December 30th, 2005

I have a chance to tell everyone a few little things Jess has done this week that are awesome to me. He just kicked his left leg up 9 times for me in his wheelchair during PT. In OT yesterday David put his left arm in a plastic brace that has rollers on the bottom. He velcros his arm in and puts the brace flat on a table. He showed Jess how to roll his arm back and forth in front of him a few times and then asked Jess to do it and he was able to do it a couple of times by himself. David said this could open up some new ways for Jess to do a number of things so we are going to work hard at that one. He is also able to hold his eye gaze straight forward longer. We have an appointment with an eye doctor to check his vision again. The doctor specializes in helping people learn exercises to strength the muscles in the eye again. We meet every day with a counselor who does visualization with Jess. He has him imagine where his body is in space. He will take him through a basketball game or down the slopes snowboarding and ask him to feel what it is like. He was telling him he was about to make a basket and could for a layup or dunk it and then he added, "You can't dunk a ball, Jess you better just take the layup". Jess started moving all over and punkered his lips and had an angry look on his face. Joe, the counselor, kept telling him he couldn't dunk and Jess kept moving more. He is trying to stimulate "all" emotions because we know there isn't a perfect world. He also took both of us through a relaxing meditation. He told me how powerful the brain is and that we just need to unlock sensations for Jess again. Good stuff! We saw the rehab doctor for the first time and he was amazed at Jess' flexibility and lack of contractures. He complimented me on how well we had worked with Jess. I said it was only because of my wonderful therapists at home and their constant ranging of Jess. Thank you John, Tami, Robbin, Susan, Maura and everyone at the horse arena! They have told me the key to success with brain injury is repetition. The more the better....everyday Jess needs OT, PT and Speech. They want to relay this to the medical world so they don't let brain injured people waste away in nursing homes. Of course, I am with them 100%. Well, I better run...Jess is in the standing machine. Happy New Year!!!! Please be safe...

December 28th, 2005

I was able to borrow a computer while Jess is in Speech Therapy so I thought I would say hello and wish everyone a Happy New Year. Jess and I had a lonely four days while we were off from therapy. My Uncle Homer and Aunt Lura were in Bakersfield from Stockton and invited us over for Xmas dinner. It was so nice to be with family. And, Xmas eve we visited a family that has a boy at the clinic similar to Jess. He is 18 too. They were so kind to have us over. So, no matter where you are there are wonderful people to help you when you are alone. I even met a very nice man on the plane and we "just happened" to meet two ladies (amongst 100 people) while we were waiting for our flight to Bakersfield who both had recovered from traumatic brain injuries. They gave me websites and support groups to contact. Now why did I come in contact with those three people???

Everyone at the clinic and the apartments are wonderful and so caring. There are so many tragedies that happen in this life. We are sure not alone. Jess is doing well. Of course, we want a big explosion of something grand but as we keep getting reminded....Jess is in the "slow to recover" category.

Our insurance has denied his coverage here so I am appealing. Again, I urge you to look at your policies and use our scenerio to see if you have the coverage you need. We trust everything will be just fine and we will be where we are suppose to be so not to worry. Again, Happy New Year and keep the prayers a comin'!! We are so grateful!
Love, Pam, Chris & Jess

December 26th, 2005

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! This is Joey, I will be giving the update for a while until we can get my mom internet access. Everything is going well in California. My mom made it there and my dad is now home in Idaho. Mom said that Jess gave her a half smile when he got to see her again. It is a strange Holiday season for us, being that not everyone is together.

My mom was having trouble with getting a security clearance, but we are thankful that it finally went through. Jess is really busy in his therapies. Mom says that he is swallowing better and his neck is getting stronger. They have only been there three weeks and as we have all learned brain injuries take a long time to recover. So, we are taking one day at a time. Mom wants to thank everbody for all the cards and messages, it made it a lot easier to be alone on Christmas. We still don't exactly how long we will be in California, but we keep you posted. Happy Holidays!

December 14th, 2005

I have been home for 9 days now and Jess has had 8 full days of therapy in California. Chris said he is doing well and they are comfortable in the apartment. They are very busy and Jess is working hard. I wish he could tell us what he thinks of his new surroundings and the new people in his life.

