Thank you to my little sister for yesterday's update.
A little more information on Ryan's eye appointment yesterday...The test ran about 3 hours long and he was allowed 2 short breaks. Ryan did an amazing job at sustaining his endurance with little aggravation. As mentioned yesterday, as far as the doctors can tell so far, both eyes are able to see with little blurriness. His vision is not 20/20, but they are not even bad enough to write a prescription for correctable lenses. So basically, Ryan can see better than before (because he used to wear glasses, occasionally...) and better than most of our vision. God is truly amazing! As for Ryan's right eye, the doctor said that the motion of opening the eye and blinking is caused by the brain. Ryan barely opens his right eye and does not blink ... yet. She says that this process of eye functions comes with time as the brain heals, just as the left eye did. But once he is capable of opening and blinking his left eye, he should not have any problems seeing, based on her initial exam. She told and reminded us that she sees many patients that are better and worse than Ryan's condition and every month after the initial visit, things change; healing occurs and the vision and eye movements recover. I feel as if this doctor was another one of God's angels reminding all of us to be patient. He has not forgotten or left us, He is here and strengthening our faith and patience. God is healing Ryan, but it takes time. The brain is a magnificent thing, but it is not great than our Lord. He is the ultimate healer and his work is making Ryan better than he was before!
Yesterday morning was an absolute catastrophe and a chaotic mess. So many different things occurred before Ryan even left for the appointment, I know Mom is glad that it is a new day. One thing that happened early yesterday morning is that Ryan pulled out his feeding tube, the Micky. The hospital did not have the correct replacement size, that is why he was scheduled for an appointment this morning at Methodist hospital...let's just say it was a lot of drama.
I prayed all morning that Ryan would not have to be transported across town this morning in the horrible weather and traffic. My prayers were answered! The hospital is going to be able to replace his feeding tube bedside, thank you Lord for keeping Ryan off the icy and dangerous streets this morning! We are waiting for the correct supplies to come in and they will reinsert it later this afternoon; this should be an easy process.
The strength of Ryan and God's work is breath-taking. This whole journey has been a whirlwind of emotions from very high to the lowest of lows at times. During those times, God has always shone himself. His light is brighter than our darkest days, for that I am grateful. 2 Samuel 22:29 You are my lamp, O LORD; the LORD turns my darkness into light. Today marks the 100th day since Ryan's accident, and the day our lives have changed forever. 100 days...wow...unbelievable. We can look back at that date and think about how "bad" things are, but that's not what God wants. He wants us to rejoice in these past 100 days and reminisce on the amazing miracles that we have witnessed in such a short amount of time! We have felt the presence of our Lord closer than some will ever feel, we have seen his work continually, and we have felt Him kiss our foreheads when all we can do is drop to our knees and scream out his name. Yes - this has happened, multiple times ... usually in my closet. The break down and the crying out, but then I feel our Father's presence lift me up and remind me that He has not left us. That we cannot grow weary, we must have continuous faith.
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. James 4:10
During therapy Ryan has began working very hard on his core and back muscles. He just thought his 5am basketball workouts were hard! Ha! That's nothing compared to what he's doing now! He is now gaining strength to sit up on his own! Here is a picture of Ryan and Haley ... just hanging out! :)
A little more information on Ryan's eye appointment yesterday...The test ran about 3 hours long and he was allowed 2 short breaks. Ryan did an amazing job at sustaining his endurance with little aggravation. As mentioned yesterday, as far as the doctors can tell so far, both eyes are able to see with little blurriness. His vision is not 20/20, but they are not even bad enough to write a prescription for correctable lenses. So basically, Ryan can see better than before (because he used to wear glasses, occasionally...) and better than most of our vision. God is truly amazing! As for Ryan's right eye, the doctor said that the motion of opening the eye and blinking is caused by the brain. Ryan barely opens his right eye and does not blink ... yet. She says that this process of eye functions comes with time as the brain heals, just as the left eye did. But once he is capable of opening and blinking his left eye, he should not have any problems seeing, based on her initial exam. She told and reminded us that she sees many patients that are better and worse than Ryan's condition and every month after the initial visit, things change; healing occurs and the vision and eye movements recover. I feel as if this doctor was another one of God's angels reminding all of us to be patient. He has not forgotten or left us, He is here and strengthening our faith and patience. God is healing Ryan, but it takes time. The brain is a magnificent thing, but it is not great than our Lord. He is the ultimate healer and his work is making Ryan better than he was before!
Yesterday morning was an absolute catastrophe and a chaotic mess. So many different things occurred before Ryan even left for the appointment, I know Mom is glad that it is a new day. One thing that happened early yesterday morning is that Ryan pulled out his feeding tube, the Micky. The hospital did not have the correct replacement size, that is why he was scheduled for an appointment this morning at Methodist hospital...let's just say it was a lot of drama.
I prayed all morning that Ryan would not have to be transported across town this morning in the horrible weather and traffic. My prayers were answered! The hospital is going to be able to replace his feeding tube bedside, thank you Lord for keeping Ryan off the icy and dangerous streets this morning! We are waiting for the correct supplies to come in and they will reinsert it later this afternoon; this should be an easy process.
The strength of Ryan and God's work is breath-taking. This whole journey has been a whirlwind of emotions from very high to the lowest of lows at times. During those times, God has always shone himself. His light is brighter than our darkest days, for that I am grateful. 2 Samuel 22:29 You are my lamp, O LORD; the LORD turns my darkness into light. Today marks the 100th day since Ryan's accident, and the day our lives have changed forever. 100 days...wow...unbelievable. We can look back at that date and think about how "bad" things are, but that's not what God wants. He wants us to rejoice in these past 100 days and reminisce on the amazing miracles that we have witnessed in such a short amount of time! We have felt the presence of our Lord closer than some will ever feel, we have seen his work continually, and we have felt Him kiss our foreheads when all we can do is drop to our knees and scream out his name. Yes - this has happened, multiple times ... usually in my closet. The break down and the crying out, but then I feel our Father's presence lift me up and remind me that He has not left us. That we cannot grow weary, we must have continuous faith.
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. James 4:10
During therapy Ryan has began working very hard on his core and back muscles. He just thought his 5am basketball workouts were hard! Ha! That's nothing compared to what he's doing now! He is now gaining strength to sit up on his own! Here is a picture of Ryan and Haley ... just hanging out! :)