Wednesday, July 11, 2012

TRAVIS ~ Therapy, Trash, Trouble, TOTALLY Amazing

Travis at Hillcrest Physical Therapy...
Wouldn't you know everyone fell
head over heels for him there?!?
Nothing like the STORM going
to therapy with you!!!
My four Superheroes!!!
Hudson playing with the trash
cans at the nursing home!!!!!!!
The laughter that Janitor Hudson
brings to Travis is PRICELESS!!!!!!!!!
Travis and feelings about this entire
situation are NEVER far from my mind. 
Tears hit me off and on pretty much
every single day.  Sometimes only once
a day...and other times I can't keep the
tears from falling all day long. 
Anytime I have tears in my eyes,
Walker or Hadlee will ask me why
I'm crying over Travis.  :(
They have been so accepting of his
situation ~ it AMAZES me. 
But other than tears, I also have many
ahhhhhhhhh haaaaaaaa
moments with/about God and this
entire situation.  Sometimes these
moments bring me to my knees.
I just stand in awe at God
and His power and all the goodness
of His ways and His people. 
I.love.those.moments!
And I LOVE sharing about those
moments.  When I took this screen
 picture, apparently 101 other people
liked hearing about God's miraculous
 powers (ended up being over 101!).
Before Trav's accident, I wouldn't
have been so bold to post about
God quite like I do now. 
Such a shame it took this horrible
accident to make me want to
shout to the world about God
and His goodness. 
We love us some Chad Carr.
Still crazy how the whole Sr. Care
Nursing Home situation came about...
through Walker's friend's dad. 
God is always weaving together
good works...we just don't know it!
Unfortunately during our stay at Sr.
Care, Chad moved on to a new job.
Travis & Chad hit it off.
That was a huge perk at
Sr. Care!!!  We miss him.
He was good for Trav;)
So handsome.......
Standing there like the Superman he is
waiting for me to pull the car up!
Speaking of God's Goodness,
I think it's so cool to find angels on earth.
Kim is one of them.  Truly one of those
people who make ME want to be a
better person.  Kim is a part time PT
and she has just so taken to Travis. 
And she's one that doesn't just 'say'
she's going to do this or that,
she DOES it.  She makes it happen.
I have great intentions, but often
don't follow through with them.
Not Kim...she is a Godly woman
with the most compassionate, caring
heart.  Doing all that she does for
Travis...someone whom she just happened
to pass by his room and saw him
reading Jesus Calling and she struck
up a 'conversation' with him.
It's so cool to have angels
amongst us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AHHHHH!  Super Baby Brynn...
my new beautiful God Daughter wearing
the Super Girl outfit I sent her :)
A text or a post like this does my heart
so much good because I know it was
preceded by a thought or hopefully more
often a prayer for Travis!
Even Brynn's super cute cousin
way up in Connecticut,
Charlie, supports the Superman!
Love that Brookie texted me this..........
One night some friends from high school
took Travis to a concert!  It was his
very first time out with 'just' friends...
and not one of us!  :)  I was SO happy
for him and he had a great time.
God bless his heart...he misses
his freedom and his friends
and his life.  I happened upon
something this sweet girl wrote to
Travis about how he was one of the
few people that was nice to her
when she started school at Midway. 
In her message she wrote him that she
could not understand why something
like this could happen to someone
so nice.  I've finally come to
accept that one day I will know why.
Little Love snoozing in Trav's room
at Sr. Care....such a trooper!!!
Still can't believe I ever wished that
Travis had been a girl for those few minutes
right after he was born!!! 
It certainly didn't take long for him to
steal my heart and for me to KNOW
that I must have more little boys ...
like the cutie pie in my arms :)
Again, sometimes I'm just taken aback...
by sadness or by awe.
This was one of those times when I look
over from my kitchen and I'm just
so thankful that Travis is sitting in my
living room texting. 
And even MORE so...
outside STANDING beside me!
I was so jealous of Lynna (his own mother! ha!),
the first time they strapped Travis to a
board and stood him up and she got
to hug him like that.  I couldn't wait
to do the same!!!!!!!!
Look at us now:)
Sweet smiles, Sweet spirits......
Let's be honest here...it's not always
sweet smiles and sweet spirits for Travis
(or ANY of us no matter our situation). 
His days are LONG and HARD and DIFFICULT.
Most people would choose to not have
his life.  It's just the truth.  Being a good lookin'
23 year old guy with more personality
imaginable but having to have your mom
or your aunt or a nurse help you
button your pants among MANY other things...
NOT cool and NOT easy.
People sometimes go on and on to him
about the miracle of his life being saved
and how awesome that is...and it's
the TRUTH.  But ya know what?!?
Heaven just might sometimes feel like
a better option to Travis than being
trapped in his own body.  Yes, there's
a reason for all this and I have faith
that Travis is going to find that
reason and act fully upon it...
but until then, his days can be down
right frustrating and sad.
And sometimes he doesn't mind
sharing about it........
La Tante has to chime in herself sometimes
with a response......
I pray every single day for Travis
to "give into and believe" his purpose!
This particular afternoon I told this
handsome Superman to stand RIGHT there
and NOT move while I went to go get
the car.  When I drove back up, he
was on the other side of that wall!!!
Such.a.MESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Superman STRONG!!!
Showing Travis what lifting that wheel
chair had done to my arm muscles (ha!).
No more arm muscles for me though...
the walker is easy!!!!!!!!
Travis most definitely keeps us all
on our toes with his Facebook.
You never know what he is going
to say.  He's so witty!!!  I laughed
so hard one day when I read what
he commented to this guy...
we are SO grateful that Travis
didn't lose his sense of humor!:)
Dustin "D-Ro" & Travis
Best buds for a long time...............
Grandmother has to be the greatest.
Some days she will tell me that she is going
to go and sit with Travis for about an hour. 
Then I'll hear from her six hours
later, and she's still sitting with him.
God bless her heart!
Then she will tell me alllll about their time
together.  Meanwhile Trav will text Lynna
and tell her that he's having to deal with
her "mother"!  ha ha!  But he loves
it.  Just the other day, Grandmother was
sitting in the chair beside him reading
her book when all the sudden she
hears the robot voice from his iPad
say, "Thank you for coming
to see me, Grandmother."
An afterschool visit...
I adore these guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Look who I caught praying ;)
Sometimes Travis is just down...
as any one would be in his situation.
The STORM and I and other family
members do whatever we can to
perk him up.  Today called for a silly
little photo shoot by .... Hudson!!!
Getting that million dollar smile
is not usually too terribly difficult,
even on his bad days.....
Being a part of the Storm is tiring!

