Homeschool (Days 1 & 2)

So far, we are two days into homeschool.  Dallas has had a great time and is learning so much.  Just wanted to share a few photos of how things are going.  :)

Decorating

Decorating

Day One:

Day Two:

Good Morning! It's Been a Good Few Days. :)

So... where to begin.

We have had a busy week so far, and it's only Wednesday!

Dallas started homeschool on Monday.  He LOVES it!  He's having such a great time and learning so much.  It's really a wonderful program, and I think he will do well.  And the fact that he enjoys it makes it that much more rewarding.

So far, he has learned about Creation, the first and second day.
He has also been working on writing upper and lowercase letters.  A, B, C, and D.
He is learning different songs and I even added in a few things, different crafts for him to do.

Today will be another great day.  I just know it.

Therapy is getting more intense.  Tuesday his therapist worked on stretching out his right flank.  It was not a pleasant experience for him.  Usually he does pretty well at therapy, but there were tears that day. It's so hard to watch him in pain and have to tell him it will make him feel better.  I know he doesn't completely understand that.

I am planning on taking the boys to the Clay Center, hopefully Friday.  I think it would be a great experience for them.  They went last year and had a blast.  Think it's time to make another trip.

Today we are going to go to Cabella's.  The boys want to see the different mounted animals and the huge aquarium that's there.  AND, it will get them out of the house.

Also, I want to take them to pick out some different plants or flowers to plant in our flower garden (that's nonexistent at this point).  The mornings are very cool, and the sun doesn't cover the front yard until around 10am, so it would be great to get them out during this time!

The pool will be closing soon, which sucks.  Because Dallas is just now to the point where he's enjoying it.  But, on the positive side, the Therapy Clinic has an indoor pool.  And Jessica wants to get him into it.  So maybe in the near future he will trust her enough for this!

That's all for today.  Try and catch you all again later this week!

A Special "Thank You"

I wanted to give a special "thank you" to a few people who have continued to help support Dallas' recovery.

Of course, there's family and friends that are there for Dallas, that show support, that check on him.
And THANK YOU to all of you who do that.  It is needed, not only for his mental state, but for his physical well being also.

But there are others, people who don't really know Dallas, people who continue to help him through this tough time, donating money or accessories to help with his recovery.

Westview Baptists Church in Shelby has given so much to Dallas.  We continuously receive help for them, at the exact right times.  We find out we have a new expense for Dallas and think "how are we going to afford this?".  The next day, we receive help.  How?  It's amazing what God can do!  Thank you so much!  It is such a blessing.  We are very thankful for everything you all have done!  We would like to make a special visit there soon.  I know so many people would like to meet Dallas, and he would like to as well.

Ashley Wright-Boswell and Moms-on-a-Mission.  THANK YOU!  The clothing that Dallas has received will help out SO MUCH!  Dallas just received another box of clothes yesterday.  I wish I would have taken a picture of him when he saw them!  He was SO excited!
You all have done so much for him (and us) and we cannot tell you how much we TRULY appreciate everything!

New Beginnings Church in Fallston, NC.  Thank you all as well.  The amount of support you have shown is truly amazing!  We really enjoyed visiting and would like to again in the future.  You have shown us that when people are in need, when times are tough, that God is walking right there beside you and will be with you every step of the way!  Thank you all again!


There are many others that I have not recognized in this post, and please do not feel like you are not as important.  Because no matter what, each and every one of you are thanked a million times over!  Thank you for the support.  Thank you for the dedication to reading his blog.  Thank you for the prayers.  Thank you for being there for us.  Thank you for everything you all have done!

Another Update :)

Dallas had a good week overall.  We got some of the scabs off is his head (where the infection is) and it's beginning to clear up some.  YAY!  GOOD NEWS!!!

Therapy has been going well.  Dallas continues to get stronger.  He's getting even more energy.  So they are looking at scheduling him for OT again.  Right now, they cut back to just PT and Massage Therapy.  So increasing therapy would be great for him.

We also received his homeschool curriculum.  He is so excited to start!  We are going to begin this Monday.  It looks like a great program.  He should do well!

Dallas has his next appointment with Dr. Molnar on Monday the 27th.  Hopefully things will go well at that appointment.  I'm getting nervous for him.  He's definitely not going to like getting steroid injections if that's what we decide to go with (hopefully if all goes well with that, he won't have to have releases done on the thicker scar tissues).

It's hard to believe that it's been 4 1/2 months since his accident, so he is only about 3 1/2 months out from surgery.  The doctors told us that during the first four months is when things will get worse, after that, they will improve.  So if this is the worst it's going to be, then it gives me a much more positive outlook on his future.

I think we are going to take the kids to the National Forest this weekend.  Have a cookout and let them play at the playground.  Dallas had fun the last time we went.  So if we head out there around 5pm, the sun will be behind the trees, it'll be cooled down some, and there won't really be anyone there.  So we could have the place to ourselves.  I'll be sure to take pictures and post them!  :)

The only negative things going on with his progress is that Dallas still isn't sleeping through the night.  He usually gets up once a night, which interferes with his rest.
He still has the staple in his right arm.  Which I am working on talking him into letting me take it out.
And he has some restrictions and limitations with his right arm.

