Spring Break at CNS

Grandmother, Aunt Michelle, Hunter, Logan,

Walker, Hadlee, Hudson and I all

loaded up in my car and headed to the

Big City to spend a few days with Travis

during our Spring Break!

Absolutely NO other place we would

have gone this year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When we arrived, he was in physical

therapy and we were so thrilled

to get to see him show off!!!

Standing UP (with assistance)!

What a MIRACLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The STORM invading CNS...

Meet HUNTER, the therapy dog!

You can imagine the fun we had

with that dog being named Hunter!

Hunter & Travis (brothers!!!)  ;))))

The therapists at CNS actually do love

having us there (or so they say!!!!!)

even if we do cause quite the commotion!

Then it was back to Trav's apartment

where I couldn't resist taking some

pics of him because he looked SO GOOD!!!

Unfortunately Travis had a really bad

headache that night and had us very worried. 

We always hang out with Travis

at his apartment until his

nurse gives him his night time meds

that basically put him right to sleep.

This trip we spent the first part

staying in a hotel (thanks to T-dawg!)...

We cause a commotion there, too!;)

Hunter, Logan and I made a

VERY late night run to Wal-Mart...

and I even found superman pj's!!! :)))

The next morning, I got up early and

went straight to the clinic by myself. 

I love me some one-on-one time with

our Superman!  He still had a bad

headache though.  :(

We hang out for his physical therapy,
occupational therapy and we sit with
him during his lunch (they put him in a

room by himself with his assistant and a nurse

comes in to give him his feeding through his

stomach).  We make sure to never eat

in front of him or make him go where

the other patients are eating. 
We try to leave to eat ourselves during

his counseling sessions and/or during

his speech therapy.  Speech is so important

 and requires such concentration,

we feel it best to not stick around.

My Super Loves...

We stayed the last night at the

Steve Ashley House which is a house

on site that you can rent (like

a Ronald McDonald type place).

It just gets booked quickly.

 

Early the next morning, Hudson and I

walked down to see Travis to see

what his mornings are like before he goes

to the clinic.  Never hurts to surprise

his nurses & assistants;)

They work hard to try to help Travis

relearn how to do things for himself.

You have to realize that when Travis

arrived at CNS, he could do nothing for

himself like use the bathroom or anything.

A TBI can be so very cruel.

I'll never, ever in my whole entire

life get over what I've watched my

precious nephew endure. 

Hudson is always happy to go see Trav;)

Unfortunately Travis still had that awful

headache and was refusing to go to

the clinic.  This is NOT like him so we

knew that his head must be hurting really

badly.  We all made the decision to let him

stay at the apartment for the day.

We pushed him down to our place

and we hung outside with him for a while. :)

Then we spent the rest of the afternoon

hanging out at his apartment...

Travis is VERY loved...

...VERY, very loved in fact!

Grandmother with her oldest and youngest

who just happen to be kindred spirits.

I have to confess that I have often asked

Hudson during this journey if he knows

if Travis will be healed or to what

extent he will be healed.  I swear he

knows...it's like he has seen the bigger

picture all along.  I wish I could, too. 

Bless Trav's heart, but that headache

just wouldn't go away.  The doctor

decided it would be best for him to 

be checked out at a hospital.

You can never be too safe with a 

brain injury.  Garrett and Alyssa

just happened to be on their way to 

Dallas to see Trav when all of this went

down so they met us at the hospital... 

They are both so incredible

and have been such a HUGE

part of Trav's recovery. 

Things were getting pretty crazy in the waiting

room so I decided to take the kids

and Hunter on a ride through my old

stomping grounds since we were so close.

They get so tired of hearing me say,

"Don't worry.  I used to live in the Big City

I can get us anywhere!!!"

These were my apartments

"The Winsted" on MacArthur

in Valley Ranch where I lived for two years after

I graduated from Baylor.  Such a great two

years of growing up I did and experiencing

 life in a new city on my very own

with my first real job.  When my parents left

after helping me move in, my dad said,

"Well, you know where your school is,

the grocery store and the mall. 

 You should be fine!"

Lynna, Travis and Hunter moved to Dallas

right near me for part of that time.

Travis was such a little young man

during that time.  God bless his heart.

Then it was back to the hospital to check

on our boy who was already feeling better.

Linda is our favorite Residential

Assistant for Travis.

We love her like family now. 

Lynna drove in and met us at the hospital, too. 

Thankfully, he checked out okay.  The doctor

believed him to be having a migraine

(which he used to have before his accident) 

and Travis needed some fluids. 

Sadly, we had to say our goodbyes

and head back to Waco.

I've yet to leave visiting Travis without

balling my eyes out.  It's the hardest

thing in the world to leave him.

On our drive home

(all EIGHT of us PACKED

back in my car), we were quite delirious. ;)

We stopped at a McDonald's in the drive-thru

and pretty much we all got Happy Meals.

Hadlee was asking which toy she got and

I reached in one of the meals and pulled out the toy...

it was a SUPERMAN figurine.

Come to find out, each meal

had the same Superman in it!

We all flipped out!!!

God has the best sense of humor!

Of course we went right back through

the line and asked to buy some more

of the figurines to give to Travis and others!!!

At the end of the school year, Walker

brought home all of his journals from this

year in second grade.  I loved reading

his Spring Break entry...

"I spent spring break having fun.  I went

to Dallas for 3 days.  I got a lego set

and Travis got a headache.  But,

we still had fun.  I got to have Evan over

and I got to have my friend Jonah

over for the night.  We slept in tents.

I was too big for the tent.  But,

I did not care.  So back to Dallas.

I got to watch Family Guy because

Travis got Family Guy videos.

The way back was hard. 

The whole car was full."

*Note to self:  NEVER, ever

let Walker watch Family Guy videos again.

They are baaaaaaad!*