One Saturday night we showed up
to see Trav and he and Tdawg had
on the same shirt!  They are so funny
together...always talking about
going toe to toe, who weighs what,
who is stronger, etc!!!
I love my two T's and I love
how they love each other!
I swear Troy loves and cares for
Travis like he has been his nephew
his whole entire life. 
 That makes me so proud of my man. 
Nothing makes me happier than when friends
or cousins (home for a visit from college)
come by to see Travis.  My group of friends
in high school had a friend who was in a
horrible car accident when we were
seniors.  She had many injuries...including
a TBI.  It was devastating.  Our hearts
broke for Shawna.  We spent hours at the
hospital, we drove back and forth to
Temple, we prayed our hearts out.
Shawna was never, ever the same.
Her life took a completely different turn:(
Looking back, our group of friends
faded from her life.  Her mother would
call and ask us to come and visit Shawna.
We graduated and all headed to different
colleges.  It makes me sick to think
that we would only come to see
Shawna during the Christmas holidays
and then even that faded away. 
I am ashamed of myself for this,
but I was a kid (it's still no excuse though).
  I just had no clue at the time.
I was able to put Shawna out of my
mind and go on with my life.
That's why I can't be angry at
Trav's friends.  They are kids...
embarking on the all different sorts of
journeys.  I just hate it for Travis
though.  Facebook is in one way
such a blessing for him to
communicate but then I also
know he is watching his friends
and their lives move forward with
school, marriages, experiences,
babies and more.  I can't imagine
the depth of what all Travis feels :(
Travis has continued to do horseback
riding therapy at Reach Therapeutic Center
on Saturdays.  At the end of June,
he was in their horse show
and did AWESOME!!!
Travis had never really ridden
horses before his accident,
but he certainly seems like a natural! 
He wrote HIMSELF about his horseback
riding on his own incredible blog...
He reminds me of Christopher Reeve....
Two AMAZING Supermen! 
The people at Camp Hope
are so incredible...
I love that this has brought
Travis some joy to his life :)
Kim & Kaley...such amazing supporters!
Some members of the
Travis "Superman" Bigham Fan Club!
A TBI (traumatic brain injury) is just so
different from other types of injuries...
there are no clear cut answers, there are
often no surgeries to fix it, there is no
time line of recovery and I could go on and on.
It's not like when you are born this way OR
when you are fighting with all your might against
a disease in which you know you will
win or you will go to Heaven and it's not
like dealing with the elderly ~ when
they have lived a full life and now they
are suffering.  Don't get me WRONG...
NONE, absolutely NONE of these things
I am using as examples are EASY.
They are horrible, difficult, tiring, sad
journeys.  The only guarantee with a
TBI is unfortunately you will never
be the same...in some form or fashion,
you or your loved one will not
be the same.  It's an absolute
and it's a difficult pill to swallow to
say the least.  For the most part, each of
us in the family has accepted Travis ...
in fact, we love him more than ever. 
We gladly take on a Travis that is a little
different than he was plus he can't talk 
or eat or walk among other things as well.
We can accept ALL that.  
I have EMBRACED it as a matter of fact.
What is most difficult though is seeing 
him hurt, seeing him not want to be this way,
seeing him struggle to do everything,
seeing him so very lonely and longing 
for his friends who have pretty much all 
moved on.....watching him suffer is
truly the hardest part of ALL of this. 
Thank Goodness there IS hope though!!!
Travis OR better yet GOD
 is far from finished.....
and I think I can pretty much declare
that a FACT, too!!!!!!!!!!!
"Give thanks to Him who alone
does mighty miracles.
His faithful love endures forever."
Psalm 136:4

2 comments:

Beth E. said...

There are no adequate words for this post, Mindy! You wrote from the heart and it has touched MY heart very deeply.

Having a brother with a TBI gives me some insight to what you are going through. But, Travis is having to endure even more than my brother. I'm so glad he comes from such a strong, loving family. ALL of you are SUPER!

Love you dearly...

Fernando Solis Eguiza said...

El Niño Y Tu Pilin