8/31/04 at 8:38 p.m.

Never has our home looked and been so inviting. I just wanted to lay on the floor and cry when I opened the front door. Jess traveled home in our van in the back seat next to me. He was very mellow...I think he knew where we were going. Thank you, Linda, for being our chaffeur. Chris drove the motorhome behind us. We are a little overwhelmed with hospital equipment, supplies and over 2 month's worth of stuff we accumulated in our stay in Boise. The paperwork alone is too much to endure. But, we are home safe and are so glad to be here. Jess has been doing some very different things since our arrival. He has a sign over his bathroom door that says "basketball rules". He stared at it for a very long time with a look of frustration and then all of a sudden he moved his right knee up and down and started more aggressive movements in his hands and arms. Maybe, just maybe this will finally spur our "wakeup". We had a very busy day with tube feedings every 3 hours, turning him every 2 hours, getting him up 2 or 3 times a day in his wheel chair, doing range of motion, organizing our totally unorganized life, scheduling in home therapies, finding a nutritionalist to get some weight on our skinny guy, researching an acupuncturist and most importantly... taking that spare moment to thank God that we are home safe and then asking kindly for help to keep us strong enough to know the right way to comfort and care for Jess while he continues on his path to recovering perfect, whole and complete.

Please forgive us if we don't get your phone calls, emails or letters answered right away. We are a little overwhelmed. But please know we are so grateful for your concern...our lives will settle down and we so look forward to hugging and thanking every single person that has touched us in one way or another. It is our goal....we are so blessed.

8/30/04 at 8:00 a.m.

Wow, school starts today! Sorry I have not been able to get to a computer for a couple days. We had a quiet weekend. We took Jess outside both days and he seemed to enjoy the sunshine and the breeze. We are heading home today. We do feel it is a good thing...to get Jess in his own environment but we are also a bit nervous not to have the watchful eyes. We have been doing everything for him for the last week to make sure we are doing what's right. We hope being home will help him to wake up and remember. Thanks again for wonderful benefit everyone participated in. We still can't believe the generosity of our community and the love we have experienced from so many. I will be on my own computer at home so I will be in touch. With love...

8/27/04 at 9:00 p.m.

Chris and Jess went in the pool this morning with the therapist. Again Jess seemed to relax and enjoy the warm water. He had a shower after the pool and fell asleep again. Very relaxing...until they woke him up to do physical therapy. We tried out his new wheel chair that we will be bringing home. I am learning to transfer him from the bed to the wheel chair. Amazingly I can get him there...but of course Chris gets a little nervous. I still need a little help. A weight lifting program is in my near future. Time to get some rest so good night to all...

8/26/04 at 11:42 a.m. - 10 weeks today

We just got Jess out of the pool! Kelsey came to Boise and she and the recreational therapist floated Jess around in the pool. It was so great to see him relax and be able to move his arms and legs freely. After a warm shower and a lotion massage he is sound asleep.

I mentioned in my last message that we will be leaving the Elk's next week. We have decided to bring Jess home. Chris and I have been in intensive training to be able to take care of his needs while he is home. He will be reevaluated at the end of September or sooner if he wakes up to see if he can return to the Elk's. Jess still has many challenges. He cannot hold his head up, sit alone, talk, eat or move his arms and legs in purposeful movements. He is a #4 out of 8 on the Rancho Los Amigos Scale http://www.waiting.com/rancholosamigos.html. We know how everyone would love to visit Jess at home but the professionals here at the Elk's have advised us that we need to try to maintain a peaceful quiet environment when we arrive home. The move will be traumatic for him. I will still try to update this website daily and please send emails to my personal account pmatey@cox-internet.com if you have questions. If he starts to respond and recognize friends and family we know he would love to see all of his wonderful friends. I will let you know. We are so blessed to have so many people that care about our Jess and that are so willing to help. We are surrounded by love and will forever be grateful.

8/24/04 at 8:00 a.m.

