Challenges and Opportunities

My good friend from the florist, Michele, told me years ago, Life is full of challenges and opportunities, and sometimes they come in the same package.

I told my kids that every time it was appropriate. I said it to my riding students, and preached it to all the people who have ever worked for me. Look for the opportunity within a challenge. Or as my old boss Mike used to say, With all this shit, there's gotta be a pony in there somewhere.

So here we are, at that point where the challenge before Parker is full of opportunity. The challenge is called rehab. The painful part is called Physical Therapy. The opportunity is to be able to walk out of this hospital someday, on his own two feet. Here is how far we have come.

* Ten weeks ago Parker went via ambulance to the first hospital. This is where we began to understand how serious and painful the disease called pancreatitis can be. But this was just the beginning.

* Five weeks ago Parker was flat on his back after his first two surgeries, with a septic infection, being kept alive by machines and medications. He was on a ventilator to make his lungs work, in a state of medicated unconsciousness. His kidneys had failed, his heart was at serious risk of stopping, most of his body had shut down. We didn't know if he was going to live. The odds were stacked strongly against him.

* Today, Parker stood up at the edge of his bed for the first time in 7 weeks. He spent the morning worrying because he wasn't confident in his ability to accomplish todays goal. But he did it! He stood on his own two feet, his thighs quivering as they struggled to regain memory of what they were supposed to do.

* After he stood up, the nurses lifted him to a special chair that will help his trunk muscles re-learn how to sit up. And sit up he did! For an hour and ten minutes!

These things are HUGE! This is serious progress toward his getting well, and the ultimate goal of walking out of here someday, on his own two feet. But he has a lot to learn and some serious hard work ahead of him. I compared physical therapy and rehab to ten times the work and pain of two-a-day football practices in August ~ only instead of Coach Garlick screaming at him he has a group of cute nurses cheering him on.

Today's lessons included:
* learning how to swallow properly so he doesn't aspirate anything into his lungs. With the trach tube still in pnuemonia is still a risk.
* practicing holding his cell phone and a toothbrush.
* learning how to reach to the table next to the bed for his bottle of water, which he is now allowed as much of as he wants.
* foot slides on his bed to strengthen his thighs and lower abs.
* stretches above his head and lifting his arms in the air with his fists closed to strengthen his biceps and triceps.
* stretching his feet forward, then back, thrusting his heel toward the wall, to strengthen his calves.
* holding a spoon so tomorrow he can eat jello.

Today was a big day. Every day is huge, because he is alive. And that's the pony in today's story. He is ALIVE!!!

As for the photo above? That's me, age 10. My brother and sister-in-law sent it to me with a card that says, Sometimes it helps to remember you've come through difficult times before. And now I remember the pony on that day. I had struggled to learned how to braid a real horse's tail and was showing my family, as close as I could, what it should look like in the end. I was quite proud of myself.