Bison Bone Cooked to Shreds

This is what a bison bone looks like after you cook it to shreds! And it is still making good bone broth to help heal the gut and aid digestion.

I have been making bone broths for Kevin since we were introduced to the GAPS diet a few years ago. We are not following the specific GAPS diet anymore but I continue to make the bone broths. I use 2 cups of bone broth to cook his vegetables in every morning and then just add the left over liquid to the meals. It's really easy. I just always cook his meat in the crock pot and save the broth. When I cut up the meat I save the bones and fat in a ziplock and freeze until I need more broth and cook in the crock pot for at least 24 hours. The chicken bones I normally only cook once more but this bison bone I cooked at least 6 different times. To find out more about these homemade broths and why they are so healing for the gut go to www.gapsdiet.com. And if you need help finding good meat and bones to use, find your local farmers at www.localharvest.org. If you live in our area we have been using www.redrunbison.com for years.

Summer Fun with Ryan, Emma, & Sara

A Cold + Rainy Morning = Happy to be a "Homeschooler"

So you know when you wake up in the morning and its raining and you just want to roll over and spend the morning in bed…I did that this morning! Well sort of. I heard it start raining about the time I got out of bed and I did my normal morning routine. But Kevin had gone to bed the night before with some cold symptoms emerging and I suspected he might be a bit miserable this morning. Normally we immediately start program, but I made the decision to take a break this morning and snuggle in bed and watch his favorite show before going downstairs. I love morning snuggle time and was feeling especially grateful for being a “homeschooler” to have the opportunity to change the routine instead of rushing off to school or work. By the time Kevin's cold medicine kicked in he was feeling much better and we were able to accomplish a light program today. 

Magic X3

Three important things have significantly improved in Kevin’s life within the last 3 months since our revisit. Three things that have been prayed for daily. And three things that a lot of time and hard work have been spent on for several years. So it almost seems like magic when they suddenly appear.

1. Lycopodium - I believe this is the magic puzzle piece to achieving daily BM’s with Kevin. Lycopodium Clavicum is a homeopathic remedy that I am pretty certain may be what is making this a success right now. There is still work to be done in this area, that you probably don’t want to read about, but I am relieved that he is going and no colonic visits since May. 

2. Time Out - We have tried several Time Out variations over the years but it never seemed to be effective until now. We recently began belly crawling (army crawl) again - probably our least favorite program activity but one of the most important programs needed for brain injured kids. A few days into the crawling he just laid down and refused. We were both being stubborn and I didn’t want him to think he could get away with not doing laps so I proceeded to push him from behind as I am already placing his feet in proper position for the toe dig. The next day, my chronically sore shoulder was in a lot more pain. So the next time Kevin refused to crawl I knew I needed to find another way. So I took him to his room for a 10 minute Time Out. Afterwards, he came back downstairs and finished his crawling with no complaints. I have used this a few times this week and it really feels like magic! Anytime, he begins to refuse, I ask him if he needs a break, he very willingly walks up to his room and sits in his chair (he only has a bed and chair in his room), and after 5-10 minutes I open the door and he walks down the stairs and immediately gets on the floor to crawl and finish his laps. Something has clicked in his brain and I love that it happens so peacefully. 

3. Solisten - Kevin had his third session with the Solisten headphones at the end of May and he immediately began making verbal sounds. The headphones are only used for 13 days but making sounds has continued to progress. In fact, that bad gulping habit he had has significantly decreased and been replaced by babbling. It is magical and is music to my ears. In fact, music is sometimes exactly what it sounds like when he is making verbal sounds. He even started repeating a babble that sounds just like the popular four-notes from Beethoven’s 5th Symphony “short-short-short-long”. I haven’t caught that on video yet, but I did capture another favorite babble/singsong he has repeated for us. Click on the link below to hear these wonderful and happy sounds.

Foot Update

Here is a summary of Kevin's progress since the Hyprocure Surgery in April.

Week 4 - water therapy, began standing and walking in water

Week 5 - began wearing shoes and standing

Week 6 - began wearing the Mollii Suit

Week 7 - began taking steps

Week 8 - began initiating walking

Week 9 - lots more walking without holding on 

Week 12 - independently walking around the house and climbing steps

Week 14 - began walking 300 yards 3X day & belly crawling

I was working on our FHC Progress Report during the last week of July. This was just after we had begun belly crawling around the house and walking sessions outside with Kevin. His right foot looks really good but his left foot began getting worse with the increased walking.

We quickly began communicating our concerns regarding Kevin’s left foot to the foot doctor and FHC. His left foot is still turning in, he is not standing flat on it, and he is not putting his heel down when walking. Due to the fact that Kevin has left sided weakness from his in utero stroke, it makes it challenging to get control of that side of his body.

