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Hi everyone. Sorry it has taken me so long to give you any updates. Hopefully you have seen my newspaper articles for updates. My vision has improved steadily and now I am able to see basic shapes that are big enough. Squares, rectangles, circles and other shapes have more definition and depth. I have mastered the uppercase alphabet at about 8 inches away from my eyes. At this distance I can see the whole letter, still at 400 font. I am going to school without my cane and I am very successful. It feels different not to put my cane on my belt everyday. But I have gotten used to it rather quickly and it feels really good to travel in school without my cane. I have also been able to see the door knobs in my house with a magnifying glass. It is pretty cool. I have been experimenting with a minocular and it is kind of weird. I have noticed how much I use peripheral vision, which seems to be hampered by the minocular. It is still a work in progress.
Okay, my personal life. I am in my second semester of senior year. I can’t believe it is almost here. Last weekend I went to audition for the jazz program at California State University at Northridge. I was really excited and hope I did well. I will keep you posted.
I will make an effort to blog more often. I am attaching some recent pictures.
February 3rd, 2010
Sorry it has taken me so long to blog again. I have been very busy with marching season and it is finally coming to a close. Next week is my last game. Yeah! I have had many small improvements since I last blogged. More than anything though, it feels like a shift in perspective. What I mean by this is that details that weren’t clear to me before, such as bars on a window are now standing out. I also saw a piece of banana on a napkin at our kitchen table. This was really cool! I definitely see my mom and sister coming down the hall in our house. I am able to chase my sister and catch her because I can see her. Emani can’t sneek up on me anymore. She thinks that isn’t fun! I am still getting dizziness in the El Paso High School halls when there is big crowds. We went to Disney on Ice and I could definitely see movement of the disney characters in the ice rink. I could also tell what color of strob lights were flashing. My band director Mr. Works has ordered new uniforms for next year and the orange plumes stood out. I am still doing the electric wave therapy 5 days out of the week. About every two weeks, everything gets brighter for a few hours until my eyes adjust. I will try to update more often and post some pictures.
November 2nd, 2009
Hi everyonw, just wanted to give you a quick update. Last week, my O and M instructor, Mr. George, told me that I had never traveled so smoothly before. Maneuvering on crowded streets and through obstacles had never been so easy for me. I thought this was cool. During my lesson I was also able to see if traffic was in the near or far lane. This will facilitate my travel on crowded streets and heavy business areas. These stem cells are working!
At school, maneuvering around people is much easier. In band, I haven’t really been able to march out without guide since our stadium is quite crowded and it is hard to move around everybody and stay in a straight line. I will continue to work on this.
My electric wave therapy is doing great. We make sure I get at least 5 days in. I am feeling good and hopeful for the future. Will keep you posted!
September 22nd, 2009
Weekly Update. Things are going good! I’ve been able to do my electric wave therapy daily and it feels good. I noticed my mom’s ear the other day and it was amazing that her face had become that much more distinct. The other big noticable thing was being be able to see my mom’s eyebrows about 3 inches away from her face. It was also lightning last night and it woke me up. Pretty cool! Will update again next week. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers. Prayer is such a powerful thing!
September 8th, 2009
Hi! It’s me Lawrence. My week has been good and we had our first football game of the year this past Friday. I was able to march out a short distance without holding on to anyone to stay in line. The other thing that really stood out was the movement of the cheerleaders as they ran by. I was able to see that they were running by. It felt like I was in an IMAX theater. The other thing is flashes of color and motion that have never stood out before are now standing out. One more thing, I was able to see the trashbag liner as I reached out to take it from my mom. This is really exciting. Professor Oey was able to get us a converter for electric wave therapy. I got my first 30 minutes in my own home yesterday. It felt good getting back into therapy. I will update next week.
August 31st, 2009
Hi! Sorry we haven’t updated lately. I am back at work and Lawrence has been busy with band. We finally have gotten our routine back and have been enjoying our time at home. We really miss China, all of our friends, the staff at the hospital, and the simplicity of our 40 day life in China.
Lawrence is doing great. He has really been seeing improvements almost daily. Some of the things he has really noticed is the movement of cars. His friend Greg picks him up for band practice and one of the first times he did, Lawrence was moving back as Greg was driving up the driveway. He thought the car was going to hit him — it felt like that for him. Amazing, what these stem cells can do.
