Before I go as your moderator though, here’s what happened in April because it was a whirlwind!  

Lori bought a house in Little Rock!  I can only load 5 pics at a time in Caring Bridge and I thought you would prefer the Steve ones, but I assure you the house is darling, and the neighborhood is too!  Lori says it is much closer to her work and I will take her word for it, sitting here in Minnesota.  The boys will move schools but they adapted to the news of the move well, to the relief of Steve and Lori (and are excited about the new house too).  My dramatic reenactment of their reactions: Murray “duh” and Casper “d’oh”.  😂  I have said it many times—Lori and Steve won the jackpot with those two kids.

Lori bought a new car!  It’s a Ford Edge, their version of a crossover if you aren’t familiar, and it has all the bells and whistles.  Spacious for the family and accessible for Steve.  Lori looooves it.  And in perfect timing, Steve is having his second session tomorrow to get a prescription to have the hand-driving mechanism put into the car so he can drive with his hands!!!  (Best part in my opinion—the car was Lori’s mom and dad’s that she flew up to Williston to pick up, and then drove back from ND!)

Steve was initially scheduled to be sprung out of rehab a couple of weeks ago, but that was pushed back due to his back.  They were wondering about his back pain and the back brace—in preparation for putting full weight on his frame with the prosthetics—and so MRI’s were ordered and they discovered he had broken vertebrae still to fix.  Steve’s Facebook post describes the detail about this much better, but now on the backside of surgery, he feels soooo much better.  AND, he’s for real being discharged Friday!

He won’t be going straight home, but instead to a skilled nursing center for a couple of weeks.  The fact of the matter is that Steve does not need to be in the hospital or rehab anymore, but their rental home is not accessible either, so they decided if he goes to the skilled nursing center, he can have his PT come right there to him, and they don’t have to worry about makeshift accessibility for the rental house until they close on the new house on June 1st (where they want to focus their efforts on accessibility accommodations).

Steve is on track for getting prosthetics fitted.  It seems like he has had one leg always healing faster than the other and that is still the case as far as getting shaped into the ampushield for fitting nicely into the prosthesis, but both limbs look good.

Lori wishes for me to convey her gratitude to you all for your support.  Whether it was a comment here on Caring Bridge, a phone call or message or kind word or care package, or else a gift of a meal or donation on Meal Train or Venmo or GoFundMe, or even a well wish across the cosmos….each one of you made a difference to Lori and Steve and the boys.  Whatever your act of generosity and compassion, that was the reminder they needed to remember you all had their backs.

I am sure I am forgetting a few updates, but don’t worry, Steve’s Facebook will have whatever you need to know about their journey from here.  With much gratitude and love, this is Ethne signing off. ❤️