History

Thursday, July 10, 2008 10:06 PM CDT

Ryan is having a great summer so far! For the past 2 weeks now, his friend Sam has been visiting from Seattle. Sam moved away last summer. So, it has been great for both of them to get to be together. Hopefully, he'll get to visit again soon as I know how much fun they have when they are together.

Ryan is sure growing up fast! Hard to believe I'll have a 7th grader next year!

Sunday, June 1, 2008 11:50 PM CDT

It's amazing to me how fast Ryan is growing up! I took him to the store tonight so he could spend some of his allowance and birthday money. He no longer wants to rush over to the toy aisle as he did for so many years. But, instead wants to look at clothes, cologne, shoes or watches! Tonight it was watches. He picked out a really cool one and was even grown up enough to have the saleslady help him. I remember the days when he was so bashful that he would hardly even look up at a stranger. It's hard enough for Ryan being in a wheelchair. But, he has got the greatest sense of self confidence of any kid I've ever known! I'm so proud of him. :) He has come a long way and he's really growing up into an amazing young man! I love you so much Ryan. You are my hero!

Sunday, October 28, 2007 7:47 PM CDT

Ryan attended his very first school dance on Friday! He was so excited to attend. I was sort of sad for him that most of his buddies did not end up going. But, he still had a good time in his "advisory" room playing video games. He did go into the dance too for a while and a couple girls asked him to dance. He declined, of course. But, this was a big milestone for him. His FIRST dance!

He was pretty sick a couple weeks back. It went on for 2 weeks and we finally found out that it was a terrible bacteria that is known to be drug-resistant. Thankfully, we just got the phone call today that the antibiotics killed it! He's doing great now and we hope and pray for an uneventful cold/flu season!

Monday, March 19, 2007 7:47 PM CDT

HAPPY 11TH BIRTHDAY RYAN!!!! We are so proud of you and we just love you SO much!!! You are an amazing little boy! We hardly ever hear any complaining from you and you are just so happy and content most of the time. Thank you for all the happiness and joy you have brought into our lives!!!

Love, Mommy, Daddy and Jorie

Tuesday, January 9, 2007 6:48 PM CST

Just a note to tell you how much I love you Ryan. I am just so proud of you!!! You are growing up way too fast and will soon be a proud big brother again!! You are doing well in school, have made lots of great new friends this year and I think you are making up for your bad year last year! I hope next year is great too as you enter into middle school!! I love you buddy. Forever and ever.
Love, Mommy

Tuesday, December 19, 2006 11:10 PM CST

I can hardly believe it's almost Christmas again! The kids are just so excited and can hardly wait. I think they enjoy seeing their extended family almost as much as they enjoy getting presents.

Ryan is growing up way too fast. He has his first "real" crush in school now and is alreay making a list of things he wants to buy her for Christmas! He is also getting more and more concerned with his appearance and is wanting me to fix his hair a certain way and put cologne on him each morning. He's too funny. Mom still gets to pick out most of his clothes though which I am happy about! :)

Wednesday, November 1, 2006 1:16 AM CST

Halloween is always a little sad for me. Each year I dress my kids up and we try our hardest to find the best costume for Ryan. One that is easy enough to get on him! The bigger and LONGER he gets, the harder it is to put one of those one-piece costumes on him. Then of course, masks are never an option for him as he cannot breathe with them on! The trick or treating is what really makes me sad though. We go from house to house and out of 20 houses there might be 2 with no steps. Meaning that Ryan has to sit at the base of the steps hoping that the person in the house will see him and that he doesn't have to call out in his weak little voice, "don't foget me!" "I'm down here." Usually, we will have his little sis collect his candy for him or my husband or I will go up and mention Ryan waiting below for his candy. Sometimes we will even have a really nice person notice him and come out of their warm house to offer him candy. Of course, the cold isn't good for him either. When Ryan gets cold, his hands just go numb. He's hardly even able to drive his chair. This is despite wearing gloves and even giving him "hotties" to warm his hands with. I know he would say he had a good time. Maybe it's just harder on his mom to see all the things he's missing out on that I was able to do--and took so much for granted as a child. Maybe we'll stay in next year and just do something else just as fun! :)

Tuesday, October 17, 2006 0:38 AM CDT

Ryan is doing well. He's having a good school year so far. He has made some new friends this year which is good. His best bud seems to be Josh right now. He's staying healthy too which is wonderful! I always worry about him this time of year as cold/flu season approaches. Little sis is going to be 4 on Wednesday! Hard to believe. She's not a baby anymore! :)

Tuesday, August 8, 2006 12:53 AM CDT

Ryan has been having such a great summer!! Other than his one hospitalization in early July he's doing great. We did discover he has reflux so we might be looking at another surgery soon.

