Hi my sweet friends..... Graduation is right around the corner... June 8th at 1:00 pm.....THANK YOU GOD! What an awesome day that will be! Alex is doing great and it has been really nice to finally breathe and not have to worry about school! We enjoyed a nice long weekend, watched my nephew get baptized in the ocean at Jax beach and then took Alex to the beach for the day.
I am online this morning asking for special prayer request for a young man named Nick Curran, (19 I think) and his family. There was a very tragic accident at Ginnie Springs this weekend and Nick has lost a lot of blood and oxygen and is fighting for his life in the hospital. I don't know this family or all of the details but being what I have gone thru with Alex...... you all know I can relate and I ask that my prayer warriors please get on this and ask God to pull them all thru this. We have all seen the miracles he continues to bless my family with and If anyone knows that there is power in prayer it is I!!!
Thank you!!
PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!
LISA
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
SCHOOL IS COMPLETED.... GRADUATION IS A GOOOOOOOOO!
FIRST AND FOREMOST I WANT TO THANK GOD FOR GIVING ME THE PATIENCE, ENDURANCE AND STRENGTH TO GET THRU THIS PART OF OUR JOURNEY! I can assure you he has been standing right by my side every step of the way.... holding my hand and guiding me to do what everyone thought or deemed impossible! THROUGH HIM.... ALLLLLL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE....3 hours to live on January 6, 2010 to GRADUATING on June 8th of 2011!! THANK YOU SWEET JESUS FOR ALL BLESSINGS..... GREAT AND SMALL!!!
Alex's ankle is still a little weak but it was before he sprained it so we are just monitoring it and making sure he has his brace on when he does therapy.
We had a scare the other day at the ballpark with Alex.... he was in his wheelchair going to the concession stand and backing up in his wheelchair. Well his back wheel slipped off of the sidewalk and got stuck in the sand sending his wheelchair flying back and him slamming on the sidewalk! OMG.... everything flashed back and in an instant I began to run from the stands to him on the ground. I even think the game stopped, lol! Thank God when he flipped back his head did not hit the ground!! Tears streaming down my face, my heart beating three times the normal..... it was hard to catch my breath with the emotions that were racing thru my mind! It took me a good 30 minutes to finally settle back down and realize he was ok. Alex.... well he was fine... of course making jokes how he was trying to do that and how he was doing back flips...etc. Even though his head didn't hit the ground, I still watched him because it was a huge jolt and I wanted to make sure nothing came of it... but as always.... according to God's plan... ALEX IS ON TOP OF THIS WORLD!
God continues to send angels my way and just when I think I can't take anymore..... someone will come up to me and say... "I know you probably get this alot, but I have followed your story and still keep you and Alex in my prayers". THOSE WORDS ARE WORTH A MILLION DOLLARS TO ME! It's the little things in life that sometimes mean the most and it seems as if God knows just when I need a boost and he sends an angel to lift me up and keep me going. THANK YOU.... Thank you to those of you who bless me immensely with your words of encouragment and keep me going in the midst of what seems like an eternity of neverending obstacles! Now that school is over we can focus on his therapies and get him independent and back on track to a somewhat normal life. Many people wonder what we have in store as far as college goes.... well... I AM TAKING A BREAK, lol. We are going to focus on therapy until January of next year and then sign Alex up at FSCJ and decide at that point whether he will be taking online classes or will have moved further along in recovery and can actually attend classes. He has every desire to go to college........ it is acutally I who needs a break and need to slow down a bit. Time to take care of me for a bit and get some things done that I need to take care of that I have put off so that we could focus on getting Alex graduated. Somewhere along the way I have lost my mind and my memory so by slowing down our pace a bit from school 5 days a week and therapy 3 times a week, laundry, housework, cooking......caregiving 24-7.... I NEED A BREAK!
A special thank you to my sweet friend Theresa Hawkins who, at the drop of a hat, came to my rescue and we did a senior photo shoot with Alex! A HOT, MUGGY, SMOKEY, BUG INFESTED, SWEATY photo shoot but together we did it and she got some amazing shots of Alex. There are soooo many great shots I can't possibly get them all on here but I wanted to share some. We gathered all of his Gator memorabilia from Tim Tebow and his pro day experience with some of the other Gator players and set him up ready for smiles... see below:
AND THAT'S A WRAP!!!
MIRACLES HAPPEN... GOD DOES PERFORM THEM......LOOK AT MY HANDSOME BOY AND BELIEVE IT!!! THANK YOU GOD FOR ALLOWING ME TO BE A VESSEL FOR YOUR WORD!!!! I know YOU have great things in store for Alex and just as I promised you the night of January 6, 2010...... HE WILL DO GREAT THINGS FOR YOU, WITH YOU AND IN YOUR NAME! AMEN!!!
graduation is on June 8th at 1:00pm ..... GOD IS SO GOOD and I can't wait to see my boy WALK across that stage and get his diploma after everything he has been through, the obstacles he has overcome AND the hard work he has endured. Sooooo proud of you Alex Michael Ross!!!
PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP! LISA
Alex's ankle is still a little weak but it was before he sprained it so we are just monitoring it and making sure he has his brace on when he does therapy.
We had a scare the other day at the ballpark with Alex.... he was in his wheelchair going to the concession stand and backing up in his wheelchair. Well his back wheel slipped off of the sidewalk and got stuck in the sand sending his wheelchair flying back and him slamming on the sidewalk! OMG.... everything flashed back and in an instant I began to run from the stands to him on the ground. I even think the game stopped, lol! Thank God when he flipped back his head did not hit the ground!! Tears streaming down my face, my heart beating three times the normal..... it was hard to catch my breath with the emotions that were racing thru my mind! It took me a good 30 minutes to finally settle back down and realize he was ok. Alex.... well he was fine... of course making jokes how he was trying to do that and how he was doing back flips...etc. Even though his head didn't hit the ground, I still watched him because it was a huge jolt and I wanted to make sure nothing came of it... but as always.... according to God's plan... ALEX IS ON TOP OF THIS WORLD!
God continues to send angels my way and just when I think I can't take anymore..... someone will come up to me and say... "I know you probably get this alot, but I have followed your story and still keep you and Alex in my prayers". THOSE WORDS ARE WORTH A MILLION DOLLARS TO ME! It's the little things in life that sometimes mean the most and it seems as if God knows just when I need a boost and he sends an angel to lift me up and keep me going. THANK YOU.... Thank you to those of you who bless me immensely with your words of encouragment and keep me going in the midst of what seems like an eternity of neverending obstacles! Now that school is over we can focus on his therapies and get him independent and back on track to a somewhat normal life. Many people wonder what we have in store as far as college goes.... well... I AM TAKING A BREAK, lol. We are going to focus on therapy until January of next year and then sign Alex up at FSCJ and decide at that point whether he will be taking online classes or will have moved further along in recovery and can actually attend classes. He has every desire to go to college........ it is acutally I who needs a break and need to slow down a bit. Time to take care of me for a bit and get some things done that I need to take care of that I have put off so that we could focus on getting Alex graduated. Somewhere along the way I have lost my mind and my memory so by slowing down our pace a bit from school 5 days a week and therapy 3 times a week, laundry, housework, cooking......caregiving 24-7.... I NEED A BREAK!
A special thank you to my sweet friend Theresa Hawkins who, at the drop of a hat, came to my rescue and we did a senior photo shoot with Alex! A HOT, MUGGY, SMOKEY, BUG INFESTED, SWEATY photo shoot but together we did it and she got some amazing shots of Alex. There are soooo many great shots I can't possibly get them all on here but I wanted to share some. We gathered all of his Gator memorabilia from Tim Tebow and his pro day experience with some of the other Gator players and set him up ready for smiles... see below:
AND THAT'S A WRAP!!!
MIRACLES HAPPEN... GOD DOES PERFORM THEM......LOOK AT MY HANDSOME BOY AND BELIEVE IT!!! THANK YOU GOD FOR ALLOWING ME TO BE A VESSEL FOR YOUR WORD!!!! I know YOU have great things in store for Alex and just as I promised you the night of January 6, 2010...... HE WILL DO GREAT THINGS FOR YOU, WITH YOU AND IN YOUR NAME! AMEN!!!
graduation is on June 8th at 1:00pm ..... GOD IS SO GOOD and I can't wait to see my boy WALK across that stage and get his diploma after everything he has been through, the obstacles he has overcome AND the hard work he has endured. Sooooo proud of you Alex Michael Ross!!!
PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP! LISA
Thursday, May 12, 2011
GREAT NEWS!
We have been bogged down with school work and trying to get everything completed in time so that Alex can graduate with his class on June 8, 2011. I must say that I am really proud of him for pushing through the days AND his attention span..... it certainly hasn't been easy! All he has left now is his finals and end of course exams.... Please keep us in your prayers, lol!
We had a visit with his neurosurgeon yesterday and it was our LAST! She released him yesterday.... saying he looks great and we are on an as needed basis with her!! THANK YOU GOD......GREAT NEWS!!! I want to share the images of his cat scan below that he just had taken in April......YOU ARE WITNESSING A TRUE MIRACLE OF GOD...... BELIEVE IT!!
(the pics are flipped ....the damaged area is really the right side but look as if it is the left side)
The first pic shows the normal ventricles on the right and the ventricles that are full of fluid on the left...thus the reason for the shunt. You can also see some fluid on the outside of the cranium between the cranium and the skin to the left. This is the reason that we see a little swelling on his right side. She said this is normal because they couldn't possibly sew every inch square tight and some fluid will seep through, however the shunt should and will continue to control this. Only if I see change in personality, sleeping habits, headaches etc do I need to be concerned. In other words... if it ain't broke... DON'T FIX IT!
