Thursday, July 28, 2011

May and June at CNS

Travis had a blown pupil in his left eye
as a result of the accident. The paramedics
noticed it immediately and knew
that was a terrible sign as to
what was going on in his brain. :(
We were told early on that Travis
would be blind in that eye.
That would NOT be the case
though...he can very much see
out of that eye!  Thank you, Lord,
for yet another miracle. 
He does have awful double
vision which is a common effect
with a TBI.  In May, Travis
was taken to an eye specialist and
this doctor showed Lynna how
Travis sees now.  She could NOT
believe how her baby has to see
the world now.  Thankfully,
he now has glasses with special
prisms in them to help correct
the double vision and he has to do
eye exercises to help keep his
eyes straight.  Unfortunately
the prisms have to be changed
VERY often at $800 a pop and
insurance will NOT cover this
and....
Travis hates the glasses.  :(
Trying on some Clark Kent glasses;)
Beautiful Robin sent this VERY special
shirt for Travis.........she is SO creative!!!
Travis can text which is a miracle in of itself
and his FAVORITE line to write back
to whatever we say is "DUH"!!!!!!!!!!!
Trav loved the shirt!
Thank you, Robin!!!:)
God bless Garrett's heart...still visiting
and keeping up with his new bro, Travis.
AND playing UNO with my kiddos!!!
What a friendship.....
brought together by tragedies...
so very blessed by one another.
A great visit...as always!
The kindred spirits...
This is "Hot Nurse" and that is
exactly the way Travis refers to her!
I had been hearing about her from Travis
and one afternoon I had left and then
came back and noticed this cute nurse.
In my head, I knew she must be
"Hot Nurse".  Travis texted me from
across the room and said,
"Hot Nurse is here"!!!!!
Aunt Kitty and Uncle Ron visiting, too!
Every time they move Travis,
Hudson goes to get in his chair;)
We love our Superman!!!!!!!!!!
SO much love for our boy.......
Especially by "THE STORM"...
which is how Travis refers to the kids.
When he was at Texas Neuro, I would call
on our way and ask him and Lynna if
they could feel a storm brewing!!!;)
God bless my mother's heart...
watching her first grandchild AND her
daughter(s) go through this.  :(((
LOVE these two!!!!!!
Lynna, Grandmother and I had the
opportunity to hear "Sean Speaks" at
my own high school where I teach.
Sean is a guy who was in a terrible car
accident and now goes around to share
his story.  He is unable to talk or walk,
but he can eat.  It was REALLY awesome
to meet him and his mother.
Praying Travis will be able to share
his story with others someday. 
He is quite the character...just like Travis!;)
Love seeing BE BOLD stickers around town!
Recently saw one at the ball park and asked
the lady getting out of the car.  She didn't
know any of my family...had just
heard about Travis and attended his
benefit and faithfully & BOLDLY prays for him.
We see God's Goodness EVERYWHERE!
It's always a treat when people
send us pictures wearing their
Support Travis shirts...
this is the daughter of a guy that
Lynna went to high school with!
THE STORM arriving at the clinic!!!
To see our AMAZING Superman work his bootie off!
Aunt Michelle is the BEST!:)
We were in AWE watching Travis walk
with this walker and only one therapist
holding his hips behind him. 
Grandmother couldn't keep up!;)
Until you see this taking place in person,
you really can't see what it takes
 for Travis to do this.
It actually takes EVERYTHING in him to
walk and move his feet.  He has to be
constantly reminded to move one foot in
front of the other.  A TBI is the WORST!!!


But the miracles we have witnessed are the BEST!!!!!


