea because the hair enables the leg to dissipate heat and the sweat is a good thing for the pours. Now I don't want you ladies out there to think it's time to grow out your hairy legs just so you can dissipate heat and sweat better - us men like your legs just they way they are. This upcoming surgery should only be about an hour long and will not interrupt his PT or OT efforts.

I never finished telling you why David is DA MAN - it's because today he did 3 (three) (THREE) yes THREE complete laps around the halls WITHOUT STOPPING. That's approximately 450 yards without stopping. Yesterday David figured out that he could walk a little better and longer if he had music that he walks to. It helps him gain a rhythm - proving that us white guys really do have rhythm. There was only one bad part to finding out about the music - he used his top of the line cell phone to play the music and he really didn't have a way to carry it so he put it inside his shirt and his sweat destroyed the phone. We spent an hour or two last night at Sprint checking to see what happened - just shows you how manly us Lyon guys are - even our sweat is powerful.

I got some discs made of the pictures I've taken so I can get some of them on this blog and as I went through them to make sure they were acceptable photos, the tears just started to flow because there is a very distinct memory and emotion with each photograph. We, all of us who love David, are very blessed to have him and his strength in our lives. It's like saying that no matter how things get - it'll be OK through some great effort.

Tomorrow morning we're going Kayaking for David's Occupational Therapy - if I drown, I'll meet you in heaven - at least I hope I'll be able to come up there and visit all of you.

All My Love

Gordon

P.S. Rachelle, if I'm home for the family Christmas Party - I will be Santa.

P.S. JJ, you are a great inspiration to all of us too - you're doing incredible. David and I talk about you and your accomplishments often. He's very proud of his little brother.

P.S. I miss you all very very much and I love you!!!!