Kevin's Recovery Helping Kevin Mather on his road to recovery

10/23/09 Update

As I’m guessing several of you know by now, Kev’s brace didn’t come off & we were told that it would likely be another 3 months. This diagnosis wasn’t based on how Kev’s spine is healing, but rather this doctor’s general practice when it comes to any patient in a brace. We are hoping that we’ll be able to get a referral to Kev’s actual neurosurgeon for the next follow up/ second opinion.

The first week of November we will be in San Diego for an intense therapy program which focuses on attempting to re-train different muscles and nerves to take over for the ones that aren’t currently functioning. The program we’re starting with will train me to learn the various range of motion, stretching & strengthening exersises to do with him at home. Then we will have consistent follow up appointments to track his progress & adjust the home workout program accordingly.

Kev came down with a cold at the beginning of the week, which I’m now starting to get. Somehow our sickness cycle in general tends to be Kev getting sick first, then me getting it when he’s almost better & then he usually ends up getting it again. So please pray that his immune system will be strengthened so I won’t pass it back to him. It would be a real bummer for us to be sick during the San Diego therapy program.

Thanks again for the continued prayer!

Home Update

Hey Everyone,

Sorry it’s taken us a while to get an update posted.  Life outside of the hospital has been a bit busy, even though many days go by without us feeling like we have accomplished much. Everything takes a much longer time now – just getting ready in the morning & going to a 2 hour therapy session takes up the majority of the day. All of the “normal” daily tasks that you usually wouldn’t think twice about, now takes a planning and strategy session just to figure out how to complete the necessary tasks without one or both of us getting hurt.

Emotionally things are a lot harder too as usual interactions are different. While we realize that people likely mean well, the constant, “can I help you?”, “are you feeling better?”, and “how are you?” questions can be a bit discouraging and exhausting as the answers rarely change.

So far things are going ok, but everyday is definitely an adjustment and learning process.

Kev is currently going to outpatient therapy once a week however the therapists would like to see him at least twice a week for 3-4 months. We are working with our insurance company to try to get it approved as the initial referral was only for 6 sessions. The rest of our time includes various follow up Dr. visits, sorting through the endless bills and paperwork, and going to the gym to try to supplement his therapy (and to make sure we both are building our upper body strength for all of the lifting and maneuvering we need to do).

Our current prayer requests are:

 - that additional therapy sessions would be approved quickly (with spinal cord injuries it is crucial that therapy is very intensive soon after the injury for the best results)

 - that God would bring encouragement and strength to make it through each day

 - that Kev’s spine would fuse quickly so his brace can come off (we have a follow up appointment this Thursday the 15th)

 - that we would be able to figure out what type of car would be best for Kev and that we would be able to afford it so Kev can take his hand control test at DMV and be able to drive

Thanks again for the continued prayer and support!  It truly means a ton to us both!