Our Journey to Healing Day 454
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Psalm 30:2
2 O Lord my God, I cried to you for help,
and you restored my health.
As we roll into September (pun intended), we thought it may be a good time to just give you all a little life update. Obviously a year ago, things were changing so quickly with Derek's health that updates every few days were almost necessary. We are happy to report back that the reason you haven't heard from us much with health stuff is that not much has happened!
- Our big praise (and big pain) is that we are on the track to getting Derek's smile fixed. As you may recall, we believe Derek hit the underpass face first. His face-mask was completely shattered and when the neurosurgeon handed me his helmet, a tooth fell out! Little did I know what a pain busted teeth can be! I am sure there are several of you out there nodding your head because you have been there and done that.
Basically, he is missing 7 teeth and we are on step 2 of the 5 step teeth plan- braces! We are so thankful for Gordon Orthodontics who stepped in to save the day. Derek's braces will remain on for another 16 months and then we will start step 3- implants. We joke that our unborn children will probably have teeth faster.
Ps. Derek is missing his two front teeth. Did you know that they can create fake teeth to attach to braces? We will get those added on around Christmas. So here in a few weeks, you won't even notice the missing teeth!
- After a 6 month process, we finally have him back on the road with hand controls. Basically, there is a handle to the left of the steering wheel that he pulls and pushes for gas and brakes. On top of the steering wheel, there is a knob (some call it a suicide knob). This knob helps him steer the car easily since he does not have his core.
I can still drive our vehicle. I just need to pop off the steering knob each time I get in the car...because the one time I didn't do that, my sleeve got caught on it while I was turning. I about smoked a utility pole.
If you live in Indiana and have an injury, make sure to check out your Vocational Rehab program. It is a state funded program to help those with disabilities get back to work. They actually paid for the updates on our vehicle!
- Barkus is doing great. He is slowly coming out of the puppy chewing stage which had both of our ankles bleeding and a couple weeks of me sleeping on the couch. He is all about people and started puppy school a couple weeks ago. He has learned very quickly that adults have treats, dogs do not. So, he usually heads straight to all the people perusing around looking for a tasty snack.
Derek officially got his first fall out of the way. As silly as it sounds, it was something we were both kinda waiting to happen and obviously dreading. Well, God turned that moment into a fun memory:
As Derek was transferring onto the couch, his leg spasmed and sent him into a 180 tailspin, landing him on the floor. As I scrambled around the kitchen island to get to him, Barkus found his lap first! Within 5 seconds, that sweet dog was snuggling and loving on Derek. He was just thrilled to have his dad down at his level!
After checking to make sure he was ok (just checking the blood pressure for an A.D. effect from the fall) we sat down there a bit with Barkus before transferring to the couch (which took us 6 attempts). All in all, it was a success...well except for the broken big toe we discovered the next day...Quarry is finally moving along! We started demo work last week and it is looking great. To keep updated on the house renovations, head on over to the "House" tab at the top of the blog. Random photos of the renovation will be posted on our Facebook group (Lavenders Longshot) or in our Instagram stories (lavenderslongshot).
Our spirits are high and your prayers are felt. Although we still have our tough days or times that this injury is just really frustrating, overall, life is amazing.
With Love,
The Lavenders
