Sludacris
Friday, October 28, 2011
Home Sweet Home
It has been 9 days since we arrived home and things are going quite well. I can't count the number of times Michael has said, " I am so happy to be home ". Those words are priceless! He is extremely sweet and willing to do most anything we ask. He has started his out-patient therapy and is spending time with family and friends. He loves sleeping in his own comfy bed, and is getting really good sleep. Let me just say that this will be a great Christmas! Post by Mom
Monday, October 17, 2011
Homeward
Rosi and I are doing a little packing here in Conroe. Michael is due to be discharged tomorrow from Touchstone. We have tickets for wednesday afternoon on America's favorite airline, Southwest, to fly home.
Michael has been spending a good deal of time with us at the apartment. We wanted to see how he would do out of the facility and he has been fine. We took him yesterday to Red Lobster to eat. When he was small we used to take him out of school one day towards the end of the year and declare it "Michael Sluder day". It usually involved a movie or something like that and eating the feast at red lobster. It was his favorite. My boys have never minded orderering steak or lobster as long as pops is paying.
I also took Michael to a golf driving range yesterday, kinda as a test to see if he remembered how to hit a ball. We used to play together some. At first he watched me and didn't want to, but I gave him a club and told him to give it a try. I didn't say a word, and he took the club and hit the ball just like he used to! He grasped the club the same and proceeded to put it way out there. The range had targets and on his last shot he aimed for the 100 yd target and hit it! He was very exhuberant and wanted to quit on that one. We were only there for 20 minutes but he did great.
Wednesday is a day we have looked forward to for awhile. We are hopeful, but we also realize it means a lot of work ahead for our family. We are thankful to have family and friends that have stepped up for Michael and us. Over the next few months, I hope the house is full of Michaels friends that will spend the time with him that he needs. He is fun and needs folks his age to do all the stuff you do for fun and learning. He may not know you at first but he can learn. He knows most of the folks in his facility because they spend time with him. That is the key.
Anyway, I just wanted to let you know we are headed to Nashville.
Pops
Michael has been spending a good deal of time with us at the apartment. We wanted to see how he would do out of the facility and he has been fine. We took him yesterday to Red Lobster to eat. When he was small we used to take him out of school one day towards the end of the year and declare it "Michael Sluder day". It usually involved a movie or something like that and eating the feast at red lobster. It was his favorite. My boys have never minded orderering steak or lobster as long as pops is paying.
I also took Michael to a golf driving range yesterday, kinda as a test to see if he remembered how to hit a ball. We used to play together some. At first he watched me and didn't want to, but I gave him a club and told him to give it a try. I didn't say a word, and he took the club and hit the ball just like he used to! He grasped the club the same and proceeded to put it way out there. The range had targets and on his last shot he aimed for the 100 yd target and hit it! He was very exhuberant and wanted to quit on that one. We were only there for 20 minutes but he did great.
Wednesday is a day we have looked forward to for awhile. We are hopeful, but we also realize it means a lot of work ahead for our family. We are thankful to have family and friends that have stepped up for Michael and us. Over the next few months, I hope the house is full of Michaels friends that will spend the time with him that he needs. He is fun and needs folks his age to do all the stuff you do for fun and learning. He may not know you at first but he can learn. He knows most of the folks in his facility because they spend time with him. That is the key.
Anyway, I just wanted to let you know we are headed to Nashville.
Pops
Saturday, October 8, 2011
BIG News
This is the news that I have been waiting for months to be able to announce. If all goes according to plan, Michael is set to be released (when I put it that way, it sounds like he has been in the slammer) on October 18th!!
Whew! Just typing that brings so many conflicting emotions. I am so excited to have Michael home. I am nervous about him making the transition and how it will work. I am anxious to see what new challenges will surface (and I know there will be many, that is the nature of this beast called brain injury). But mostly, I am so so happy that he will has improved to the point that we have arrived at this place.
The first time Michael came home last December, we were covered in love by awesome friends. Ultimately, the reality is that my parents are now accepting (gladly and gratefully) an adult son that will need them way more than they expected. Because of that, they need their friends way more than expected too. And Michael's friends- what an amazing group of people- he will need you too. Dredge that love back up from the months of absence and setbacks and hopelessness, and bring it on. Pretty please.
If you are still reading, I want to share something with you that I heard this week at a conference. It floored me. In Luke 15, Jesus tells the story of the prodigal son. If you have ever been a churchgoer at all, you probably know it. The father in the Bible welcomes his son back with open arms with an enormous party despite tremendous pain and bad choices that he had made. That is a picture of how God loves us. Did you know that the father never speaks to the son? Not one word. Not all the time the son is gone, not even when he comes home. He speaks to the servant and gives instructions on how to welcome him, but never to the son. The speaker (Jon Acuff) said that is how it works sometimes when we are in the worst pain and we feel like God is not with us, not speaking to us. He feels silent, and the reason is not because he doesn't care or doesn't know how much we are hurting. It is because he is planning a party. It feels so amazing to have hope.
Whew! Just typing that brings so many conflicting emotions. I am so excited to have Michael home. I am nervous about him making the transition and how it will work. I am anxious to see what new challenges will surface (and I know there will be many, that is the nature of this beast called brain injury). But mostly, I am so so happy that he will has improved to the point that we have arrived at this place.
The first time Michael came home last December, we were covered in love by awesome friends. Ultimately, the reality is that my parents are now accepting (gladly and gratefully) an adult son that will need them way more than they expected. Because of that, they need their friends way more than expected too. And Michael's friends- what an amazing group of people- he will need you too. Dredge that love back up from the months of absence and setbacks and hopelessness, and bring it on. Pretty please.
If you are still reading, I want to share something with you that I heard this week at a conference. It floored me. In Luke 15, Jesus tells the story of the prodigal son. If you have ever been a churchgoer at all, you probably know it. The father in the Bible welcomes his son back with open arms with an enormous party despite tremendous pain and bad choices that he had made. That is a picture of how God loves us. Did you know that the father never speaks to the son? Not one word. Not all the time the son is gone, not even when he comes home. He speaks to the servant and gives instructions on how to welcome him, but never to the son. The speaker (Jon Acuff) said that is how it works sometimes when we are in the worst pain and we feel like God is not with us, not speaking to us. He feels silent, and the reason is not because he doesn't care or doesn't know how much we are hurting. It is because he is planning a party. It feels so amazing to have hope.
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