We heard there was one amazing party held in Hailey last night in honor of our son, Jess. My daughter, Jamie, called us in tears saying, "you wouldn't believe how many people were there to support my little brother". We wish we could have been there. There are not words large enough for our family to use to thank our community...our friends for what went on at Jess' benefit last night. We will spend our lifetimes giving back to whoever and whatever we can to show our gratitude. I have always believed "you have to give to receive". You are all incredibly wonderful and our love goes out to each and every person who participated in Jess' party. We live in an unbelievably gracious community. Chris heard Jess moaning in the night...we think the echo of "wake-up Jessie" traveled from Haily to Boise and he heard all of his wonderful friends sending him the message.

I have not made it into the computer room the last few nights to update you on Jess' progress. According to the therapists, Jess has reached a "plateau". They think he needs to leave the Elk's for a little while until he can "wake-up" and respond better to the therapy. We struggled with many emotions since we received the news last Friday. We had to come to the conclusion that for whatever reason we are being led down this new path, we must accept it and be positive that it is the best for Jess. We received these words on a card that I would like to share:

"With God, every day is a day to hope for the best, to believe our prayers are being heard, to believe good news is on its way and that anything can happen between yesterday and tomorrow." We only have today...

Our love and gratitude to all!

8/23/04

Hello today everyone, today is the day! Today is Jess's benefit, this afternoon at Zou 75 in Hailey! Come on over and join in on the benefit and let's see how much money we can make!!! From the friends of the Matey's

8/20/04 at 9:24 p.m.

My day started at 5:00 a.m. this morning so I am a bit rummy. Jess made it through surgery on his mouth with flying colors. The doctor said his teeth look good and the jaw set perfectly. They were not sure if they could take the trache out after surgery because they wanted to make sure he was breathing strong. But of course, he did so well the trache is now gone!!! I thought he would be very tired tonight but he is still awake. Teenagers start their day at this time of night thought, don't they? He must be getting better. Thank you for the good thoughts and prayers...they worked for a successful day today. Love to all...

8/19/04 at 5:45 p.m.

The nurses informed me early this morning that Jess was "wiggling" a lot in the night. It continued all day. He was trying to move his arms and head so much that they had to put a wide elastic belt around his stomach where the feeding tube is so he would not pull it out. On several occassions he kept trying to reach for the trache. We are so glad it is coming out in the morning. So therapy progressed interestingly, he stood up with a supporting stand and the help of 4 of us during physical therapy. He stood tall and tried to hold his head up. Chris said he felt like he was looking him square in the eyes which means he has grown. He has always wanted to be as tall as his dad. They have made special braces for his feet to help support him. He only weighs 134 lbs...down from 160 lbs when the accident happened. It seemed to help stimulate him being upright on his feet. When we put him back to bed the speech therapist arrived. She held a cup out in front of him and asked him to reach for the cup. He did and he then gave it back to her. He did it three times. I cried. She was about to cry also. He then followed his small red & blue dunking ball with his eyes (tracking as they call it) as she moved it in front of his face. These were all first attempts to follow commands that were very meaningful. It was a good day. When Kelsey talked to him as I held the phone to his ear he raised his eyebrows and kept turning his head toward the phone. Jamie and I saw him pull some very "Jess like" facial expressions today. Chris swears he smiled at him which sent him into the bathroom in tears.

Tomorrow we get rid of the braces and the trachea...a glorious day. We go to St. Al's for the surgery. They will need to put Jess under a general anesthetic. We will return to the Elk's around noon. Again any prayers for the doctor and for Jess are greatly appreciated. We climbed a big hill today and we will climb as many as it takes.

8/18/04 at 9:38 p.m.

Chris just found the janitor to let me into the computer room. Jess had a good day. He endured all of the therapies well. The physical therapist thinks he is trying so hard to move. He is a fighter. The people here at the Elk's are so wonderful. They have become attached to our son and are so caring. They remind us of many miracles that are walking out of these doors and we are praying minute by minute for another one. Good night to all of the wonderful people reading this site. We love you!

8/17/04 at 7:37 p.m.

Jess' mouth was much better today. Physical therapy went well with a little easier movement of his arms and legs. Chris and the recreational therapist had Jess standing on his legs...with a lot of support. After 8 weeks of being in bed I think that it was amazing. They decided in the meeting that we would go another week with the same therapy as this week. We hope Jess can progress more after he has the surgery on Friday to remove his arch bars and trachea. So, we still must live one moment at a time. Love, Pam & Chris

8/17/04 at 6:00 a.m.

