It’s been a bit since we’ve blogged…which is probably how it will be now as our lives continue to move on with Lane being much more stable (praise God!). We are learning to take on this new and ever changing normal as a married couple, along with our already very busy lives. We are loving living in our own place and beginning to take on some of our favorite pre accident activities. In fact, Lane had a team meeting with his therapists at Hope last week and this is exactly one of the things we brought up …how much we look forward to and love doing things (with whatever adaptation needed) we treasured doing together before the accident. Activities OUTSIDE the therapy facility. Some of these things include dates at coffee shops, strolls around MSU, and sitting outside and reading our favorite books aloud. Of course there are many, MANY more things we think of daily that we pray we’ll be able to do together again someday that we can’t now. We’d appreciate your prayer in this area specifically. That Lane would continue to make HUGE physical improvements but that we’d also learn to be content and make the most of where God has us today.

Since transferring to Lansing for therapy, Lane also has a new Physiatrist (rehab doc) that we LOVE. She is quick to listen to what Lane desires for treatment/therapy, and is willing to look into alternative type treatments if they are indicated for Lane. Yesterday she wrote an order for Lane to start getting regular massage therapy, as well as more botox injections in his arms before we go down the road of the baclofen pump (what we previously considered but wanted to see if his tone changed at all. It has not). If the botox injections don’t last long or simply don’t relax his muscle the way it needs to, we may reconsider the pump. The way a brain injury can negatively effect muscle tone is incredible. We definitely do NOT want contractures taking place. This is another area where we could use your prayer. Lane gets arm Range of motion twice a day, takes oral baclofen, and wears arm splints, but all of these combined are not helping in the ways they need to or should be. And we don’t want to go to high with the oral baclofen because of it’s side effects.We’ve also recently been looking into possible HBOT (Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy) therapy for Lane. Unfortunately it is very expensive and doesn’t have a whole lot of evidence for effectiveness with TBI’s, but in our research we’ve come accross some examples where it worked tremendously well for TBI clients. The closest facility with the hospital grade hard chambers (that we would want) is an hour away and we’d need to travel there 5 days a week for 2 months. We are still researching this specific treatment but if you know ANYthing about HBOT (good or bad), please, please let us know.

We’d appreciate prayer also for diligence and perseverance in Lanes home therapy assignments. Of course it’d be easy for us to spend the entire rest of the day after his therapies just taking it easy (which is needed sometimes:), but we have much equipment at home now that will allow him to practice outside therapy, which will make him stronger for his actual sessions.

For your faithful prayer and support we are SO grateful. Have a wonderful weekend!

L&E

Today we celebrate 2 beautiful years of marriage.

It’d honestly be very difficult to sum up the past 24 months in a few sentences, so I thought I’d post some pictures that are worth much more than words. My favorite is the one of our vows (last picture), a frame that we’ve had in our bedroom  (and hospital rooms:) since we were married. We decided to each write ours out, which has been SO special to look back on, especially during this time that Lane hasn’t been able to write.

As you can tell by some of the pictures taken this weekend, Lane is doing much better and has been seizure free since his hospitalization last week (WOOHOO!). We were actually able to be on the panel at the annual West Michigan Brain Injury Symposium this past Thursday, where we answered questions on Lane’s specific TBI journey. It was pretty neat. Then we stayed at the same hotel in GR we stayed after our wedding for the rest of the weekend. SO fun.

                                                                       Engagement

                                                             First summer married:)

 These two were taken at the WMBIN Symposium this past weekend. It was a privilege to be a voice and encouragement to the health professionals and TBI survivors there. The top is of Lane and I during the Q & A time and the bottom is the MFB advertisement page in the Symposium program.

                                            2 year anniversary at the Holland Tulip Festival!

                        Beautiful flowers from my man:)

Thank you for your continued love, prayer, and support dear family and friends,

Lane and Emily