We went to San Diego, CA for the SMA conference. That was alot of fun. Ryan enjoyed swimming in the pool each night with his sister. They even had a movie playing at the pool each night on a giant movie screen. We also visited Lego Land. Ryan was bummed when we went there as most of the rides he could not go on. But we still had fun. We also visited the beach while we were there and had a bbq with all the other SMA families.

Then we went to the fair last week. Ryan LOVED it. His favorite part was the magic show. He also got to ride on one ride, the scrambler. But had to get off early as the seat belt was hurting him.

He has gone fishing twice and has just had a great summer so far. I can't believe the summer is almost over. I'm so glad we made up for the aweful summer he had last year after his spinal fusion!

Monday, June 26, 2006 11:45 AM CDT

Please keep Ryan in your prayers! He woke up last night with a major plug that I worked on for 2 hours. We could NOT get that thing to move. I tried everything!! Finally, after two hours, it slowly moved. Ryan was saying that the cough machine was making it hurt really bad. He was basically panting for air and moaning. I felt so bad for him! Also, with Ryan, he almost always vomits when sick which makes it nearly impossible to keep him hydrated; even w/ his Gtube. If he keeps the vomitting up, he could end up in the hospital. He also has a fever this morning. He says he feels like it all started from plugging episodes that he's been having for the past week. We've been treating them and he goes about his normal day. But, last night, it really hit him hard!

Monday, June 19, 2006 7:27 PM CDT

The past few days have been pretty tough. In our SMA community, several children have recently passed away and it just breaks my heart. One little boy who had been in foster care and had just found a loving home with two wonderful parents just died over the weekend. He had finally been adopted and he passed away. It's just so sad. Some days with SMA are just so hard. Last week I was getting Ryan dressed and I hurt him really badly just by pulling his pants up. His skin is so so tender and fragile where he had his back surgery, that sometimes even the act of dressing him can actually tear his skin. I feel so bad when I hurt him. But it's almost impossible not to sometimes.

On another note, Ryan is loving being out of school. He is attending vacation bible school at church and seems to be enjoying it. I know this summer will fly by!

Friday, June 16, 2006 1:00 PM CDT

We finally got some sand for the kids'sand box! It's blue! Although, I didn't place Ryan down into the sandbox as I don't think I could get him back out.....he was still able to play in it. I just filled a small bowl w/ sand and placed it on his tray. He still loves to play in sand almost as much as when he was Jorie's age.

Friday, June 16, 2006 11:18 AM CDT

I cannot believe that today is Ryan's last day of school! He will be a great big 5th grader next year and then he's off to middle school!

I love you so much buddy. More than you'll ever know. I'm so sorry for accidently hurting you this morning when we were dressing you. You are just so fragile. Have a great last day of school buddy. I love you!

Saturday, January 29, 2005 10:22 AM CST

Yesterday was a good day. It was just me and the kids all day since Ryan did not have school. We went to the book store and the kids each got to pick out a couple books. That was fun. Then we headed over to Costco and got some yummy food from the deli. Ryan enjoys going there because it has a lot of room for him to drive around in his chair. Then we came home and ate our lunch. Ryan's friend Nick came over and they played video games and a board game. They had a lot of fun. It was a busy and tiring day. Ryan was exhausted last night and had a very good nights sleep. A fun day!

Saturday, January 15, 2005 4:11 PM CST

We have begun starting Ryan on his new vent. The LTV 900. So far, it seems to be running smoothly. Although we have only tried it out for 2 nights now. He seems to be handling it okay. He had a period last night where the apnea alarm went off; he just stops breathing for a bit and it will alarm. Hopefully, we can get him used to the new vent soon. We really want this in place before his upcoming back surgery. He has been doing great in school and so far has not caught anything! We pray this good health continues.

Thursday, January 6, 2005 7:35 PM CST

Sometimes I am so hurt and discouraged by this disease that it overwhelms me. I just can't take it! Today one of Ryan's only and BEST friends from school told him it was his birthday party this weekend but that he was not invited because his house has stairs in it. Why in the world couldn't his mom find a way to include Ryan? Or at the very least still invite Ryan and then let us do the problem solving. Maybe bring his manual chair? I don't know. But, don't ignore us! How hurtful is that? I don't want my son to grow up being ignored by his friends. And his best friend no less.

Wednesday, January 5, 2005 11:40 AM CST

Well, I sent Ryan back to school on Monday (Jan.3rd) I can only hope that was the right decision to make. His best friend, Demetri, went home from school yesterday with an upset stomach. He was back today. And another boy is complaining of feeling like he has a cold. I sure hope this is nothing. I know I have to make a decision. Do I let him go despite all the germs? Or do I keep him home and in a bubble? I want him to experience his life too. It's so hard to make these decisions. I can only hope and pray that he stays well for a while now. His last hospitalization was the week right before Thanksgiving. He had a very bad pneumonia and his left lung was collapsed. It's been quite a while since I last updated this journal. Yesterday he came home from school crying saying it was one of the worst days of his life. He says he was feeling overwhelmed in math and that PE was no fun. He says he felt left out in PE. They played with a parachute and somehow Ryan felt like he wasn't included very well.