I was locked out of the computer room last night so I did not get to type an update. Thank you to Linda (Jess' good friend Curtis' mother) for the update on Sunday. What would our world be like without the love of good friends. We are all connected.

Jess started out with a good day yesterday. We stopped two of the medications. One (Ritalin) was supposed to stimulate Jess' brain to wake him up more. It made him "posture" or "tone" so much that he could not move his arms in comfortable movements. Those words describe an uncontrollable stiffening of the arms and legs set off by the unconnected neurons in the brain and Jess has to work very hard to try to make his limbs do what he wants, to follow commands or relax. With time and medication it goes away. So, in the afternoon the physical therapist was able to get good movement out of his legs and arms after the Ritalin wore off. He could rotate his arms to touch his shoulders and he can almost hold his head up by himself.

Later in the day we noticed his mouth was bleeding. There has been a wire on his braces (from the broken jaw) that will sometimes cut the inside of his cheek. We ended up in the E.R.one night because of it. Well, it happened again and it is very frightening because he is still on the trachea, still in a partial coma and your mouth bleeds a lot. Finally, at 9:00 p.m. the oral surgeon came to the Elk's and fixed the wire, cleaned out the blood clots and assured us he would be ok. The good news is we have an appointment on Friday to take out the arch bars and the trachea! Yippee! We have been waiting for this day for 8 weeks. Jess will be able to get in a therapeutic pool, maybe start to talk (we don't know if the brain has made that connection yet) and we can move him without fear of hitting the trache. The team of therapists and doctors meet today to discuss Jess' goals for the next week...I will keep you informed. Much love and gratitude to you all.
P.S. We are now able to get personal emails again. Thanks, Joey!

8/15/04 at 10:05 p.m.

Sunday---- A day of rest. I am sitting here observing parents with unconditional love, for a Boy who so surely deserves it. The rollercoaster has not stopped for these dear people, but the persistance and devotion will prevail, and our Boy will overcome. Jess looks wonderful, sleeping peacefully at times, and sometimes agitated with too much activity and traffic, trying so hard to assimilate and put the pieces together. The Brain Team at Elks are experimenting with different combinations of drugs which they hope will trigger the wake-up. Pam and Chris have concerns, and are ever watchful. Their constant vigil is unbelievable and selfless. There are an enormous number of activities and procedures which have to occur for Jess daily, even hourly, with parent participation. They are both tireless, as they nurture and protect their future, hopes and dreams, which are all about JESS and family. We are with them now, and in all the days to come. Sleep well, all you wonderful Mateys. I am proud to be your friend. Whenever you are ready Jess...Think so fondly of all our good times.
Come back soon, linda

8/14/04 at 11:03 p.m.

I am sitting in front of my own computer in my beautiful house in my wonderful community. I came home late last night to do some paper work, check on my parents who live with us, and assure myself that I really do still have a place to live and a place to bring Jess home to as soon as possible. It is hard to even be away for a day. I am returning early in the morning. Chris gave me the update that Jess had an easy day with only one hour of physical therapy. His sister, Jamie, spent 4 hours with him while Chris babysat our one year old granddaughter, Jahara. It was a good day for all four of them. Chris said Jess' eyes seem to be focusing straighter today. Another sign of the wakening process. We remain in one day at a time..."Live each day as if it were your last...cherish those you love and do not settle for mediocrity."

8/13/04 at 11:00 p.m.

Jess had a good day of therapy today. He is trying so hard. He tries to hold his head up while sitting in a high backed wheel chair. He had his neck in a hard neck brace for five weeks so his muscles are weak. He is trying hard to move his arms to do different tasks for the therapist but the messages are slow coming from the brain. He wiggles his toes upon command. Kelsey was here today and Chris asked Jess to give her a thumb's up if he knew she was in the room. He did! As they keep reminding us it is a slow long process to get his body working again. The brain is healing everyday and will make those connections when Jess is ready. Join me in a special prayer sent to us by Marianne Williamson:

Dear God,
Please hold our beloved Jess in your arms, and heal his mind and body. May angels surround him as he sleeps, restoring and repairing every cell of his being.
May vibrant health burst forth within him, and Christ cast out all else.
Amen

8/12/04 at 6:25 p.m.