After our discussion with the foot doctor he brought to our attention that the ankle support looked good. We knew that the surgery would not correct his foot from turning in. He reminded us how Kevin’s ankle used to sprain when he walked any kind of distance. So this made us feel a little better that he had been walking with no sprains. He also said that Kevin’s arch looked good, pronation (walking on the inside of his foot) was better, better control, and his ankles are not collapsing.

The foot doctor also suggested that we communicate with the Mollii Suit people to see if there was anything they could do to help. We have had the Mollii Suit about 2 1/2 months. When he first wore the Mollii Suit, the day before his foot surgery, it did correct his foot from turning in and he also correctly walked with his arms down at his sides. It has been difficult to judge the changes we were seeing with the Mollii Suit when he began wearing it because after the surgery we were starting all over again with the walking. I did feel like at some point, we were seeing better walking from Kevin the day after wearing the Suit. But now the reality was his walking always looked bad and seemed to be quickly getting worse. 

It was then suggested to check to make sure the Mollii Suit was working properly. To my surprise it was not working. I could not feel any signals or stimulation when the suit was turned on. I will admit, I felt foolish, for not thinking to check this sooner. It seems that there is a technical problem with the control unit. I have no idea how long it has not been working. I was somewhat relieved to find out that this is a technical problem and we can expect to see progress once it is returned to us and working properly. But I feel frustrated because I have to wait for the control unit to ship to Sweden, get repaired, and then ship back to us. Despite having a few complications with the Mollii Suit, I am confident that we will continue to have success with it (his body and nervous system will respond again once it is fixed) and have been very pleased with the company addressing our concerns. 

In the meantime, we have dusted off the walking track. The new plan right now is, to walk, walk, walk in the track and of course belly crawl, crawl, crawl on the floor. The good news is that we are able to use the walking track on the front porch. So we get the pleasure of walking outside but never actually leave the porch. Kevin loves to see what is going on in the neighborhood, watch our neighbors come and go, watch the dog walkers, and he is always on the look out for a big truck to drive down the street.

So until the Mollii control unit is repaired and returned to us we shall "walk the plank" and hope to see some improvement in his walking. I believe we need both the results from the Hyprocure surgery and the Mollii Suit before he can begin walking some distance on his own. Hopefully this will happen before the snow starts.

New Mollii Suit Jacket

The Mollii Suit is supposed to have a tight fit so that the electrodes have contact with his skin and he feels the stimulation. The Mollii jacket fit Kevin very tight around the belly and we began having some complications. One day I put the suit on Kevin and got the zipper jammed and had to wait for Jon to come home and help me get the zipper unstuck. Anytime he wore the suit (every other day) I needed an extra person to hold the zipper together while zipping it up, that’s how tight it was. We were communicating our concerns to Inerventions in Sweden. First, they sent us a second jacket size but unfortunately it did not solve the fit around the belly problem. As you can see in the picture below, the zipper would open up on the bottom.

Inerventions responded to our continued concerns with the jacket and had the factory in Sweden take this same size jacket and add some extra material to give him more room around the belly and make it easier to zip up. The jacket now fits Kevin much better around his belly and I can zip it up very easily, all by myself. He still has some belly showing but no electrodes are located in the lower part of the jacket so the jacket is doing it’s job.

Remembering Kevin's Grandpa

Jon's Dad recently passed away on June 24, 2014.

Jon, Kevin, and I went to church the following Sunday. The second reading was from Timothy that day. This reading has a lot of meaning for me because it has been used for several funerals in my family. I have also been asked to read this same reading twice, for my Grandpap and also for my Uncle's funeral. Jon's Dad requested that no funeral be held for him although we did have a lovely private graveside service. It felt like divine intervention that this Timothy reading was read (by our good friend Ms. Louise) at church for us to be able to say good bye in a way that is familiar to us. 

2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18

I am already being poured out like a libation,
and the time of my departure is at hand.
I have competed well; I have finished the race;
I have kept the faith.
From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me,
which the Lord, the just judge,
will award to me on that day, and not only to me,
but to all who have longed for his appearance.

The Lord stood by me and gave me strength,
so that through me the proclamation might be completed
and all the Gentiles might hear it.
And I was rescued from the lion’s mouth.
The Lord will rescue me from every evil threat
and will bring me safe to his heavenly Kingdom.
To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.

My Father in Law

10/23/1944 - 6/24/2014

I don’t remember exactly when I first met Ron and Jackie but I know it had to be our first year at Ohio University after Jon and I met. That would have been 1992 - which adds up to be 22 years ago! 

