Robbie had a great Valentine’s day and the days leading up to it were good as well. He was blessed to have an avalanche of Valentine’s cards poured over him [see pic]. So many of you were involved in not only sending a card but getting many others to send them as well. Thank you so much for blessing him. He has no doubt that he is loved and being prayed for by so many people and that really lifts his spirit. When he saw the over 1,200 cards that piled over him on his bed, he said excitedly, “I’m a celebrity!”
Robbie continues to enjoy finding new ways to make people laugh in these past few days. He had a swallow study two days ago to see if he could begin eating more. When he was about to get his “swallow study”, he started giggling and said, “is that an African swallow or a European swallow?” For those of you who are fans of Monty Python’s “Quest for the Holy Grail”, you’ll get that play-on-words right away. For those of you who aren’t, don’t ask. :-)
He loved the swallow study because he was able to watch an x-ray of his mouth and throat drinking and eating various barium laden substances. His sisters thought it was pretty gross. Robbie, who was wearing his skeleton shirt for the occasion, thought it was “awesome”. The study went well and he was approved to eat food and drink all but very thin liquids (most of which can be thickened so pretty much anything goes). Robbie’s response to the good news was “I’m so happy!” - and he began immediately planning his first meal. He has eaten every bite of every meal since. His physical therapist, Cristi, came by on her day off with a bag of Taco Bueno “Beef Muchacho’s” and Robbie’s face could hardly contain the size of his smile.
With regards to speaking, Robbie continues to improve as well. We are now going almost the entire day without using the spell board. His Uncle Carter said yesterday, “We’re not going to be able to shut you up now, are we?” Robbie loves talking now more than ever. I doubt he’ll ever take this gift from God for granted again.
He continues to improve physically as well. He started swimming on his own this past week in pool therapy. He likes to stay underwater long enough to scare his mom [see pic]. His ankles and toes continue to keep him from being able to walk though he has been able to stand up on his own, holding on to something, for over a minute. It really hurts his toes a lot. Robbie’s right arm is still far from functional. He still struggles to grasp anything with his hand or stretch his arm out as well. Robbie doesn’t let these continued disabilities slow him down but you can tell he has some questions in his mind that he is pondering. The other evening, he got a bit solemn and asked his mom, “If you had to decide, would you rather I be able to talk or walk?” Tanja said that she wouldn’t make a decision like that and that we want both for him and believe God is going to give all of his abilities back to him.
Besides the amazing amount of Valentine’s Cards, Valentine’s day was full of fun for Robbie and his sisters. Shelby and Bethany made a scavenger hunt through the entire hospital. Robbie enjoyed buzzing around on his motorized wheel chair to find all 14 hearts, which ended with a bag of lego-shaped candy. Later that day, our entire family was blessed to get some time away from the hospital for about 4 hours. We went to the mall to get him some boxer shorts and then went to the small apartment that Tanja and I have been staying in during this time. When we were returning to the hospital, Shelby asked Robbie, “what was your favorite thing about our outing?” Robbie said without hesitation, “getting out of that dumb hospital bed!”
We cannot tell you how much your prayers and show of support mean to all of us and especially to Robbie. Please continue to join us in prayer for FULL RECOVERY and also pray that we can go home to Fayetteville soon.
Grace and peace,
Ken and Tanja