Mile marker 2,288

Dec. 4, 2011

Sitting in the waiting room on the last day of Conductive Ed, the only thing more glowing than Nathan’s progress report was the conductor herself (who’s due in March). We’ve gone through the process several times, (sometimes with conductive ed, but also with intensive PT) reviewing the tasks asked, the results/effort he showed, and things we can work on at home.

Over the summer, we had three weeks at Leap Beyond Therapy (intensive PT) followed up by four weeks of conductive education. This time we’re reversing the order. We just finished week 5 of Brighter Beginnings through Conductive Education and tomorrow Annette and Nathan head to Cinci and Leap Beyond Therapy for three more weeks. Mapping that with the calendar, Nathan will be tested from Oct. 31 – Dec. 23.

Nathan has spent an average of 13 hours a week in the car up to now and that total will go up to around 21 starting tomorrow. That’s not counting if we think about heading straight from intensive therapy to Granma Helen’s the evening of the 23rd, (assuming they go straight from there. If I can’t go and they drive back to Columbus, and I drive the other two up, that will be over 6 hours alone that day.)

Thankfully, Nathan has never had a problem falling asleep in the car. On many days over the last few weeks, he would fall asleep on the way home from school, stayed asleep once we got home, and not wake up when I put him back in the car to head to Marysville. Somehow, he would always wake up about 5 miles out, enough time to regain his bearings, and get back in the mindset to hard work.

It is a weird feeling handing the keys over and letting Annette do all the driving. It’s been my job for the last three years. As time progresses, maybe a change is what we all need and things will get even better for all of us.

Extra prayers would be appreciated for Annette who not only is planning on doing the 4 hours of driving (broken up by the three hours of therapy) but is also planning on working 4-5 hours a night (from 7pm-midnight) once she gets back in town. The current plan is once I get done from work, I’ll park our van in her work parking garage, and meet her out front of where she works and take the car (with Nathan still inside) home to get him dinner, ibuprofen and put to bed.

Luckily, we’re in the home stretch of Christmas shopping, and seeking to complete our other errands around everything else. I’m sure our schedules will have to adapt, but God has got us through everything up to now, we’re sure He’ll help us through the rest.

I doubt we’ll have too many Silent Nights (especially with Annette not getting home until possibly 1 a.m.) but once heads can hit the pillows, there’s sure to be snoring all the way around. Until then, it’s over the river and through the woods to intensive therapy we’ll go. We just have to remember 2,288 miles complete; 3,690 to go.

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