Can you believe it's been almost 10 months since the injury?  It's ONLY been 10 months and look how far he's come.  And at the same time, it's been the longest 10 months of our lives.  It's so strange.  He's still getting stronger everyday, feeling a little better and getting more energy.  But the therapy definitely still takes a lot out of him.  He is still going to Marquette 3 times a week, 2 hours each session.  He did some pretty badass pullups last week so I attached a video of that for you all to see. 

What else is going on?  LOTS!

The van broke on us two weeks ago - what a pain!  We went to church on Sunday to hear Kenedee sing and the ramp wouldn't go down.  Poor Greg had to sit in the van with the windows down like a dog while I went in to hear Kenedee sing.  Luckily I was able to get the ramp down manually when we got home.  The wiring harness broke.  We took it in to the shop but they had to order new parts for it.  Until then, we had to open the doors and lift the ramp manually.  It shouldn't be that big of pain, but since the wire was broken, it would get caught/jammed every time we opened and closed the door and some times it took almost 10  minutes to get the door closed.  One morning we got in the van to head to the gym and then it wouldn't start.  Turns out one of the wires snapped and shorted something and blew a fuse so it sucked all the juice out of our battery that was just put in two weeks ago.  Either that, or we were just the lucky ones to get a bad battery.   A few cancelled appointments, a new harness and (second) new battery later, we are good to go.  Or so we hope because we sure are dependent on that van.  

Mid June Greg gets to start the OT Study at MU.  This is good for a few reasons.  

1. He gets 1.5 hours of OT with special spinal stim, 3 times a week. Yes, he will also have 1 hour of PT (not part of the study), so his sessions will be longer.

2. Because it's a study, we don't have to pay for it, yay!

3.  He gets multiple assessments where they test for his progress and improvement throughout the 12 week period. 

Some of you may be wondering a few things, so I will try to clarify.  OT is occupational therapy and they focus on the upper body and fine motor skills and daily living activities.  They help Greg work on hand grip, pinching and grabbing things and moving his arms (think; brushing his teeth, putting a shirt on, grabbing a cup of coffee). PT is physical therapy and they work more on the ability to move the whole body, building up shoulder, core and leg strength.  This is where they make him do sit ups and stand and walk and do squats.  

The spinal stim is an electrical stimulation unit (a higher powered  TENS unit) that they put on the spine to send electrical pulses to different parts of the body and hopefully helps in nerve regeneration.  Depending on where along the spine you place it, it gives an extra boost in movement and can help reduce pain, stabilize blood pressure, enhance movements, etc.  We are hoping this helps him regain strength quicker. 

On a completely different note, big news.

We have made the heartbreaking decision to sell our house.  This was a VERY difficult decision to make because it took us 3 years to find this place and it was supposed to be our forever home.  Greg put SO much work into this house to make it how we wanted it.  It has 2 acres, (one of those is wooded with trails), a pond, which Greg built a 25ft bridge across it (of where I imagined Kenedee's HS graduation photos to be taken), apple trees, pear trees, grape vines, a giant finally fenced in garden with raised beds, a huge elevated deck and wrap around porch, a large patio and hot tub, and the list goes on.  He has taken down a ton of trees, planted a ton more, spent days/weeks removing buckthorn and cleaning out the pond, building the garden, renovating the kitchen, the office, the spare room/bathroom and basement.  But it just isn't working for us anymore.  Our main living space is upstairs.  Greg is stuck living in the basement by himself and needs to be living on the same floor with the rest of our family.  Even if we made major modifications to be able to get him upstairs, it still wouldn't be very suitable.  And I can't take care of this property by myself, nor can I ask my amazing neighbor Dave to mow, trim, saw, or plow more than he already is (he's seriously the best).  

We bought a lot in a new subdivision in Grafton and we should break ground in August.  For those of you that know us, this kills us to have neighbors that we can see into their house and a tiny 20x30 backyard and (gulp) an HOA. But on the bright side, we will have a brand new, open concept ranch, with zero-entry doorways, wide hallways, a huge roll-in shower and everything on 1 floor for Greg to be living with us.  It will be close to town and Kenedee's school and she will hopefully have friends in the neighborhood and I will have a small yard to mow/plow and zero maintenance on the house for 5-15 years (ha).   And hopefully our neighbors will be just as great as they are now.  The plan is to be able to move in February so our current house will go on the market in January. We will be hiring movers for the majority of things, especially big items, but if anyone is good at organizing and wants to help pack/unpack and move smaller items, we'd love your help.  Additionally, we will need to rent a storage unit starting this fall, so if you have a good deal on one, let us know.  If anyone is looking for a 4 bed, 3 bath 3,100 square foot house with 2 acres cared for with LOTS of love and amazing neighbors, let us know!

*And for those of you curious about John's progress on the AT - he is just shy of 1,000 miles and coming home to watch his son graduate.  His son is flying back with him to start out the next leg of the trail! 

https://substack.com/@jgontheat

All our love....

Greg and Brooke