We are excited to have today over with. This was kind of like a grateful yet hard day; being that we are heading in the right direction but also knowing that this is going to be a long road of bed rest.
Josh's surgery went well, and we are all very grateful for this blessing. Dr. Snively did the honors and he is a great guy. He would make all of you laugh a little back at home, a good hometown kind of Dr. Our family has never been so excited for Halloween-hahaha-that would be getting to the end of this 6 weeks period! So get your costumes and your decorations ready because we are sure it is going to come upon us quickly!
Thank you to everyone for all of your love faith and prayers, we truly need them and feel of your strength each day!
Lots of love from, The Pack family
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
What are we having surgery for tomorrow
Many of you are asking "why is Josh having surgery tomorrow?" Well we developed a bedsore about a week after the accident. It is a real bugger and has slowed our physical therapy progress down immensly. Sometimes it is beneficial to have a little extra flab on your bum!!! As you know Josh had no flab anywhere on his body and was only straight muscle. Well they have done everything possible here at Craig to heal the sore and it isn't going to happen without some plastic surgery. So it means that Josh will have to lay flat for 6-8 weeks, after the flap surgery. When we say flat we mean FLAT IN BED!! So we are back to eating, drinking, snoozing, watching t.v., anything that we do on our back. It could be a long 6-8 weeks but we are going to make the most of it. We have some ideas of entertaining ourselves such as many books on tape, dvd's, music, dad's jokes-(oh my goodness it could get long), games, mom thinks we should start BYU online study-WHAT?? If you have any ideas for us we would love to hear them. We will also have the opportunity to do a lot of strength training in our arms, neck and back. We can do this while laying flat, you can be rest assured that we will not waste a minute in our recovery from this surgery. The greatest blessing of all is that our spinal cord is healing whether we are laying in bed or up and around.
As we read the scriptures last night in D&C 121-123; which is the time that Joseph Smith was being held prisoner in the Liberty Jail. It made us ponder more deeply about all of the sacrifices that so many people have given in our behalf that we may have the gospel today. It made us incredibly grateful to come from a heritage that has honored their priesthood and passed it onto us. In 123:17 it tells us "dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed."
We feel like we can heed to this guidance at this time and we have committed to be cheerful and do everything that we can to help Josh, and then be patient, standing still, with the utmost assurance that God knows us and loves us. He continues to reveal His hand in our lives, bearing witness that Jesus is the Christ. We are continually blesssed by Him in so many ways, and so many times through all of you. The power of the Priesthood is evident in our daily lives as we are away from family and friends. We are given strength and hope to share it with those that we come in contact with each day.
As we read the scriptures last night in D&C 121-123; which is the time that Joseph Smith was being held prisoner in the Liberty Jail. It made us ponder more deeply about all of the sacrifices that so many people have given in our behalf that we may have the gospel today. It made us incredibly grateful to come from a heritage that has honored their priesthood and passed it onto us. In 123:17 it tells us "dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed."
We feel like we can heed to this guidance at this time and we have committed to be cheerful and do everything that we can to help Josh, and then be patient, standing still, with the utmost assurance that God knows us and loves us. He continues to reveal His hand in our lives, bearing witness that Jesus is the Christ. We are continually blesssed by Him in so many ways, and so many times through all of you. The power of the Priesthood is evident in our daily lives as we are away from family and friends. We are given strength and hope to share it with those that we come in contact with each day.
A haircut before surgery
We took a fun little texting poll with some of you this morning regarding Josh's hair. We were choosing to either cut it or let it grow for 6-8 weeks. (You need to know that Josh hasn't had a haircut since the first of July) Well the response of the poll was very intertaining for us. Some of the responses were:
"I think growing it out could be fun"-Sean Holley
"Leave it!!!" Dustin Martin
"I vote to cut it" Aunt Julie
"Can't go wrong, so handsome either way but i think my vote would be a cut!" Bri Gardiner
"Cut it" Justin
"Ha yea leave it, then he can rock the mullet later!" Nick Sorensen
"I say cut it. But I really really wish that I could do the honors!!" Mindy Martineau
"Cut the hair! Is he not preparing for a mission? Who does he plan to represent." Dr. Brian Smith
Well needless to say we got a cut, we love all of you guys!!!!
A great weekend with Aunts and Uncles!
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Medical Update
- It is exciting that Josh is moving his arms more freely this week
- Josh's neck is getting much stronger so we can get rid of the collar-YEAH!
- His trunk muscles are also getting stronger, this is a beautiful thing.
- His lungs are amazingly strong, we would be getting rid of the trach if it were not for surgery next week.
- The best "medical medicine" we have had this week is DUSTIN MARTIN and JUSTIN coming this past weekend, PRES HOLLEY and SEAN this week!
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Yeah Good medical news
- Josh was downsized to a smaller trach today. The next step is too get rid of it all together. His lungs are very strong, they are only keeping him on the trach because he is on bed rest until further notice. So for precautions only they are keeping it in.
- No more breathing treatments. You can only appreciate this if you have experienced a "breathing treatment"!!! Darinda you would be so proud of Josh.
