Sunday, July 3, 2011

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!*

No comments:

Post a Comment

Posted with LOVE by Trendy Mindy