Edited to add that Mom (Karen) sent me this update back at the beginning of December and I TOTALLY slacked off. It sohuld have been posted LOOOOOONG ago and if she sends me another update soon, I’ll get that up here too…… sorry Momma!

I am hoping Patti will post a picture or two of the turtle costume Chris created at Halloween.

He made it himself from scratch. Well really from flat foam and flat yardage of fabrics that he coordinated and designed himself.

He used an electric carving knife to cut and shape the foam and glued and stitched it together to make the shell shape. He hand sewed the fabric onto it and then designed the pattern for the belly, arms , pants legs and head….all himself and did his own sewing on the machine…..
 
 
We heard it won a $250 prize at some place down town…I believe his brother owes him a dinner out for that. heh heh!
 
 

What a wonderful report we have to share…… The Tibia bone is now healed to such an extent that the Ortho Doctor has said “providing the infection does not come back, we won’t be needing to see you anymore for the leg. ” Praise the Lord!

This past week Chris saw the plastic surgeon who is working with two others on the repair and rebuilding of Chris’ jaw. They are looking at a surgery time tentatively in January for breaking and resetting both the upper mandible(bone) to pull it out some and the lower jaw.to set it in some, ( This will be step one, they will continue to use braces to realign his teeth before they can rebuild the bone, this is the bone grafting where they will place the new teeth.)

This will mean Chris will be drinking most of his meals through a straw for at least a week or two….. He got it from a very reliable source that you can even blend a pizza and suck it up a straw. So knowing how creative Chris is…any one who would like to join him for a meal sometime can look forward to some amazing concoctions. It will be 4-6 weeks of recovery time.

This plastic surgeon has also said he will try to de-bulk his arm.at the same time, well following the face surgery,if they have enough surgery time… this will possibly be a two step process where they lift the top layer of the graft and remove the fatty tissue from underneath on half to 2/3rds of it and then come back later and finish it. It will give Chris a much neater looking arm.It is much the same as the original grafting and flap work. They told us from the beginning that this was something that would need to be done.

It is amazing the strength that Chris has and how he presses forward in his recovery. He has persevered with patience. He is such a blessing.

Chris is now going to the gym here in Walnut Grove at least 3 times a week. He goes back to the physiotherapist once every other week to be sure he is not losing any range and things are going good.

There are some plans for January, of him trying out a course or two possible at a college or Trinity to use it a part of his rehabilitation therapy. This will get him back into some out side the home situations and give him a chance to see how he does in this type of situation. He was in to see the Doctor who is part of the team who worked with him at GF Strong and he told Chris that because there have been so many different specialist and doctors and so many broken bones,surgeries,infections and parts that needed time to heal and there is still more recovery and surgeries ahead, He wanted to see Chris not rush to return to work yet as he is still healing in his physical body but also that where the brain trauma had been there is still need to let this part heal more, That he could still recover more with therapies and new strategies and because so much has been focused on his physical body, bones ect. He would like to see him focus on this other area over this next year and see how much farther he can go.

Again I look back to all those who were apart of this wonderful miracle in Chris’ life and ours….so so many people who were doing their jobs and touched our lives in a wonderful way. So many who have gone the extra mile to help and encourage and to pray…..How grateful we are for each and every one. The list is amazingly long. And there are so many who though we may have forgotten names faces are still there and I know there are those whose faces we cannot remember either but I know they were there and they are not any less than others as they gave to us in our time of need. One night I woke in the middle of the night and began again to recall with thanksgiving all who were part of this time in our lives…. praying that Our Father God would bless them for their kindnesses and their gifts, their skills, their wisdom and knowledge, for each word of encouragment,each prayer. It was several hours before I was feeling sleepy again and I had not covered all the many wonderful people who have touched our lives. How truly grateful we are. And how truly grateful we are for the promise of God that it would go well with Chris and that He would live long on this earth. How wonderful that we have the promises of God as an anchor for our souls. There is so much to be thankful for. There are still many who are working with Chris and who we are thankful for. Each one who gives into his life and ours is such a blessing. We are so very grateful.