We've Got a Driver in the House!

Jake got his driver's license today! He's been working towards this huge teenage milestone for a year and a half, and I think his smile shows how excited he is. As with most things he has encountered since his stroke, his path requires a few more twists and turns, but with his sheer determination he did it. Todd and I couldn't be more proud of him. Now to deal with the joys of car insurance and a teenage boy... 

Shortly after we got back from vacation, Jake and Luke took their first solo trip to San Diego to visit my brother Ryan and his wife Melanie. They were so excited to travel on their own and had such a good time. They are already asking when they can go back. 

We've spent quite a bit of time this summer trying to figure out how to deal with Jake's foot. The pain he's had walking has decreased due to some additional adjustments to his brace, which has been great news. His surgeon is a bit perplexed why his foot has regressed back to a similar position it was in before his surgery three years ago. Until that can be figured out, he's hesitant to do another surgery. We appreciate the cautious approach and met with his rehab doctor last week. The plan for now is to try a few different medications to see if they can help loosen things up the muscle tightness in his foot. The hope is will help the overall foot position and consequently walking. I'm glad we have a few more weeks of summer to test things out before he goes back to school. Fingers crossed it works. 

This is the first summer we haven't had tons of therapy appointments and I think it's been good for everyone. It's allowing us to have a little better balance of downtime and fun which we've all enjoyed. Hard to believe we'll all be back in the routine of school in just a few short weeks...  

6th Anniversary

It's hard to believe another year has already gone by and we are celebrating 6 years since Jake's survived his stroke. We're fortunate to be marking this anniversary while in Puerto Vallarta on a family vacation. We celebrated with a fun family day and delicious dessert that we all shared.

Jake just finished his sophomore year of high school and had another great year. We've seen him continue to get better at advocating for himself and is handling high school really well. He got  good grades, was accepted into National Honor Society, and joined pep band. Pep band was a pretty big commitment all through the fall and left him pretty wiped out on weekends after a Friday night game. But he seemed to really enjoy being part of the drum line and it was fun for us to go to the high school football games.

He has continued getting in his driving time and did several hours with an adaptive driving instructor during the winter. He needs some adaptations to our car that prevented him from being able to drive with one of the driving schools, which consequently kept him from being able to get his license at 16. (In Colorado, you have to have 6 hours of driving with an accredited school  to get your license at 16.) He has come so far in his driving and it's sooo much less stressful for me to drive with him. He's planning on taking his driving test later this month now that he's 16 1/2 and both he and Luke are excited for him to get his license. I'm not so sure I'm ready to have a teenage driver in the house, but am excited for him to hit this huge milestone. :-)

We got up skiing/snowboarding a little bit more this year and his progress is really exciting. He's so close to being fully independent on the mountain. His season got cut a bit short due to some issues he's been having with his foot which was a bit of a bummer. Crossing our fingers we can go a bit more next winter.

So speaking of Jake's foot...you may remember he had surgery three summers ago to help get his foot into better alignment to make his walking easier. Surgery was successful and things have been going along pretty well. He had a really good stint of a home based physical therapy program last summer and made a lot of improvements in strength and flexibility. All things considered, his walking was looking pretty good.

Then in March, he started having a lot of pain in his foot, his foot is starting to rotate to the side again and it's putting a lot of pressure on the side of his foot (pinky toe to ankle). Jake has a really high pain tolerance, so when he says something is hurting, it's really hurting. After trying several things - dry needling, acupuncture, brace adjustments, X-rays for a possible fracture - we were getting nowhere and the pain was getting worse.

It got to the point where he decided to use his knee scooter at school. Prior to that I would pick him up from school and you could see by the way he walked he was in a lot of pain. The surgeon who did his initial surgery wanted to do another Gait Analysis to see if he might need surgery again. While Jake still growing, we knew there was a risk the surgery he has three years ago may not last. Only problem was the Gait Lab at Children's here in Denver was backed up 3-4 months to get an appointment which meant we wouldn't have any idea of a game plan until late August/early September. When your child is in pain, that just isn't an option. I called around and was able to get him into Shriner's Hospital in Salt Lake and have it done there. We went a few weeks ago and should have their recommendations when we get home from vacation.

I feel blessed everyday to still have Jake in our lives. Not only does what we all went through help keep things in perspective (although if I'm being honest, the further we get away from his stroke, the more conscious effort it takes to not let the little things get to me), he is truly a joy of a kid. He is extremely appreciative, does his chores without being reminded, stays on top of his homework/grades, offers to help me in the kitchen, is kind, and an overall pleasure to be around. Plus, he still likes hanging out with us and I'll take that for as long as I can get it. :-)