It seems like forever for me. I have stayed busy catching up and working. My fingerprints are still in the works but I am going down this Saturday anyway. I will have a new scan done at the Bakersfield police station and hopefully they will be able to see the "ridges". This is so strange...

If anyone would like to write to Jess, I would love to read him your letters. His mailing address is Centre Village, 2500 Gosford Road #512, Bakersfield, CA 93309. I am sure he misses seeing his friends at school and all of the wonderful therapists here that kept him going. Jess and I will spend Christmas alone in California. It will be the first time without our family getting together. We know it is for a good cause so we are all trying to be tough. Family is so important.
Joey fixed me up with a laptop computer to take with me so I can keep updating the website. Somehow writing to all of you gives me strength and courage just knowing that if you are visiting this site your thoughts and prayers are still surrounding our Jess. Miracles happen at this time of year...maybe we will be blessed to experience one too.

December 9th, 2005

Well, I made it home a couple of days ago and it has been very quiet in my house. I found out that I have no "ridges" in my fingerprints and that is why they refused my clearance. Too much tile setting I guess. So, I had to go to the local police station, he sprayed some special foam on my fingertips and did an ink card print. I sent them off by Fed X and hopefully we will hear back before the 17th. In the meantime, I am catching up on a lot of stuff left undone for the last year and a half and Chris and Jess are doing just fine. They are very busy.

Chris met with a neurologist, who was very positive and hopeful, a counselor who has worked with brain injuries for 25 years and parents with sons in the same condition as Jess. One boy was in a car on his 17th birthday. Jess was on a bicycle yesterday and the therapist thought she felt his right leg firing. They all comment on how hard he is trying and they have told Chris it takes a lot out of Jess just to try to make one muscle move. He has speech therapy sometimes twice a day. His tongue is very weak so the therapist inserts a small sponge on a stick into his mouth and pushes on his tongue to make him push back and work the muscles controlling the tongue. It will help his swallowing and speech. She also works diligently to get a yes/no with his eyes. As I have felt for a long time, Jess needs speech therapy every single day. He needs to be able to have choices. The rehabilitation aids help Chris in the evening and continue to work with Jess...reading to him, showing him pictures, asking him to move his hands, arms and legs and they give Chris a break.

We are all so thankful that we could give Jess this opportunity. Our insurance is covering 3 weeks at CNS and depending on how Jess progresses we will see what happens next. I am learning to trust that everything will show up when it is suppose to...it's the only way to survive. I miss them terribly but know I will be there again soon with renewed energy. Thanks again to all for your support!

P.S. Sorry about all the bad messages in the questbook. I guess it is a program that searches out websites with a lot of hits and attaches to it. Joey is working on getting rid of them.

December 3rd, 2005

We spent three days at the center....one day filling out paperwork, meeting everyone and touring the facility. Jess had two days in therapy. He has 4 hours a day in therapy 5 days a week. The therapists were just trying to get to know Jess, see what he can do and asked us a lot of questions. It is too early for us to form an opinion but everyone is very nice.

It seems our challenges do not stop, though. In order to stay at the apartments they have set up for us we had to have a background check and be finger printed in California. I have been cleared twice in Idaho but you have to go through the process in each state for each agency. Chris received his clearance two days ago but we have not yet received mine. So, we have not been able to stay in the apartment complex. We had reserved several flights so Chris and I could to travel back and forth to stay with Jess and still continue working. Chris had a flight home tomorrow. We received over a foot of snow and he sets all the nordic tracks at the Sun Valley Resort and he is running a construction job. Plus mom and dad are "home alone". He also just hired a new employee and has not had a chance to train him. So he needed to go home and we were going to switch in a week. I also need to go home once in awhile and work to keep my job and to keep our health insurance. But, we had to cancel his flight tomorrow so he and Jess could move into the apartment since I can't stay there without a clearance. It is not easy to take care of Jess in a motel room. I had to move my flight up so I changed my flight to go home on Monday. I have not left Jess' side for a year and a half except when he went to school and horse therapy. I can't handle the thought of being away from him for 12 days...it is going to be so hard for me to leave him in a new place even if Chris will be with him. Another mountain to climb... I guess. I am getting pretty tired of these mountains that are taller than Mt. Ranier. I think we are glad to be here...but today is not a good day to make a judgement.