I was always included in their visits with Jon. Ron and Jackie would drive the four hours to OU, stop in Jon’s room long enough to drop off a couple cases of pop (if they had just been down south it would be CheerWine and SunDrop), take us out to eat (usually Ponderosa), and then drop us off on campus and go back home. I remember it feeling odd to me that their visit would be so short, there were rarely hugs (if there were hugs it was purely for my benefit) and certainly never any tearful goodbyes (like when I was with my family). I quickly learned that they were not an emotional family, but it was also quite clear that Jon came from a good family, who showed their love in other significant ways.

One of my favorite stories to tell about Ron, is from our Junior year, moving into the College Inn. I found Jon and his Dad outside unloading the Jeep truck and Ron had been grumbling (I’m being nice because he was really swearing) and then he saw me and immediately changed his attitude and gave me a real friendly greeting and then turned around and went back to grumbling. 

It wasn’t until spring break, our Junior year that I finally made my first visit to Brockway Road in LeRoy. Ron took us out and showed me all the area sights of their little town of LeRoy, the big city of Cleveland and Lake Erie, and even the Amish with horse drawn carriages. On another visit, he welcomed both me and my sister when we made the long flight from the Dayton airport to the Cleveland airport to go to Sea World.

When they began sending me birthday cards, I did not believe Jon when he told me it was his Dad that bought, signed, and addressed the cards. And it also surprised me when I discovered that Ron did household chores, like vacuuming. When I mentioned this to my Mom, she made a comment that she hoped Jon would do household chores like his Dad because that would make a good husband. And he has - his Dad has positively influenced the man, husband, father, son, and successful businessman that Jon is today.

Only about a month after Jon and I were married, Ron’s Mom Cobie, passed away. At the funeral, Jon and all the grandkids were escorting the casket out of church and I had this brief moment of feeling awkward because Jon wasn’t by my side and I was left alone with his parents, but as we exited the pew my new father in law very thoughtfully put his arm on me and made me feel included and a real part of their family. 

Ron was still working at Sears when we moved into our house and he was able to get us some great deals and generous gifts on the many new items needed for our home. He retired not long after we moved which benefited us greatly as he was always willing to help us with our many projects (which were always in between his own home projects after they moved into Cobie’s house). Ron and Jackie were with us for countless hours helping us build our front porch, for many other home improvement projects, and many projects for Kevin’s program. He was always willing to help us and never overstepping boundaries. And when he was at our house he always greeted and made light conversation with our neighbors, which they remember to this day.

Some of the fond memories I have of my Father in Law include the times we traveled together. Just a couple months after we were married we traveled to North Carolina for a Carroll family reunion. While we were there he made sure I got to see all the key sights. We also traveled to Myrtle Beach for my first visit which afterwards they bought their own condo and generously let us use anytime we wanted. And one of my favorites was our trip to London. With Kevin, we also made a trip to Myrtle Beach while they were at their condo, and made some good memories with a trip to Oglebay and Niagara Falls. And of course all the times they traveled to Philadelphia to help Kevin during our visits to The Institutes and later The Family Hope Center. I have always appreciated the support both Ron and Jackie showed us when we made the decision to get help for Kevin with our friends in Philadelphia.

Other ways I have spent quality time with my Father in Law was during my pregnancy when he was recovery from heart surgery. Jackie had recently retired from teaching but was substitute teaching. I would come up to visit with lunch and ask Ron to show me photographs and tell me stories about his family because I was making a Family Tree Scrapbook. I loved hearing tales from when he was stationed in Europe, which is where he met Jackie, and all the fun adventures they had traveling around and in that corvette. Another time was when Kevin was a baby and our house was being renovated. Kevin and I stayed with them at that time. 

A few more recent favorite memories with my Father in Law include Ron and Sarah’s wedding, birthday celebrations with Kevin (even though he didn’t celebrate his own birthday), just hanging out at their house on a Sunday or holiday always feels like a mini vacation to me, Kevin’s many overnights at their house to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa without me hovering around, they would go for car rides and Kevin would get to sit on Grandpa’s tractor, the train he bought to put around the Christmas tree for Kevin’s delight, and I absolutely loved our last Christmas together, Ethan being almost one made it lively and fun. My last visit with my Father in Law was about a week before he went to the hospital. Kevin and I came up to visit on a Friday afternoon. Kevin had recently just began wearing the Mollii “Super Suit” and Grandpa had many good things to say to Kevin that made me feel encouraged.

So now it is time to say good bye to Ron (a husband, a father, a grandpa, a brother) and just like when I first met him 22 years ago at OU, this good man would want to keep it short with no tearful goodbye. Maybe it’s a helicopter or maybe it’s an old corvette but he would just want to drive away.