Talking by using his dynavox...
The Storm in full effect;)
This was after Walker got in trouble!!! ha!
The therapists act like they love us being
there...I hope they are serious!!!
Jen is his main PT and she is awesome! 
These two are something else!!!
I love you, Babe!
This is practice walking on the treadmill...
it is very hard work and he does an awesome job!
Can you tell we all love our Superman?!?
Thankful for Jen:)
Cheryl is another therapist who works
with Travis.  She's a riot!  Thankful for her, too!
SUPER loves...........
More physical therapy...
Jen was using Hudson in PT...
SUPER crazy!!!
Taking a break to hit the pool...
I have to give my kids breaks from the
not-so-fun world Travis has to be in now.
Travis is SO strong!  He would probably be
futher along if he wasn't so tall and big.
He's 6'4" and he has put on quite a bit
of weight from the feeding tube.
Trav has always been skinny & lean!
Cheryl is awesome!  Travis always does his fingers
together when she comes around
to give her a hard time
for talking too much!!!  ;)
ONE of the most difficult things for me is to watch
Travis being loaded on the bus to leave the clinic.
It just rips my heart right out of my chest. :(((
This is not the life I dreamed for him and
prayed for him to have since he was born
22 years ago.  It just hurts. 
Talking to PaPa on the phone.
He hasn't been making the trip as often...
it's hard on him as he is so emotional.
Plus I don't know that he has much
patience for traveling with the STORM!!!;)
This is our TEAM TRAVIS........
Our gang tries to be there as often as we can
on the days that Lynna and Scott can't be.
Sleeping on the air mattress...
Lynna got an apartment very close to Travis.
She just didn't have a choice anymore.
We have all decorated it with this and
that and it has turned out cute!
She used some of Trav's furniture from his old
house and a hodge podge of other stuff;)
Nothing wrong with an air mattress in the living
room...since we don't have a couch!;)
Little Justin Beiber...
Wannabe Justin Beiber...
How about these smiles?!?
Grandmother sure loves her baby...
Scott stepping in as we are leaving...
Love this RA!
My two big boy loves...
When we were there that week, Travis
texted Lynna and all it said was...
"I'm so happy when the storm is here."
:)
I took these AMAZING pictures
 of Travis outside of the clinic....
we are so blessed that Travis did not
sustain injuries to his face.  We see
patients at CNS who have distorted
faces and their eyes are so messed up.
Not that appearance means anything...
but it is a blessing worth noting. 
Seeing those people just breaks your heart.
Not our Superman.......
as good lookin' as EVER!!!!!!!!!
After spending four days with this hunk,
I was so sad to leave.  I could hardly
stand it and the tears couldn't stop falling. 
I just want him to be okay....
not for me, I'll take him anyway I can get him.
It's just devastating to know that he will
never have the life he once had. 
While I am SO thankful that his mind
is so sharp, it also means that he
realizes all that he has lost.
Enough pity party...that's the LEAST
of this story.  OUR PRAISES
and the MIRACLES FAR
OUTWEIGH all the hurt!!!
WE LOVE YOU,
SUPERMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I drive Michelle and my mother CRAZY
driving around Dallas because I
constantly 'brag' about when I lived in the
Big City and how I just know all things
Dallas (I DON'T at ALL!).
When we stopped at our new favorite
Chickfila on the way out of town
(in tears!), I ran into my former
principal and GREAT friend!!!
So now I get to brag about running
into my friends in the Big City, too!!!;) 
Brad OR B-Rad as Trendy Mindy
has always called him is such a dear
friend.  He is the one who got me my
first teaching job at the best school in the
world.  He told me that he watched my
family walking into Chickfila (he didn't
see me) with superman shirts on
and he wondered how Travis was.
SO MANY in this WORLD
are praying for our Superman.
Just alllllll part of the miracle!:)))

3 comments:

Brandi said...

Yes, I can tell u love your Superman!!!! Wow, Travis is so loved and you can see it in all the pics! And how the kids( the "storm") help out in physical therapy....awesome!!! I think of you all often and pray for Travis as I lay my head down at night!! tAke care!!!! Oh, your kids are getting so big and are still sooo stinkin' cute!!

Beth E. said...

Yes, yes, TBI's are absolutely terrible! My brother also deals with double vision. His is intermittent, though. Travis has to deal with it constantly. :(

I can't imagine what Super T goes through every day. I just admire him AND your sweet family even more, when I think about that!

Hugs..

Kimberly said...

OMG Travis looks incredible! His smile is so beautiful.
Today Chloe is wearing her Superman Tshirt and my brother was commenting about it....
I said "Chloe who likes Superman the best?" She said "Travis does!"
xoxox