Picture 2 you can see the thin line going from the center to the outside... this is the shunt..... you can also see the circle outline where the new piece of skull composite was placed back in April of last year when he was put all back together again. The two prominent small white pieces are fragments of the bullet that will be there forever. He is not allowed to ever have MRI or go thru anything magnetic becausse that could cause the bullet to become dislodged and surely create more damage of which we DO NOT NEED,lol!
This is a frontal view.... the bullet looks like it is in the front from this view however it is really in the back.... the pic is as if you are looking THRU his head.
This is the picture that should really make your draw drop and say WOW! You can see the damage that the bullet did.... you can clearly see the parts of the brain that are left and what is NOT there. The bullet spattered the right side (which looks like the left, remeber the pictures are flipped). He has little if ANY brain left on his right side....basically functioning on half of a brain and doing the unthinkable things he is! If you don't believe in God or that he performs miracles.....BELIEVE THIS! ALEX MICHAEL SHOULD NOT BE HERE.... HE SHOULD NOT BE FUNCTIONING AS WELL AS HE IS....HE SHOULD NOT BE AS FAR ALONG IN RECOVERY.... ALEX MICHAEL ROSS IS A TRUE MIRACLE OF GOD!!! I sit here and look at this picture.... hard to take my eyes off of it because it seems impossible. It humbles me and makes me want to be a better mother.... with more patience than I already have.....to not sweat the small stuff.... to cherish EVERY single moment.... to not lose my cool every once in awhile.... TO BE THANKFUL most of all.....to HIM, JESUS CHRIST! Thank you Lord for soooooo many many more days with my handsome boy than I ever could have hoped for.
We had a visit with his neurosurgeon yesterday and it was our LAST! She released him yesterday.... saying he looks great and we are on an as needed basis with her!! THANK YOU GOD......GREAT NEWS!!! I want to share the images of his cat scan below that he just had taken in April......YOU ARE WITNESSING A TRUE MIRACLE OF GOD...... BELIEVE IT!!
(the pics are flipped ....the damaged area is really the right side but look as if it is the left side)
The first pic shows the normal ventricles on the right and the ventricles that are full of fluid on the left...thus the reason for the shunt. You can also see some fluid on the outside of the cranium between the cranium and the skin to the left. This is the reason that we see a little swelling on his right side. She said this is normal because they couldn't possibly sew every inch square tight and some fluid will seep through, however the shunt should and will continue to control this. Only if I see change in personality, sleeping habits, headaches etc do I need to be concerned. In other words... if it ain't broke... DON'T FIX IT!
Picture 2 you can see the thin line going from the center to the outside... this is the shunt..... you can also see the circle outline where the new piece of skull composite was placed back in April of last year when he was put all back together again. The two prominent small white pieces are fragments of the bullet that will be there forever. He is not allowed to ever have MRI or go thru anything magnetic becausse that could cause the bullet to become dislodged and surely create more damage of which we DO NOT NEED,lol!
This is a frontal view.... the bullet looks like it is in the front from this view however it is really in the back.... the pic is as if you are looking THRU his head.
This is the picture that should really make your draw drop and say WOW! You can see the damage that the bullet did.... you can clearly see the parts of the brain that are left and what is NOT there. The bullet spattered the right side (which looks like the left, remeber the pictures are flipped). He has little if ANY brain left on his right side....basically functioning on half of a brain and doing the unthinkable things he is! If you don't believe in God or that he performs miracles.....BELIEVE THIS! ALEX MICHAEL SHOULD NOT BE HERE.... HE SHOULD NOT BE FUNCTIONING AS WELL AS HE IS....HE SHOULD NOT BE AS FAR ALONG IN RECOVERY.... ALEX MICHAEL ROSS IS A TRUE MIRACLE OF GOD!!! I sit here and look at this picture.... hard to take my eyes off of it because it seems impossible. It humbles me and makes me want to be a better mother.... with more patience than I already have.....to not sweat the small stuff.... to cherish EVERY single moment.... to not lose my cool every once in awhile.... TO BE THANKFUL most of all.....to HIM, JESUS CHRIST! Thank you Lord for soooooo many many more days with my handsome boy than I ever could have hoped for.
My boy is a walking, talking, funny, crazy, impatient, neurotic, OCD, ADHD young man and I am truly thankful that I have a second chance to be right by his side thru thick and thin until he is able to become independent and carry out God's will!
PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!
LISA
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Bunkered down!
My apologies for not getting on here sooner, probably the only reason I am on here now is that it is 4:18am as Alex just woke me up to go to the bathroom and I cannot for the life of me go back to sleep! Soooooo, I am putting free time to use, lol.
