The first two weeks post surgery crept by at a snail's pace it seemed, whereas the past four weeks have gone much faster. Life is once again starting to feel a bit more "normal" for Joe. He started school as planned, and never once had to shorten his day or even visit the nurse. Being back in the routine of school and social life has been the best medicine for him. His joyful spirit seems to have returned; just one more thing to be thankful for. The horrible, sharp, pokey "thing" has been downgraded to slightly annoying, not as sharp, still there, but not seemingly worrisome (you should hear me explain things to an auto mechanic!). He is scheduled for a recheck of the poking thing next week Thursday. Initially I thought maybe we could stretch out this visit until the 3 month mark, but Joe would rather have things looked at. His pain is minimal and occasional; the more activity he does, the more pain he will have - this seems normal. He attempted to sleep on his side, but that's not totally comfortable just yet. Time will bring more healing. 

I'm including his x-ray image in this post because it's just so amazing to see the bar in place. As you can see on the right side they attached a stabilizer bar to help keep the bar in place. This was taken at his 2 week follow up post surgery.

Assuming Joe continues to heal as planned, this will be our last update. We cannot express how grateful we are for all the prayers, love and support you've given to Joe and our family. We've truly felt God's guidance, protection and His great love each step of this journey - and couldn't imagine embarking on such a journey without God, and without YOU all!

Much love - Kaelin