Braden's Quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy Blog

week 1 after being home

braden — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 00:48:01 +0000

We will try to keep updating our blog from time to time. Our trip home was veryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy long! We woke up in China around 8 am and our plane left for Beijing at 4pm. We arrived in Beijing at 5:30 and didn’t leave for L.A. until 10pm. once we got on the plane Braden slept about 5 hours on our 12 hour flight. We arrived in L.A. at 6pm that same day! (kind of funny). We had a 12 hour layover there so we got a motel but since our time was screwed up we didn’t sleep much. We got back to the airport at 3am to go to Denver and then made our flight to Alliance. We finally got home about noon. It was great to be back, we both missed our family so much and Keegan and Brooklyn grew so much. We tried to stay up and visit but we both called it a night early. We were both up about 2am so we just hung out and waited for everyone else to get up. It took a week to get back to normal, neither one of us felt very good for 4 or 5 days. Braden’s body was very tight and spastic for several days, almost worse than when we left. On about Tuesday his body started to relax and get back to normal. He is doing much better now and last night he even sat by himself on the floor for several minutes while we were talking to my parents on skype. I’ll try to keep updating the blog weekly so keep checking back.

day 42

braden — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:27:26 +0000

Today was Braden’s last day of therapy. We leave tomorrow afternoon, we can’t wait. All the hard work and stress to get here is paying off, Braden has had alot of improvement over the last 6 weeks. He can roll over, open and close both hands, his involuntary movement has decreased alot in his upper body and a little in his lower body. His spasticity has also decrease, he is able to set quietly most of the time. He is walking much better than before and with enough therapy he could even be walking on his own soon. We will be very sad to leave because we have made so many new friends but we can’t wait to get back home. We would like to thank our family, friends and all the people in our community for making this trip possible. You all have given Braden hope, and that is immeasurable.

day 41

braden — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:08:17 +0000

Going away party that we had was really cool, there were alot of families there and all of Braden’s girl friends (they were all fighting over him). Everyone showed up and we all had a really good time. It was nice to make alot of good friends and we will miss them alot.

day 40

braden — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 12:41:55 +0000

We had an off day today so we decided to spend the last weekend here at the park. Braden got to ride a big carosel and we rented a paddle boat. We were able to walk around the rest of the park and see it all, it’s beautiful. Other than that we just hung out with other families. We recieved Braden’s schedule for next week and on Wednesday CHECK OUT 13:40!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can’t believe it, almost done.

day 39

braden — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 10:20:43 +0000

Braden and I were very tired today and Braden was a little sore so we slept through morning therapy. Braden has a tooth that is just killing him. He was eating some candy and his cap on his tooth came off. He is having a hard time eating. We did weigh Braden and he has gained 4 pounds since we’ve been here. He hasn’t gained that much in the last year! He is getting bigger, you can see it in his arms and face.

day 38

braden — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 10:03:30 +0000

Braden did morning therapy today and a spinal this afternoon, last one. Braden is all done with his treatments but he still needs to stay 4 extra days incase of any side affects. Bradens spinal went very well, no comlications at all. He didn’t fall asleep until around midnight.

day 37

braden — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:00:59 +0000

I can’t believe that We’ve been here 37 days already, time does go by fast, it seems like we just got here. One week left and we’re home free!!!!!!!!!!! Braden did very well at therapy this morning and was able to stand on his knees leaning on a foam bench by himself for about 2 minutes. I was very impressed, Braden just learned how to do this for a few seconds last week. I see improvement in Braden everyday, although very small still improvement. I did listen to a very interesting conversation today, Braden’s “wife” Seirra got on Braden for looking at naked manikin and she told him if she ever caught him looking at a naked girl again she would file for a divorce.

day 36

braden — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:23:06 +0000

Braden had therapy today, and later we decided to hang out with 2 other families. and go down town. First we went to GEMO and then the May 4th quare which was very beautiful. It was very nice, we were down on the beach and seen some cool yachts. Then we went out for mexican food with out international rep Matthew Ungar. After that we went to wall mart and wow, not like wall mart at home. Just out side of wall mart it’s like City Walk at Universal Studios. We really enjoyed getting out for the day cause day after day in the hospital really wears on you.

day 35

braden — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 14:23:27 +0000

Braden didn’t do therapy this morning, we didn’t wake up until 9am when the doctor came in to see us. Braden is usually stiff in the morning and really stiff after his spinal. Today the doctor was moving Braden and he was very loose. We talked about Braden’s treatment and therapy and when he asked if I had any questions, my only question was;was he happy with Braden’s progrss? The doctor did reply, Braden is doing far better than he could have ever imagined! He was very impress with Braden’s progress but he also stressed how important it was to come back. The doctor was saying that at about 6 months we will see Braden stop progressing and plateau that’s when we need to come back. I guess we’ll figure that out when we get there. And other news, Braden was married today to sierra, quite comical but we had a make shift pastor, congregation, wedding rings and all. There were about 25 people present and afterward we all went to pizza hut.

day 34

braden — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 15:25:09 +0000

Braden’s spinal went well, he just went to be and it’s almost 11:30pm. I don’t think he will do therapy in the morning, I’ll just let him sleep. But so far no fever, lets hope the rest of the night is quiet.