San Antonio

Today we have been in San Antonio for 4 days.  Sara went to a concert in Austin with some friends and so we were babysitting all weekend.  No one is really a baby so it was not too bad.

When we got there on Thursday afternoon Nathan was excited because he had finally passed a swallow test for solid foods and he was able to eat regular food.  They told him he had to take smaller bites though and chew them up good.  He still cannot drink liquids though so they give him this nectar substance like drink for his water and drinks.  He drinks soup through a straw.  He is a lot happier being able to eat and he is gaining a little weight because he had lost too much weight on the feeding tube.

Friday we went to see Nathan after dropping Maggie off to preschool.  She attends a preschool that is run by a Methodist church in Universal City and it is really nice.  She attends two days a week.  Wednesday's when she goes then Sara is able to run errands and Friday when she goes then Sara is able to have some one on one time with Nathan.  This Friday however Sara left for the concert after she dropped off the boys to their schools, so Nathan got us.

Larry's sister and her husband, Judy and John Trolinger, came down from Ingram, Texas and are staying here in San Antonio and they meet us at the hospital each day.

Nathan learning to walk

Friday we were able to attend Nathan's physical and occupational therapy.  He is starting to walk more and is able to pull himself up into a standing position with a lot of help and coaching. They are working each day to strengthen his shoulders and hands and legs.  I took some pictures of him walking in the parallel bars.  The picture looks like he is just walking but it is hard for him.  Because of the stroke damage he has to concentrate on standing up straight and keeping his bottom tucked in and balancing all at the same time.  Maybe we learned this as a child when we were learning to walk but it makes me appreciate all the things that my body does naturally that I take for granted each day.  He says that it is hard to keep going.  Some days he feels better than others but if he doesn't work it doesn't help him get to his goal.  He wants to walk. 

Therapists working to help Nathan position his hands

The picture I took of him standing looks like he is just standing there against the wall pushing on it ready to do a push up but it took his therapist several minutes of working with his hands to get them to open and working to get his balance and then they walked away for a few seconds while I snapped the picture.  He is still rather precarious and they had to hurry back in to steady him.

Standing up is equally as hard he has to concentrate on where his feet are and how far he has to lean forward to be able to stand up and where his hands are placed but, considering when we were down here three months ago and at that time he had to be lifted with a machine to stand he has come a long ways.

Three months ago he also was just learning to transfer from his wheel chair to the bed or a mat with a board.  Today he was able to transfer from his chair to the exercise mat without a board and he is able to move himself to the right or left while sitting all with great effort.  His right side is harder to work with than the left.

We have not been able to attend the other therapies yet but hope to be able to do that before we leave.

Friday we needed to pick the kids up from their schools about 3:00 pm  John and Judy wanted to go get something to eat about 12:30 pm so we went out to go and luckily we took the van that Sara was letting us use.  It had driven fine in the morning but when we started to go at noon we had a flat tire.  We called AAA and got the tire changed and then took it to a Discount tire to get it fixed.  By this time it was 2:00 pm and we barely had time to grab a bite to eat at Jack in the Box (One of Larry's favorites) and start to get the kids because we had to be at the visitor center of Randolph Air Force Base at 2:40 to get a pass on base and we were at least a half hour away.

Nathan standing on his own for a few seconds

We arrived at the base at 2:50 pm and just as we were getting there I realized that I had left my license at the hospital in my computer bag.  We went in to get the pass but they thought we wanted a pass I guess for a long time because they were saying that they could not give us a pass.  When they finally understood that we just needed the pass for that day to pick up the kids from school then they gave Larry a pass because he was driving but by now it was about 3:10 pm.  So we were 15 minutes late for picking up David and Then about 20 minutes late for Isaac and Sammy and about a half hour late for picking up Maggie.  The preschool had called Sara to ask them where we were and Larry had to go in to pick up Maggie because you had to have a license to pick her up if they did not know you.

Larry and John went to get the tire put on.  He left his phone plugged in because it had died.  I thought he would be back in about 20 minute but it was about 3 hours before he and John returned.  John had no phone so we were frantic wondering what was taking so long.  The kids were hungry but I had no money because Larry had it and so we raided some of Nathan's treats and ate the fruit we had taken to the hospital.  They survived but just barely.  It turns out the tire looked like it had been intentionally poked with something like an ice pick and Larry had to buy a new tire.  When he got there they had not even picked up the tire from when we left it 2 hours ago.  Frustration!!!!

The rest of the evening went better.  We visited with Nathan with the kids and then took them home to eat and go to bed.  We asked David where was a good pizza place and he directed us to a Little Ceasar's that has way better pizza than the one's we have been to in Kaysville area.

Saturday and Sunday we took the kids up to the hospital to watch conference with Nathan.  We were able to set the computer up so it showed on his TV for all of us.  All though there were times when Nathan had to help us figure things out which shows that his thinking brain is fine.  John and Judy even watched a lot of conference and considering they are not members of the church that is a big deal.  Sara had packed a conference bag with lots of goodies and things to do in it and I had printed off the activities on the lds.org website so we were able to keep the kids relatively quiet and focused but it was a challenge.  We were able to hear most of the talks but I am looking forward to going back and reading or watching them because there were potty interruptions with Maggie and Sammy interruptions trying to safe guard the equipment and of course it was more fun to talk about their toys and such than be quiet.  But, it was all fun and we enjoyed it.

Between conference sessions we went to McDonald's on Saturday and went to the outdoor alcove they have for the patients at the hospital and played Hide and Seek with the kids on Sunday after eating a picnic we packed.  We got lots of Weight Watcher's activity points for both days.

Sara got home late last night so we suggested that after she took the kids to school she stay home and rest.  We took Maggie with us.  Nathan was way disappointed so I had to apologize to him.  He was upset for a while but he soon got into his therapy.  He is talking soooo much better than last time.  It was so hard to understand some things that he was saying last time and now you can just understand him.  He does still have a deep voice though.  I am sure talking has helped him to feel better emotionally.  He is doing better about not getting upset so easily this time also.  He still gets emotional when we tell him some things but he seems to be getting over his short term memory problem that caused him to be upset and angry before.

He did a lot of the same things in Physical and Occupational Therapy today as he did on Friday.  He was playing a Wii game in Recreational Therapy.  They have a machine that they can pull him to a standing position and then help him to sit down slowly.  He uses it to use the bathroom but they were using it today to help him stand to do the wii game.  He no longer has to have the diapers on and is able to use the bathroom using this machine.  He has learned to feel when he has to go which I imagine is a great feeling.  He did not like being changed when we were here three months ago.

Erick and Heather had made a video of some of the Family Reunions that we had this summer with people giving Nathan messages of encouragement.  When it came they were not able to get it to play in the DVD player.  This afternoon we tried it in my computer and he was able to watch it.  He cried when some of his cousins told him that they expected him to be there next year.  He seemed to really enjoy it.

Sara came up with the Boys this afternoon.  They put on the movie "The Croods"  that Kirsten sent to Nathan.  This is about the 3rd time that they have watched it since we came.  They all seemed to be enjoying having Sara back so Judy and I took sometime to talk about Family History.  They went to get treats so they could eat with Nathan and then we all went home.  Larry and I went to dinner with John and Judy so Sara could have some time alone with the kids like she wanted.  When we got home they were all in bed.