Friday, August 27, 2004 10:27 AM CDT

Wednesday night Ryan could NOT get to sleep for anything. He kept calling us back into his room to turn him or to bring him some water to drink, etc etc....He started getting really upset and told us to just "leave him alone!" So, I finally did that. Then a few minutes later, he called me back in there and said he was sorry for telling me to leave. So, I ended up getting him up out of bed (not an easy task as he's hooked up to three different things...his bipap, his feeding tube, and his oximeter) and rocking him in the rocking chair for a while. I think that is the first time he has ever apologized to me on his own without being told to do so. It was so sweet. He slept great Thurs. night. Hardly even needed to be turned. He's enjoying his new dog, Ivy. Although I wish he liked to play with her a little more. His favorite time with her is when they cuddle together on the bed or floor. He doesn't care too much about playing ball with her. I think he's nervous about all the bees we have flying around out in the backyard.

Friday, August 20, 2004 0:06 AM CDT

Well, today was our finals. We had two tests. One this morning, our written final, and then one this afternoon...our public certification test. We have to pass the public one in order for us to be able to take Ivy out in public areas. I feel like we both did well on our tests so am not too worried about it. We have been here in Santa Rosa for almost 2 weeks now and are very very ready to go home! Tomorrow we will have our very last lecture and get an opportunity to buy some things for our dogs. Ryan is doing well here and loves his new doggy. He loves his cuddle time with her up on his bed.

Friday, August 13, 2004 11:58 PM CDT

Today was Friday, YAY! This was our first day taking our dogs on a field trip. It was interesting but fun. I held onto the leash and we walked through the buffet line to pick up our food. It was a buffet restaurant so that was a little more difficult to practice but the dogs did wonderful! Tonight was also the first night home with our dogs. We got to take Ivy back to our room and let her cuddle with Ryan. She even laid in bed with him for a while and listened to a bed time story with her. Very cute. Things are going well so far. Only one more week to go!

Friday, August 13, 2004 0:08 AM CDT

Today is day #4 for our team training classes is Santa Rosa, CA. The first day we sat through many lectures most of the morning and watched a short video. In the afternoon, we got to see some of the dogs. Then on day #2 we mainly practiced giving corrections and saying no. We practiced this mainly on a stuffed dog with the instructor holding onto it. As a class we all sat in a circle and went around the room. So, we all had to do it in front of everyone. By afternoon time, we were able to walk our dogs in a circle and the instructors would throw different things at the dogs to try and distract them. The instructors have said several times that we are one of the best classes they have ever had! Day #3, Wed. morning, we were matched up with our dogs. We were put with Ivana which is who we were hoping for. That morning, we took the dogs for a walk outside. Our first real walk around the building. It was fun. Ryan is having a great time here! The campus here at Canine Companions for Independance is so accessible to him! He loves that he can go anywhere he wants and there is nowhere he cannot go. He can even open up all the doors with the push of a button! The campus is set in the middle of a beautifully landscaped garden with flowers, lemon trees and humming birds flying around. Ryan loves his dog Ivana. We were told today that they might switch our dog to another one. We hope not! Today day #4, we learned lots of commands. We got to take the dogs potty and even got to take them to lunch in the great room. Tomorrow, we plan to take them out to lunch in a restaurant.

Saturday, August 7, 2004 11:38 AM CDT

Today is a very busy day. We are packing for our trip to Calfornina. Jorie will go to her grandma Laura's tonight around 7 pm. Then, after we pack, we will take Ryan to the car show downtown. I think he will enjoy that. He's getting pretty excited about the dog, but nervous about that LONG drive down. Probably about 11 hours in the car!

Friday, August 6, 2004 1:48 PM CDT

This is our very first journal entry. Ryan is 8 years old and will be starting 3rd grade in the fall. It's hard to believe that my little boy is already 8 years old! On Sunday we will be leaving for Santa Rosa, California to get our Canine Companion dog for Ryan. We have been on the waiting list for over a year now and it's finally our turn to go! We will be there for 2 whole weeks and will be in classes from 9 am. until 5 pm. Monday through Saturday. It seems pretty intense but I believe in the end it will be well worth the effort. Health wise, Ryan is doing great. His last major illness was in March of this year, 2004 when he was hospitalized with RSV and pneumonia for a week. He has been very healthy for the past 4 months! Yay!

Friday, August 6, 2004 1:38 PM CDT

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