Of course, there's the normal things... his scarring is pretty thick, he's still very pinkish-red, etc.  But those things will improve with age.

Overall, Dallas is doing well.
He continues to amaze me with his determination.  With the motivation he has.
Even when he wants to give up, when things hurt him or it gets too hard, he pushes himself farther.  He goes above and beyond.  He continues to inspire us!

Things Are Getting Tougher

Therapy went well the last two sessions.  However, things are getting more and more difficult for Dallas.  His scarring is continuing to tighten.  We hope that this will cease, however, from what we have read and have been told, it takes 18 months for a scar to fully mature; which means it could continue to get worse.  If this is any indicator of what is to come, I cannot imagine his limitations in the next 6 months.

That being said, Dallas has another appointment to see Dr. Molnar on August 27th.  Hopefully he will do something different with these infected areas in his hairline, and will have something positive to say. He is supposed to speak with us about doing steroid injections in the scar sites, as well.

Oh, and I have forgot to mention, Dallas has another staple in his arm.  Recently, it has come to the surface, but he is terrified to let me take it out.  He wants medicine from the doctor so he won't feel anything.  I don't think he realizes that means going into the sedation suite and having IVs put in.  It would be an even more painful process that way.  But what can you do?  We are trying to encourage him to get it out here, so that this doesn't have to happen.

Dallas hasn't been sleeping well the last few weeks.  He's been getting up more and more throughout the night.  Last night, he was up every hour, and then awake from 3am-4am.

Dallas is excited about doing homeschool!  I received the acceptance letter from the State to be able to homeschool him, and have ordered his curriculum.  He cannot wait to begin.  That's wonderful!

Sorry for the short update.  I will do more soon.

Progression

Dallas has done well over the last couple of days.  Therapy has went good.  They have cut it back to Tuesdays and Thursdays only; Mondays and Wednesdays focused on strength and endurance, while Tuesdays and Thursdays are stretching and massage.  Apparently, they feel he is doing well with strength and endurance.  That's good.  This week, he held himself up on the parallel bars, climbed up a wall with his feet, while his arms supported him on the floor, stretched beyond a 90 degree angle with his right arm, can throw a ball really well with his right arm, and has done much more.  It's really wearing him out, and at times, it hurts him and he wants to stop, but he keeps on pushing through.

The good news is that Dallas' spirits are up.  He has a very positive attitude towards everything, which will help him to continue to progress well.

The bad news is that his scarring is getting worse.  He is losing more mobility in his right arm due to the scar tissue tightening even more, especially across the inner joint of his elbow.  It is to the point where he has to force his arm straight, the natural position is now in a bent position.

Also, Dallas is getting worse infections on his hairline.  It started out very small, and apparently, Dr. Molnar said that the cause was hair coming through the skin; according to him, it's very common.  Ok, I can understand that.  But the fact that they have progressed from being smaller than dime-size to now half-dollar size is quite alarming.  They are also getting increasingly more painful for him.  NOT a good thing.  I still don't understand why they won't give him an antibiotic for it, even if it's just topical?  It doesn't make sense to me.  But then again, I'm not a doctor, so, I don't know.

On another positive note, Dallas played out in the sprinkler twice this week, and went to the pool for about 45 minutes.  That was a big step for him.  He did so well with both.  He's still scared to try to swim, fearing he will go face first into the water, which is part to do with his right arm having problems.  But, he walked back and forth in the 3' end, jumped around, turned in circles, and was able to go up the ladder by himself (but still needed help down).  It was great to see him playing like a little kid again.  :)

We also did some crafts yesterday.  I bought wooden letters to spell out Dallas and Mac's name so they could paint them and put them on the wall in their room.  Last time I bought stuff for Dallas to paint, he didn't want to have anything to do with it.  At least this time, he was interested, and participated.  Seems like he's having more fun and doing more things than he used to do.  He also said that he wanted to get more stuff to paint, and other crafts to do.  We think it's a great idea.  If he's this interested in it, I think we will start taking him to Michaels or Hobby Lobby during the "crafts for kids" day.  Let him participate in some things among other children.

Speaking of being among more children, I took the kids to the movie theater Wednesday morning.  During the summer, they do the free kids movies on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings.  This was the first time Dallas actually WANTED to go, which is wonderful!  So I took them to see Dr. Suess's The Lorax.  He did really well, especially considering almost every seat was taken by the time the movie started.  Good thing we got their right when they opened and were able to get the seats we wanted.  About an hour into the movie, Dallas was ready to go.  I figured it would have been sooner.  But there was only 30minutes left, so we stayed.  Dallas did great.  I was so happy.  And there were less "looks" than I thought there would be.  Dallas wasn't shy in the least bit either.  YAY!

Dallas is sleeping better at night, for the most part.  There are still some nights when he doesn't sleep well at all, some nights when his itching is uncontrollable, but overall, sleeping is better for him.  Which, in turn, means it's better for us as well.  :)

Overall, I would say things are going pretty well.  There are still good days and bad, and there will be for a long time to come.  But he's doing well, his spirits are high, and he still knows how to bring a smile to us all!

We are so proud of you and love you so much buddy!!!