We have finally found a converter for the electric wave therapy machine. Dr. Oey is from China and has a converter that he will bringing to our home tomorrow. We are excited to get this therapy started again.
Some of the other improvements are being able to pick up objects on the floor precisely without feeling around. Facial features are becoming slightly clearer. Shadows at night are leaping out. Those are some of the bigger changes he is experiencing. We will try and update weekly, with any new improvements. Thanks for reading!
August 23rd, 2009
It’s us and we are glad to be home. Sorry for not blogging, but we have been trying to adjust to the time change. We got into El Paso at 4:30 p.m. and were greeted by our friends and family. It was great. We went straight to eat Mexican food — we missed it so much. Our friends and family had groceries and made food for us. They are absolutely awesome! It took us about 3 nights to get adjusted to sleeping at night.
Lawrence is doing great. He started back at band on Monday 8-4, so he was pretty tired the first day. He loves music, so it has not been a sacrifice at all. His friends were very happy to see him and one noticed that his nystagmus was much less. He told him that his eyes hardly moved anymore. He also saw his band director’s yellow t-shirt from short distance at the airport. These were immediate things that happened.
As the week has gone on, he is noticing different things here and there. I have been continuing to test him with the letters on paper and computer screen. He can see much better on my laptop at home, which does not have any glare. He noticed the difference immediately. The letters are 450 font. The letters on the paper are about 7 inches from his face. Today, I showed him the 6 blue circles I had tested him with in China and he could tell me that they were blue circles. This is soooooo awesome.
Emani and I are so happy for him and he is so happy for his “sight”. I will update as new things come up. Again, thanks for everyone’s prayers-prayer is very powerful.
Just a little note, we miss all the families we met in China and all the wonderful staff at the hospital.
August 7th, 2009
We have made it to Seoul, South Korea safely! It was hard to say our goodbyes to the families at the hospital. When you live together as a community for 40 days, it is difficult to say “goodbye”. We have made a pact at the hospital that we will say “see you soon” and not “goodbye”. Lawrence feels fine and is ready to get back home. He called all his friends as soon as we got internet here in Seoul. We will be boarding our long 12 hour flight to LA. It looks like it will be full, so we will have not have extra room to spread out.
We are now taking our 7,000 mile journey back home. Lawrence is so happy with the sight he has received from God. Just having a “brighter world” for my son was well worth it. I would do this and more all over again for my children. I know that the man above has much more sight in store for Lawrence in these next 9-12 months. And Emani, I wouldn’t have been able to do it without my little helper.
Thanks for reading these 40 days. We will continue to update as Lawrence makes progress.
July 31st, 2009
Hi everyone! Lawrence had his last spinal injection today! Number 9!! He did very well. He was in at 5:32 and finished by 5:47 p.m. It went very smooth! I have been packing up our stuff today. I will finish tomorrow when we get our clean clothes back. I have been giving our stuff to the families that will be staying here. Tomorrow is our last full day here. We can’t believe that this 7,000 mile journey is coming to an end. The sight Lawrence has gotten is great and it will only get better with time. We are ready to come home and sleep in our own bed. I have packed our electric wave therapy machine and will make sure I know exactly how to use it tomorrow during therapy. I will be ready to take over Jason’s therapist job.
July 29th, 2009
Hi! Just updating everyone about our journey. Lawrence is doing great. He is practicing to use the vision God has blessed him with on this 7,000 mile journey. He has learned that seeing and feeling movement are two diffferent things. He says, “that I am just beginning to experience the visual aspect of movement and it’s just going to keep expanding”. On Sunday, he experienced the dizzy feeling when people are moving around him. We were getting out of the taxi and he felt a little disoriented as he was the last to get out and saw me and Emani moving out of it. This will be a constant learning experience as his vision improves. We passed by the red flowers today and he saw the color of them, in the exact same way he did the first time. We will practice, practice, practice.
Lawrence will receive his last treatment tomorrow afternoon. It will be a spinal injection. Please continue to keep him in your prayers as our journey comes to an end on Friday.
July 28th, 2009
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