These last few days have lifted our spirits beyond words. As encouraging as it is to see Robbie improving in abilities such as speech and movement, it is a far greater blessing to see how he is being encouraged. Up until today, we have still had an hour or two of difficulties that are most likely withdrawal related. Today, we did not even have that.
Yesterday was a day full of blessed memories. Robbie had good therapies and was especially excited to show his speech therapist his newfound “voice”. Every word he speaks is a beautiful sound, even though it is full of difficulty, sounds pained and slow, and is hard to understand. That evening he was blessed to have a visit from a beautiful golden retriever and he just loved every moment. This is part of Ark. Children’s “Animal Therapy” and I can’t imagine any patient enjoying “Cooper” more than Robbie (see attached pics).
I didn’t think the day could get any better but then his Uncle Carter showed up and it wasn’t long before Robbie said “Pah-eeeeennngk Pah-annntheeehhs” and everyone in the room clearly understood “Pink Panties”. Carter was laughing so hard he turned beet red and I thought Robbie was going to roll over the bed guards onto the floor he was rolling around laughing and laughing and saying “ha, ha, ha” and laughing some more. For those of you who missed my update a few days ago. His Uncle Carter said that when Robbie can say “Pink Panties”, he’ll be so excited he’ll wear some.
Well, we had some ready for him and Robbie’s Uncle Carter was true to his word. He put on some big ol’ pink panties (over his pants, thankfully) and Robbie got into a wheel chair, as agreed, and Carter walked him all the way down to first floor and out the front door with a chorus of laughter every step of the way. Tanja and I, Shelby and Bethany, my sister Becca (Carter’s, ...um, proud wife), Oma and Opa (Tanja’s parents), all of Robbie’s caretakers and many others got to enjoy seeing a young boy in a wheel chair who, though he has endured nearly two months of unbelievable pain, massive uncertainty and tragic disability, just couldn’t stop smiling from ear to ear.
Besides “Mom” and “Dad”, the words he works on the hardest are “Praise God”. Is it okay to praise God for an uncle who wears pink panties? Robbie thinks so, and he did many times. Today, Robbie continued to work his hardest on the words “God, Jesus, Holy Spirit.” He is still unable to make an “s” sound which frustrates him because he wants to say his sister Shelby’s name. 72 hours ago, just suggesting that he should practice trying to say something caused him to cry in frustration because he knew he couldn’t.
Thank you healer God.
PLEASE PRAY THAT HIS ANKLES, FEET AND TOES BEGIN TO RELAX. Even with the botox shots he received, nothing much has changed with his ankles and toes. This makes it incredibly painful to stand for even a minute and impossible for him to walk. God is listening to this army of prayer warriors. He is listening.
Thank you, again, for praying and we pray that you can share in the joy the God has blessed us with these past few days.
Grace and peace,
Ken and Tanja
P.S. - oh yes, there WILL be a “pink panty” video on its way. :-)