Being Thankful…
November 25, 2007 | Updates
Things have been busy around here. Samuel went to church just 2 days after his surgery and participated in the Primary Program. We recorded his “speaking” part into a switch box and he pushed the button when it was his turn to “talk”. I actually didn’t think he would make it through the whole 3 hour block of church, but he did wonderfully well. He actually goes to Primary by himself each week while I spend time in Nursery with Nathan and then in Young Women’s. The Primary is great to watch out and care for him for those 2 hours and he loves being with the kids and especially watching them sing. I appreciate them all so very much for helping us to make church as “normal” as possible for all of us.
Samuel attended school all the next week with no problems really. He had some residual pain for a few days that we treated with tylenol and ibuprofen. Changing the dressings on the new tube was a huge ordeal for the first few days because it was so painful. But after about a week, I was able to change them without any help from anyone else. I found that as long as I did things slowly and allowed Samuel time to deal with the discomfort, he was pretty good to let me change them without too much of a fight. I am going to try and take him to see the doctor sometime this week though because the area around the tube is still fairly red (just about an 1/8th of an inch out from the tube), but there also appears to be some scar tissue growing around the outer edges of the incision and that is not supposed to be there. So, I’d like to just make sure things look the way they should.
Otherwise, the tube has been a very nice thing. It took me a week to stop looking for the end of the nose tube when I would go to move or lift Samuel because we’ve had to do that for 2 1/2 years to keep it from getting caught on things and pulled out. It was strange to realize just how much attention we had paid to it. Below is a picture of the new tube. You’ll also notice Samuel’s little ribs. He actually weighs about exactly what he should, but because he isn’t mobile, he doesn’t breathe as deeply as he should. He mostly breathes with his abdomen and does not use the muscles in his chest as he should. We will hopefully start a therapy in April (in Canada) that will help to remedy his collapsing rib cage.
We celebrated Ben’s eighth birthday a few days before Thanksgiving (see picture below). We drove to Orem and stayed overnight at grandma’s house and had a fun little party for him at his Nana & Papa’s house. It was a good trip and the kids slept well. It’s nice to be able to travel with Samuel without quite so much equipment as we used to require. We were also able to visit some friends in Payson that evening. Thanksgiving was nice. We drove to Tom’s sister’s house over an hour away and ate dinner with them in their new home. Samuel had a good time and even spent some time watching Ratatouille and Shrek 3. It turned out to be a nice day.
So, that’s about it for now. I’ve been bad and haven’t been taking Samuel to therapy very often. Honestly, I got tired of it. I know that’s a terrible excuse, but it’s the truth. I got tired of going for an hour and letting the therapists watch him. That was really about all we were doing. I miss Ryan, our old physical therapist. He was always coming up with new ideas and new exercises that we could do with Samuel at home and I felt we were accomplishing something when we were with him. And I’ve about given up on finding an experiences speech therapist. Everyone of them who has worked with Samuel has pretty well been at a loss on what to do with him. I don’t know. I guess I just decided that working with him at home is doing him just as much good and it saves us a trip to Logan and back. Maybe when the holidays are over, we’ll start up again. But for now, I need a break from it.
We did get his walker the other day. We won’t really be able to try it for a few weeks until I am certain it won’t hurt his stomach at all. I don’t want him to associate the walker with pain, so we want to be really careful there. We do have an appointment with NACD this week to redo his home therapy program. I’ve been a bit frustrated with that program for a while also. I guess maybe I’m just a little frustrated overall that we haven’t seen a lot of physical progress in Samuel lately. But I know I just need to be patient.
That being said, I am so thankful this year for all that we have been blessed with. I am so thankful for the little boy who graces our life each and everyday with his contagious smiles and beautiful auburn, curly hair. I gave a lesson in church today and talked a little bit about Samuel’s accident. It caused me to reflect for a moment on the little boy he was before his accident. I really haven’t done that for a long time. It reminded me of just how close he and I were. He was my little busom buddy and we did everything together. He was fun to have around and had such a wonderful smile. He lifted me everyday of my life. He was such a joy. I guess not much has changed since then. We still do everything together. He is still my busom buddy. And he is fun to have around and has such a wonderful smile. He still lifts me everyday and is such a joy in my life. I am so grateful for that.
And I can’t forget how grateful I am for my husband and for my 4 other boys. I don’t know what I would do without each one of them. So are so different and so individual, yet they each bring something to my life that I so desperately need. And they are so loving and helpful. I take joy in each and everyone of them and I hope they know that.
I’m also so thankful for all of our extended family and friends who have done so much for us in our lives and especially in the past few years. I have had the chance to reflect lately on several individuals who made such a difference for us during Samuel’s ordeal. I thought of mentioning them in this post, but then realized how very, very many of you there are and I was certain I could not list you all without forgetting someone. (If you know me, you know my brain is a little fried :)!) But I hope you all know who you are. From those of you who called to comfort us to those who posted on the site to those who donated money to those who held fundraisers to those who cared for my children while I was away to those who offered up simple, but powerful prayers to those who visited to those cooked meals to those who sat by Samuel’s bedside either in the hospital or in our home and so many, many others who offered heartfelt service - no matter how big or small - I literally can NEVER thank you enough. So in tiny words on a little inconspicuous blog barely visable in this immense universe they call the internet, I leave you these simple words: “Thank you. And may God bless you 100 fold for all you have done for us. I wish there was someway I could repay you all myself.”
Love,
The Jewkes
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November 26th, 2007 at 10:17 am, Caradie & Corbin Says:
We love you & thank you too Teresa!!!!
Caradie & Corbie
November 27th, 2007 at 10:54 pm, Natalie Says:
What an uplifiting beautiful post! It is just so neat to see Samuel each week when you post. He is looking great! I love the pic of him on the floor with his huge smile! He is just so adorable. And I have to say the pic of all of your fellas together is quite a handsome group! What a lucky lady you are to be surrounded by so many good-looking guys!
I’m glad you’re adjusting to the new ‘tube’. I’m hoping you’ll just continue to love it. Hope you have a great Holiday season. Love ya!
nat
November 30th, 2007 at 11:51 pm, Tammy and Parker Says:
Been thinking of you guys.
Parker got his G-tube too.
Give Samuel a big hug from us, k?
December 5th, 2007 at 12:53 am, Sue Searles Says:
It’s so good to see the picture of Samuel looking so happy. How are things going with his new g-tube?
I can relate to what you said about not going to therapy. Sometimes I think to myself I can do what they do with Luke at home. Luke ran out of therapies for the year, he only gets 60 appointments. So we are taking a break until January. It seems weird not to be going to appointments.
Love in Christ,
Sue