By Susie Roemhild —
Hello friends and family! This is Susie, I first want to thank all of you for your un-waning support towards Ron, Lisa and Taylor. Your prayers and comforting words have made a world of difference in their lives.
After my visit to Phoenix last week and thinking about all the progress I saw with Taylor I thought it would be a good idea for me to do a journal update from my perspective…
Ill start with when I arrived. I flew into Phoenix Friday the 12th of October. As I was walking through the airport I made my call to Lisa to let her know I had landed and was headed to get my luggage. She told me to call her when I was finished so that she could pick me up at the curb. After getting off the escalator, I was panning the area to find the carousel with my luggage, when I turned to see Lisa and Taylor WALKING towards me… I still get goose bumps… he had the biggest smile and I was greeted with, ” Hi Susie,” and one of those wonderful Taylor hugs!
Taylor continued to surprise me the whole time I was visiting. Just a few of the examples would be; playing his guitar, correcting my step count as I was walking him from one room to another, speaking in Spanish, playing possum when I was talking to him trying to get him up from his nap (typical teenage behavior), reaching across the table with his hand open to grab the soda on the table (one of his sighted moments), tying his own shoes, changing his own clothes, showering, changing channels on the remote to find his favorite shows, standing with his feet crossed and leg bent, hands in his pockets (Taylor’s well known stance), and typing response to Lisa’s question on the laptop ( perfectly I might add). He also can walk to the car, strap himself in and make himself comfortable by crossing his legs. His attitude most days is very good and he once in while has that little bit of normal teen frustration with his mom, that we see in most teens.
He laughed at our banter, and agreed with me that Lisa should not wash her feet with Lysol sanitation wipes, he agreed that it is toxic…hahaha
We also went looking at houses to rent, which was Taylor’s second trip that day, and his stamina was still good. As we were looking at a laundry room in a home, Taylor leaned on the counter and realizing that it would be a good place to rest, placed his hands behind on the counter and pulled himself up to sit, TYPICAL kid! We then headed towards the kitchen and he did the same thing on the kitchen counter. Lisa took that opportunity to get him caught up with some fluids and groceries.
I kept thinking wow… I was so amazed at how well he was doing.
His friends came to visit on Sunday and we all walked over to the workout room and Taylor walked arm in arm with his friend.
While I was there Lisa did speech, occupational, and physical therapy with him as the opportunity arose. He also has days during the week when the therapists visit. His PT therapist has to bring him to the workout room for therapy, as Taylor’s walk is so fast and strides are so big, that the shorter therapist cannot keep up the pace. When he came back from therapy, the therapist told Lisa that he was going to start Taylor with a slow jog on the tread mill next visit, as he was already walking too fast for the machine!
Lisa also sat with him and worked on word recognition with him. She starts a sentence and Taylor has to fill in the word to finish it. Taylor not only filled in the word, but he used words that most teens would not know, dare I say, even use! Made me laugh… yeah right… brain damage they say…
it is obvious that he is gaining his strength back daily, and with the news that Lisa received from his speech therapist today, Ron, Lisa and Taylor have so much to look forward to after his next surgery. But Ill let Lisa or Ron fill you in on that…
In closing, GOD IS SO GOOD and faithful when we ask for healing! Ask and you shall receive, pressed down and shakin and running over!!!
Blessings, Susie
