Hi Friends and Family! 

It's been a while since I've posted and for that I apologize however there has been so many changes and so much progress!  On Chad's birthday he was discharged from Madonna and moved to a facility called QLI in Omaha. QLI works with only brain injury and stroke patients. They really work with patients with getting them ready for home, not only physically but emotionally. Between cooking, doing things around the house and things to do outside, they show patients that they shouldn't let their disability limit them from what they can do on a day to day basis,  

While Chad has been at QLI he has made so much progress. Chad has been cooking twice a week. He gets to make a meal around lunch time two days a week. This has been great for Chad because he loves to cook! They are working on getting his medicine schedule streamlined so that he can start taking his own medicines in his room versus the nurse coming in at the scheduled time and giving them to him. This week he started doing his own laundry! These are all things that will get him closer to coming home. At QLI, they don't only look at the physical aspect of going home but the ability to do the things needed around the house. So far Chad is killing it at these things! They are showing him that he can do everyday things even though he only has the use of one hand/leg right now and in a wheelchair. Chad has always been a very independent person so all of these things are really helping him feel more independent in life. While at Madonna he questioned his quality of life but now he is seeing that he can still have the same quality of life as he did prior to his stroke. 

Now i know everyone wants to know about the physical aspect. The physical aspect is getting better, however it will just take time. The  muscles and nerves  in the leg and arm will come back on their time. The providers think that he will eventually gain use of his left arm and leg however it will be up to his body! One day his body will just decide it wants to wake up. So until that time they will just continue to work him until that day. Right now when Chad tries to stand up, with assistance, his left knee will buckle so his physical therapist ordered a new brace to be made for him to wear on      dscx his left leg. This brace will lock his left knee so that it won't collapse. This will help him so when his thigh muscle comes back he will be able to bring his left leg forward on his own. Now that Chad has that brace he will start walking twice a week. When he walks twice a week, he is  in a brace and learning to walk with just 2 legged cane or walker. He's working on a lot of sit to stands so he can do transfers on his own hopefully. QLI is really working on the whole picture and not just the physical part. They are really working on getting him ready for home. 

We found out last month that Chad got approved for social security disability,  We also found out that Chad's short term disability from Hill's will be switching over to long term disability but when that happens we will lose a  percentage of his income and we will have to start paying our own insurance premiums. We won't see any of his social security  disability payments until the end of March and his Hill's income, as stated above, is getting cut. We are  extremely grateful that we have received the income we have so  far from Hill's and how much help the management team has been from Hill's. As thankful as we are, we are also extremely nervous how we are going to provide every month. 

We have had an outpouring of financial, emotional and physical help and for that we are extremely grateful for. I've had people ask how they could help, so I've included the gofund me page link where you can donate or I have a Venmo account also. 

Gofund me:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/za7wa-recovery?qid=a518ec81ac5077cafc43297aa4399a52

Again we can't thank everyone enough for all the support they have given our family during this difficult time!