Robbie amazes us every day. In the midst of his suffering and pain, he continues, in sign language, to say “thank you” to everyone for everything. He says “thank you” to his mom and dad probably 20 times in a one-hour period as we rub him wherever the next spasm hits. He says thank you to the nurse when she gives him meds or food. He says thank you to every doctor, and there are many. He even says thank you to the PT people after they make him stand for so long he is literally weeping and screaming. Many who have been around him have begun calling him “Mr. Thankful”.
Many times during the day we tell him, “Robbie, we love you and know you are thankful, you don’t have to say it.” The problem, and he knows it well, is that the very act of signing “Thank you” causes his biceps to seize up and hurt him - but he does it anyway. How many parents are trying to keep their kids from being too thankful? Have you ever heard of such a thing?
When his spasms keep him and Tanja’s parents up through most of the night, he spells out “I’m sorry”. When we have trouble reading what he spells out to the point that he gets frustrated and we have to calm him down, he spells “I’m sorry.” When he catches an expression of exhaustion or frustration on our faces (that we always try to hide from him), he spells “I’m sorry”. When he starts crying about his condition or missing home or missing friends and we have to spend time comforting him, he calms down and then spells, “I’m sorry.” It has gotten to where he begins “I - M - S...” and we stop him and say, no Robbie, you have no need to say “I’m sorry”.
He has been a real warrior in physical therapy. He knows there going to try to get him to stand or walk, which causes extreme pain, and he asks to do it and then tries to do more than they ask for. Pray that he can have the same attitude in speech therapy. He just gets so upset and frustrated when he can’t make even the simplest of sounds - ma ma ma or da da da - or when he is unable to move a little bit of food to the back of his mouth in order to swallow. PRAY THAT HIS TONGUE WILL BEGIN WORKING!
And, as always, please pray for a complete recovery and a thorough healing of every part of his body and that God do this quickly!
Thanks to all,
Ken and Tanja