this is Zach, I wanted to give an update on my families journey and give Emily a break for once. Please be prepared for a dramatic shift in writing styles, as all the eloquence in this family landed solely in Emily‘s corner!

I don’t know where to begin, Emily has done such a wonderful job explaining the unexplainable. The description and depictions of life as it’s going now has been spot on. You have to look back so far to get any appreciable gains to be noticed, all the while keeping tyour head up and Bullhead on to keep forging a path forward to keep those small appreciable gains snowballing. 

and first and foremost, the new powered wheelchair came in. I officially have the first electric vehicle inDuff. They are still working on the trophy!!! 

We just had a reevaluation this week, and PT and OT  had impressive gains. Shoulder range of motion is almost to the functional level. Which is very different than the normal level, but one step at a time. My quads are starting to engage which is instrumental in being able to walk. strength continues to improve in my arms, core, and legs. No miraculous movements, yet, but getting better all the time. I am  feeding myself with a glove and adaptive fork, which basically means a fork is bendable to offset the elbow not moving as much.. still pretty shy about eating in public.  it’s not a giant production to get me to eat, just the stigma I have and can’t shake yet. Voice quality is much better, breathing is pretty well normal. Put it this way, Siri has had little trouble typing this!

as much as I would love to say that it was my determination and mental fortitude to get me through all of this, the fact of the matter is, it was Emily‘s forward thinking, far superior  planning, resilience, and ability to communicate with medical people to advocate for my best care. To be quite frank, I would be gone if not for her.   there isn’t another person on this planet that would have or even could have completed such a task that she did. Yes, we had a bunch of help and still do. But she has done the work of 15 people for the better part of the year now . , once this storm has moved on, I’m going to have to be a perfect husband for the next 35 years to even come close! 

i think for me, the greatest lesson I will learn going through this will be that there is no such thing as mundane. Typical has been erased from my vocabulary. It doesn’t exist. The things easy to overlook as being too simple or unimportant add up to be the greatest things you could ask for. The task may seem so simple, but take it away in your entire lifestyle changes. It really is that quick there is no in between.

I guess it goes back to the evaluation we just had. Functional versus normal. Right now our life is functional. We are getting by, by zero means is it the same as before, but we are trudging along.

some days are steps that are quick and painless, others seem like there’s three the wrong direction. 

But each day, we push towards normal again, wherever that may be. 

I’m going to make this overly simple, please don’t be offended. We all appreciate everything everyone has done. It’s overwhelming. It’s humbling. And at times it’s embarrassing. But it is all appreciated. Thanks again to everyone for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. we will keep you posted