We have been bunkered down with a bum ankle, major school work to complete and a nasty stomach bug that just won't quit! Just when I thought it was gone.... it pops back up again!
The xray last week was inconclusive so he had Alex wear this heavy boot thing that protected his ankle from rolling when having to stand on it to use the bathroom or transfer to bed/sofa. All he kept saying was, "I don't need a cast".... "it doesn't hurt".... ONLY because he didn't want a cast with our cruise coming up. Chad's brother is getting married next week on a cruise and for obvious reasons he wanted to be able to enjoy himself in water activities on and off the boat. Anywho, we had to revisit the orthopedic doc again yesterday to see if the swelling had gone down and he could see if there was any type of fracture at all...THERE WAS NOT...THANK YOU GOD! Doc says it is just a severe sprain.... sometimes those are worse! It has been quite a week with the BOOT, ANKLE AND STOMACH BUG..... going to the bathroom every 5-10 minutes has not been an easy task with him! A special thank you to my mother who has been driving every couple of days from Fernandina to watch him so that I can go to Brooks baseball games in the evenings because we tried one night with him at the ballpark and I WON'T BE DOING THAT AGAIN atleast until it's ALL OUT OF HIS SYSTEM, LOL!
We just found out from school that all of his online courses have to be completed by May 14th since we are going on our cruise! Needless to say I have had him online every possible free minute that I can grab his attention span for! HE WILL GRADUATE IF IT KILLS ME! Soooo, needless to say the last week has been very stressful for me....he hasn't been able to go to therapy because he was ordered by the doctor for no weight bearing activities on that left foot until we knew what was going on, school work around the clock and the stomach bug! CALGON TAKE ME AWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! I should have saved the Hawaii trip for after graduation, lol!
Thanks to all of you who have written emails checking on Alex.... it's nice to know you are still there even though my blogging has become scarce these days. Once we get through school, I will be able to breath again and I promise I'll get back to my duties once and for all. :0) I ask that you keep Alex in your prayers for the next month so that he is able to focus longer than normal as we get thru this last bit of school work and finals and that his ankle doesn't give him trouble so that he can get back on track with recovery and be able to WALK ACROSS THAT STAGE on June 8th to receive his diploma! God hasn't let me down yet and I truly feel like he will show us once again that HE IS IN CONTROL as I see my handsome boy WALK on June 8th!!
PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!
LISA
We have been bunkered down with a bum ankle, major school work to complete and a nasty stomach bug that just won't quit! Just when I thought it was gone.... it pops back up again!
The xray last week was inconclusive so he had Alex wear this heavy boot thing that protected his ankle from rolling when having to stand on it to use the bathroom or transfer to bed/sofa. All he kept saying was, "I don't need a cast".... "it doesn't hurt".... ONLY because he didn't want a cast with our cruise coming up. Chad's brother is getting married next week on a cruise and for obvious reasons he wanted to be able to enjoy himself in water activities on and off the boat. Anywho, we had to revisit the orthopedic doc again yesterday to see if the swelling had gone down and he could see if there was any type of fracture at all...THERE WAS NOT...THANK YOU GOD! Doc says it is just a severe sprain.... sometimes those are worse! It has been quite a week with the BOOT, ANKLE AND STOMACH BUG..... going to the bathroom every 5-10 minutes has not been an easy task with him! A special thank you to my mother who has been driving every couple of days from Fernandina to watch him so that I can go to Brooks baseball games in the evenings because we tried one night with him at the ballpark and I WON'T BE DOING THAT AGAIN atleast until it's ALL OUT OF HIS SYSTEM, LOL!
We just found out from school that all of his online courses have to be completed by May 14th since we are going on our cruise! Needless to say I have had him online every possible free minute that I can grab his attention span for! HE WILL GRADUATE IF IT KILLS ME! Soooo, needless to say the last week has been very stressful for me....he hasn't been able to go to therapy because he was ordered by the doctor for no weight bearing activities on that left foot until we knew what was going on, school work around the clock and the stomach bug! CALGON TAKE ME AWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! I should have saved the Hawaii trip for after graduation, lol!
Thanks to all of you who have written emails checking on Alex.... it's nice to know you are still there even though my blogging has become scarce these days. Once we get through school, I will be able to breath again and I promise I'll get back to my duties once and for all. :0) I ask that you keep Alex in your prayers for the next month so that he is able to focus longer than normal as we get thru this last bit of school work and finals and that his ankle doesn't give him trouble so that he can get back on track with recovery and be able to WALK ACROSS THAT STAGE on June 8th to receive his diploma! God hasn't let me down yet and I truly feel like he will show us once again that HE IS IN CONTROL as I see my handsome boy WALK on June 8th!!
PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!
LISA
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