lots of izzle

Nicole here from New York, where there is drizzle and icky, cold weather. It's been a sunshiney couple of days at the Pres, though, so cheers to happy Jonathans, no matter what the precipitation percentage.

Jonathan continues to enjoy the quiet rehab floor, and he is beginning a lot of PT and OT, doing things like practicing getting into cars and showers and such. The goal of all of this is to send him out into the world where he will walk on his miraculously-rescued own two feet again and manage daily tasks.

As always, the hot item for debate remains the Clinitron bed (if you have forgotten, it is a two thousand pound fluidizing machine, more in the boat family than the bed). J has affectionately named it the Clinitrizzle. Hanging from the bed is his trapizzle, from which Jonathan's arms are (not surprisingly) getting huge again. Good to see my brother hasn't lost his flair for muscularizing at the drop of a hat. I digress. The point is that J may or may not be out of the Clinitron at some point soon. They need to prepare him for getting in and out of a bed at home! Hard to believe the things of which we speak these days - it is certainly a far cry from surgery every Friday!

All that to say, things are moving along, Jonathan still has open wounds, and he bleeds a lot - both things are sometimes a cause for anxiety and frustration. However, J is handling this (as all things) with a smile and a gentle spirit. He continues to win over nurses and doctors with his kind and uncomplaining heart. Wish I could say the same for myself..

I was watching Jonathan look at himself in the mirror for the first time a couple of days ago. I found myself surprised by how surprised he was at the shape of his leg. I took comfort in my own surprise. Jonathan's leg just looks sort of normal to me now, and I am hoping that it will become the same for him, that he will embrace his new self and love it just as he has always embraced and loved himself for the important stuff, never for the surfacey stuff. I certainly don't care what his leg looks like, and, in fact, I regard it with a fair share of awe for all that it has survived and still come out kicking!

The bad news report is that Mom is out with the stomach flu as of today, and I am about to get on a plane for a job interview. It seems that something is always happening around here! Pray for Mom's health and her spirits, and for Megan as she takes charge of care for 2/5 of our family all on her own! Mom is a trooper, and I can only imagine that her homesickness will be severely exacerbated by a bout with the stomach flu!

As for myself, this is the first time I have left Jonathan in fourteen weeks. You can imagine that I left with tears today, and that I look forward to being back soon. The last three months seem more of a fog than anything else to me right now, so I am hoping that some time away will help me to process, pray, be with my dad, and re-energize to come back and be with Jonathan through the final week or two of rehab.


Hope this is helpful.

Blessings through the drizzle,
Nicole