Brian’s Story

Site created on February 28, 2019

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.  

Newest Update

Journal entry by Karen Pearl

 That is a quote my mother used to say all the time. And boy was she right! 
First off, thank you to everyone who has supported us through our craziness. We could not have survived without your help. No matter how many times I say it it still feels like it’s not enough. Thank you so much!
 Brian is still continuing to progress phenomenally. He has finally started working for a couple of his clients this month and it seems to be going well. he is taking it slow. We are so thrilled with his progress we may be near the end of this for him.  
 Rosalie is stabilizing and she successfully graduated high school. We are still working out her meds and using great caution with her. 
Simon graduated!! 
 And Hiatt is Hiatt. I will explain more about him later. 
 Remember in the last journal entry I told you had fallen? It was a doozy. I may not have broken anything but I tore my rotator cuff in four places and my biceps pulled partially away. We can’t seem to do anything mild around here this year! It’s go big or go home!  I had surgery on June 26th and they fixed what I just explained plus  cleaned out some arthritis and bone spurs that had grown over the years.  I am in an abductor sling that keeps my arm still and protected. I will be in this for an additional six weeks minimum. I have been out of work this whole time and will only be able to start next Monday with a restriction of absolutely no use of the right arm. It will be interesting to see what work can provide for me.  Workers comp is covering all my medical bills. And they have started making payments to us to cover my loss of wages.   We are grateful for that.  I will begin physical therapy tomorrow. I will go twice a week sometimes three depending. 
 During this time I have had to stay away from Hiatt. As he can be aggressive. I get to spend five or 10 minutes a few times a day with him supervised. His great teacher at school made him a storyboard about how mommy is going to be sick. And it has helped him quite a bit. He still doesn’t understand  completely but he can follow rules about keeping his hands down when seeing mommy. Which of course means his hugs are limited now 😔  This has left Brian, Rosalie, and Simon to pick up and handle all household aspects and care of HIatt. They have been spectacular! Brian especially. Brian has picked up and handled household manager with great success. Simon and Rosalie have not argued at all when taking their turns getting up with Hiatt and caring for him. And now they are going to have to start driving me to physical therapy too. 
As 2019 continues to rear its ugly head We are still going to need support.  
Because of this we are, however, still in survival mode. We cannot plan for the future, (ie: Xmas) we can only get her bills paid each month. Again for that I’m extremely grateful.  So of course financial help is still an option for people. Supportful is still up and running and we have Venmo and PayPal as well. But mostly we need some physical help. I don’t want Brian and the kids to burn out with all this. Is there anyone, or multiple people, who would be willing to spend time with Hiatt? He is a bit of a handful but we can teach the routine and you don’t have to be alone.  we could still be in the house. or y’all could take him to the park or something. Just some sort of respite for Brian and the kids. 
Thank you all so much.
Blessings
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