It has been 8 weeks today that we have sat at Jess' bedside in different hospitals. Someone asked me how we were doing today. It was such a strange question because I don't know how we should be doing. Our son is fighting for his life, fighting to remember how to use his body again and fighting to communicate. And, all we can do is sit by his side...and watch...and send him all the energy and love that we have. So I guess that is how we are doing. And our son is doing the best he can do.

8/11/04 at 6:46 p.m.

This morning we made a trip to St. Luke's for exrays of Jess' mouth. The oral surgeon is out of the office until Monday so we won't find out if he can get the arch bars out that were necessary to fix his broken jaw until he returns. Of course I thought the exrays looked great. It will be a glorious day when we remove those and get the trachea out. They cap the trache for the entire day now which means he is breathing totally on his own again. They put a misting machine on him at night. They are trying some new drugs on him to see if they can expedite the wakening process. Not being fond of pharmaceuticals I have a hard time with the many different drugs he is on. They assured me it will only be temporary. He was agitated and not too responsive today so we are monitoring it closely. We have so many decisions to make with his welfare that it is overwhelming sometimes to know what is the right one. We have to trust so many people. We are amazed at how many people are checking this website and thank each and everyone of you for caring. Our best wishes to all...

8/10/04 at 6:18 p.m.

Today is a day to only give thanks...thanks to God, the angels surrounding Jess, the many prayers and the many people supporting Jess and his family. We got the good news today that Jess gets to stay at the Elks at least until the 25th and if he continues his great progress they will extend his stay again. They are very pleased with his responsiveness. We all know how strong he is and we all know that prayer works. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

8/9/04 at 11:45 p.m.

Hi it's Joey again. My mother is exhausted tonight so I will give you the update for the day. The therapy is going very well. Tomorrow the therapists will all meet together with the doctors and map out a course of action for the rest of the week. We will find out Thurs. if Jess can stay at the Elk's. I pray for the best outcome possible. I know what ever happens that it will be the right thing at that moment. As always thank you for your continued support. Good night!

8/8/04 at 5:44 p.m.

Sunday is quiet at the Elk's. Jess sat up twice. Once in the wheel chair and once on the side of the bed. The therapists that did work with him today remembered him one week ago when we arrived here. They were amazed at how alert and responsive he was compared to then. They thought he had come a long way. I got him to hold a golf ball and let go of it into my hand. I cried with very happy tears. It takes him a great amount of effort and concentration. We did it four times. Tomorrow will be a big day of lots of therapy and on Tuesday they have a team meeting to set goals. Thursday we find out if he can stay. It will be wonderful news when they tell us he can. Love to all....Pam, Chris & Jess

8/7/04 at 8:45 p.m.

Today was a mellow day for Jess and family. On the weekends, Jess gets less therapy than during the week. Jess did very well with his new trachea tube and breathed for 4 hours with it plugged today. This is a great improvement from only a half an hour the previous day. My dad came back to Boise from Bellevue tonight and unfortunately I leave for MN in the morning. My stay here has been a good one. I believe my little brother is on his way to recovery although a lengthy one. The care providers have told us that the extent of a patients recovery depends a lot on the family's level of support. If this is true we know that Jess will recover because we have a great support matrix. Thank you to everyone we know and everyone we don't know that has sent prayers, e-mails, guest book entries, and all forms of support to Jess. My mother hasn't been recieving any personal e-mails for the last week because of problems with cox internet server. We will let you know when she can recieve e-mails again. Lots of love to everyone! Joey

8/6/04 at 9:00 p.m.

We received good news today. The neurophyschologist told us they feel Jess is wakening! He was the first medical doctor to give us good reason to believe that Jess can make a great recovery. He reminded us it will be a long road. And, that is fine with us. He said we will see the greatest improvements in Jess's healing process in the next 90-180 days. He is starting to track with his eyes, too. I can't tell you how wonderful we feel right now... I know it is because of all the love! He also had a new trachea tube put in that is smaller. It will allow him to breathe around it and also TALK! We don't know if he will talk at this point but at least we know he has the opportunity. So, God does answer our prayers and we hope he will continue to answer our prayers for Jess's full recovery.

