It’s taken all summer but Troy has been approved to receive vocational rehabilitation services in MN so he will be getting help from them to help him return to work, and that includes getting evaluated to see if he can drive again and what adaptive equipment will be needed.  This is very expensive to do and with the services they will help pay for some if not most of those costs.   Voc. rehab will help with everything that involves getting Troy back to work.  

We have a social worker coming to the house this Friday to do a 3 hour interview and assess what kinds of needs we have/will need in the home.  In order to receive these services we have to apply for medical assistance for Troy.  If you’ve ever had to do this you would know it’s a lot of paperwork and information to have to fill in.  It’s taken me a little time to do this but it will be done by Friday.  

Troy has been able to work 4 hours a day for a total of 20 hours a week and sometimes a little more depending on the project he’s working on.  Mentally and physically he seems to be doing really well.  There are times he says he’s fatigued at the end of the day or might have a headache but other than that he’s been good.  He’s hoping to increase his hours a bit here in the Fall but needs to get a doctor to approve this so that will be another appointment to schedule in the near future.  

Today we are currently in the hospital because Troy is having his fourth and hopefully final endoscopy to stretch that stricter he has.  He’s currently in recovery and the doctor just came and said he did really well.  They were able to stretch it to 18mm and they removed his feeding tube!!! Hooray!! 😁 I asked if we’d need to schedule a follow up appointment and he said only if he had trouble in the future.  Hopefully this is done and we won’t have to worry about this again now that he’s fully stretched and taking the preventative meds to prevent scar tissue from building up because of acid reflux.  He hasn’t eaten anything since last night around 6:00 pm so when we leave here I’m sure he’s going to want to stop and get something to eat.  I know he wants a coffee for sure!  

Now we need to schedule another appointment with the pulmonologist to see when we can safely remove the trach.   

Being home has been wonderful!  It was nice having the summer off but this week is teacher workshop and then next week back to school.  It’ll be early mornings again but we have talked about adjusting our nightly routines so we get to bed much earlier that we have in the past.  Please continue to pray for healing for Troy!  We’ve come a long way and still have a ways to go!  It’s important that we both stay healthy, strong, and positive!  ❤️