Day 12ish: Back to School

Hi Everyone!

I'm sorry that i haven't been keeping everyone updated in the last few days i made my transition back to Eastern on Sunday and have been trying to settle in with my new classes. So far classes are going good but it is hard to concentrate when the only thing on your mind is your big brother! I haven't seen Josh in two days and it seems like a life time! Luckily i get to go home tomorrow night and share a family dinner with everyone... and by everyone YES i mean including Josh also!

Josh has been allowed to get "hall passes" from rehab to go out to dinner or just get out to get some fresh air every once and a while since he is making such progress. He got to go out to dinner with my parents and grandparents last night and also got to go watch The Grinders, the hockey team that he had been skating with prior to the accident.

My mom has told me that although that Josh is doing better he is starting to have pain in his jaw, we aren't sure if it is because he has been eating more solid food in the last few days or if the numbness in his mouth is starting to wear off. I could imagine that since the bullet stopped right underneath his tongue it is probably likely that his mouth is going to hurt.

Thank you for your continuous prayers, my family really appreciates it! I really excited to see my brother tomorrow and i am hoping that he can go out for the day on Sunday, so we can spend Easter Sunday as a family. Each day my brother and my family are getting stronger. I have posted the note that Josh wrote me last week in my wardrobe so that every time i look at it, i can remember to stay Strong because Josh is definitely a strength throughout our family right now!

Day 8 & 9:

Saturday and Sunday
March 29 & April 1, 2012

Sorry to everyone who has been reading my blog everyday! We had quite a busy day yesterday so I forgot to post! As I write this and sit in my living room with my mom and dad, I am kind of dreading going back to school this evening. I know that it will be good for me to go back to “normal” life but I feel like my mind will thinking about Josh, until I know that he is home and doing 100% better. I guess that’s just me being an over protective sister, (funny since I am the baby of the family!) But I find myself a little nervous to go back to school, although I am blessed to only be going to school at Eastern and I can drive to see Josh after my classes, I have been so attached to my family that I’m almost afraid to step into the outside world, where it seems like 80% of Eastern’s campus knows Josh or what happened to him! I love sharing his “superman” recovery story but I don’t want to get too overwhelmed at school!

Anyways, when we left Josh on Friday he seemed like he was really exhausted by the move from the hospital to his rehab facility. But Saturday when we saw him, even though he had just gone through 3 hours of physical therapy he was in great spirits. We went outside with him to get some fresh air and just kind of talked about everything. It’s nice to Josh’s personality shine! He was sitting in his wheelchair and reached up with his left arm to itch is head. Sometimes his left arm movement is a little delayed because of the “neglect” part of his brain getting damaged from his stroke. When Josh reached up to itch his head his arm didn’t follow his command right away and when Josh looked down at his left side to see what was going on he slapped his left hand and said “common buddy, don’t embarrass me!”  Josh is always making jokes about what happened to him. I think it’s his way of staying in good spirits because he is healing so fast and the doctors are saying that he should make a full recovery.  We left Josh to go get his a steak dinner from twigs, he keeps getting frustrated from his lack of appetite and when he does have one the hospital food is so bland that it’s  not even worth eating! We brought Josh is dinner and he ate a little bit of it while we all sat in the room and hung out with him. Around 8 pm he took his next round of medicine so he got tired really fast. We left him to get some rest for the night!

Today, Sunday and we are getting ready to go see Josh again! I’m sure he will be in good spirits like always!

Thank you for all of your love and support J