Just in case you don't know you can read all of the wonderful messages that are written in the guest book, be sure to scroll to the bottom of the guest page and click on one of the links. It's awesome!

8/5/04 at 5:08 p.m.

It was a good day for Jess. We are back on track to taking awesome baby steps every day. Today the recreational therapist was able to get Jess to hit a buzzer that made a sound to answer a question yes. It was amazing. Kelsey was here and asked him if he liked basketball and he rolled his hand to hit the buzzer. Do you think he was showing off for someone very special to him? We also compared his scribble of his name from yesterday to a sample of his writing and it was so similar they were impressed. He wiggled his toes and gave the doctor a thumb's up when she came in to visit. Couldn't have been better timing! If he continues on this path he will get to stay here for more rehabilitation. Please help us pray for this to happen. We know Jess needs to be here at the Elk's. They all want him to succeed. We know he will succeed. We are blessed....

8/4/04 at 6:17 p.m.

"Nothing is impossible; all is possible. Impossibility is only a boundary of limitation which stands around the human mind. Possibility is the nature of God, and impossibility is the limitation of man. Pursuit after the impossible is the best game there is."

Joey arrived today to see his little brother. It is good to have him here. We watched Jess through many different therapies. The recreational therapist actually had him try to write his name today. He seemed to want to try. The physical therapist was able to get a lot of range of motion in Jess' arms and legs. Since he has been in a bed for 6 weeks we have to keep excercising his joints so they will move freely. They have him on a new drug to help him wake up. It has changed his behavior somewhat but we need to wait a few more days to know if it will help. We are overwhelmed with the help that is being generated on Jess's behalf. There are no words to express our gratitude in what are friends and family are doing to help us give Jess the best possible chance for recovery. The donations, the prayers, the messages and the love are incredible. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

8/3/04 at 7:05 p.m.

We wish we could give you a video of our day. As Chris said, "it is intense from the moment we get up to the moment we close our eyes". We watch each therapy hoping that our beautiful Jess will give them just one tiny hint that he is wakening. We pray whenever he is good and whenever he is not so good. We hover over his environment like an eagle watching the nest. We cry, we remember, we seek answers, we don't ask, we just want to take Jess home and go back to our wonderful life. He is doing the best he can...we are doing the best we can. We just have to wait until he awakes. We love you all...

08/2/04 at 8:23 p.m.

Well, we were able to get on a computer at the Elk's so we are very happy to tell everyone that we are here. We have had quite the journey getting here but we made it. Jess went through many therapies today. He had physical therapy in which he sat up again in the wheel chair for about 30 minutes, then he had occupational therapy working on his hands and arms, off and on he had the respiratory therapist working to cap the trachea again and get him breathing through his mouth and nose, and then we had a speech therapist visit but Jess was pretty tired so she will do more tomorrow. We have a team of people that evaluate Jess daily and work together to plan what will be in his best interest. The insurance will only pay for 50% of his stay for two weeks. If he can "wake up" and succeed in doing more commands we can stay. So, "wake up my son". We missed reading our messages...they mean so much! Thank you...

08/01/2004 at 12:47 p.m.

Hi this is Joey and I will be giving the updates for a few days until I go to Boise on Wednesday, Aug. 4th. Once I get there, I will get my parents setup with a computer they can update the site with. I know everyone gets anixous when there is no news, so I apologize for the delay. I was out of town and didn't have acess to a computer. My parents also didn't have acess to a computer because they have now moved Jess to the Elk's Rehabilitation Hospital, which is great news. They really like the Elk's and say that they have a warm fuzzy feeling about being there. This is important for Jess's and their sake. Jess is resting peacefully and we are praying for great improvements over the next two weeks. At the Elk's they have a very structured enviroment limiting the amount of vistors at one time. So we are asking that if you are in the Boise area and wish to visit, please contact my parents before visiting to ensure that it's O.K. This enviroment will help Jess to recover faster without too many stimuli interfering with his recovery. I was just informed that Jess sat up in a high-back wheelchair for 40 minutes and he tolerated it well. We all feel really good about the Elk's. Thank you for your support and love.