Slow Week-So a thought from Lisa and Cord
We are venturing into another slow week laying on our back. We want to share some really fun cool pics with you but there are not any, we would love to share a few funny jokes with you but we can't remember any, we would also love to share with you some visual great improvements but we are at a slow week. We are still lying flat on our back healing and healing and healing. We are also being greatly blessed. We feel and see the Lord send tender mercies each day to us. We don't want you to forget about us or quit praying for us, because we need you. But we don't have anything really great to post. So I thought that I would share one of the thoughts we have had as we have been sitting and studying here. Read at your own risk knowing the state of our minds, so here you go............
Our thoughts have been turned to Lehi and his family leaving Jerusalem and into the wilderness. They were asked to take on a big trial that would bring them much tribulation. As we read and think about what their attitudes were; sometimes good sometimes bad. We all love and grasp onto Nephi's attitude in 1 Nephi 3:7 "And it came to pass that I, nephi said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."
It has made us think about being faithful, and the work that it takes to be faithful. In this verse I also pondered about how God will prepare a way for us. He doesn't do the work for us but he prepares a way for us to accomplish his commandments. We also think about how each one of Lehi's family murmured at one time or another, and how some of them murmured the entire time during their trial. You can see throughtout these verses that they were given their trial, then they had to work hard, they had to have much faith, learn not to murmur, and then the Lord poured out His blessings upon them.
1Nephi 17:3 says "And thus we see that the commandments of God must be fulfilled. And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide means whereby the can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them;"
We are so grateful for the commandments and trials that the Lord gives to us, they enable us to grow and develop. Even the really hard ones! We can see how God has and is preparing a way for us to overcome this trial, through all of you. Your many kind thoughts, deeds, fasting, and never ending prayers in our behalf have truly changed our lives forever. We will be better people because of the example and strength that you have shared with us. We love each one of you and feel so blessed to call you all friends. Love from, Lis
Our thoughts have been turned to Lehi and his family leaving Jerusalem and into the wilderness. They were asked to take on a big trial that would bring them much tribulation. As we read and think about what their attitudes were; sometimes good sometimes bad. We all love and grasp onto Nephi's attitude in 1 Nephi 3:7 "And it came to pass that I, nephi said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."
It has made us think about being faithful, and the work that it takes to be faithful. In this verse I also pondered about how God will prepare a way for us. He doesn't do the work for us but he prepares a way for us to accomplish his commandments. We also think about how each one of Lehi's family murmured at one time or another, and how some of them murmured the entire time during their trial. You can see throughtout these verses that they were given their trial, then they had to work hard, they had to have much faith, learn not to murmur, and then the Lord poured out His blessings upon them.
1Nephi 17:3 says "And thus we see that the commandments of God must be fulfilled. And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide means whereby the can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them;"
We are so grateful for the commandments and trials that the Lord gives to us, they enable us to grow and develop. Even the really hard ones! We can see how God has and is preparing a way for us to overcome this trial, through all of you. Your many kind thoughts, deeds, fasting, and never ending prayers in our behalf have truly changed our lives forever. We will be better people because of the example and strength that you have shared with us. We love each one of you and feel so blessed to call you all friends. Love from, Lis
Friday, September 5, 2008
A few good times this past week
Best Friends
such love from an Aunt, if you know Aunt Terri she doesn't rub just anybody's feet!
A visit from Vinny Castilla from the Colorado RockiesA slow but good week
This week has been somewhat slow, Joshua had surgery on Tuesday. He is flat on his back for at least 10 days. It is amazing what you can learn to do to survive flat on your back staring at the ceiling. Take a little challenge and try to eat and drink your dinner tonight lying on your back. you can have 1 small pillow under your neck for the experiment. Let us know how it goes for you, it will be fun!!!!
The surgery went well and we are excited about his progress. Josh is incredibly strong both physically and mentally. We feel like all of our prayers are answered each day in some way. Thank you for blessing us with your strength. Even though we are miles apart, your acts of kindness, prayers, and faithfulness continue to touch our lives.
We are sorry for the lack of updates on the blog, we have not forgotten just not much to report. We will have much more to say as soon as we are able to get back into physical therapy. The nature of a spinal cord injury is that it is like "watching grass grow". We will continue to update you with each progressing moment as they happen.
Everyone continues to ask what they can do for us. Well we have an idea, we would love for you to eat out of our garden. We have many items ready to be harvested and would love your help eating it. Koby J can only get the chickens to eat so much zuchini etc! Please come over and help yourselves. A big thank you to whomever has kept the weeds out, we are truly grateful for your work.
We love you all so much and are overwhelmed with feelings of gratitude each day as we count our many blessings. The emails that you send to Josh are read to him each day, and he dictates to us as we write back, they are incredibly healing for Josh and brings him so much happiness, thank you! The Lord loves us and the gospel is true.
Love from,
Cord, Lisa Josh, and family
The surgery went well and we are excited about his progress. Josh is incredibly strong both physically and mentally. We feel like all of our prayers are answered each day in some way. Thank you for blessing us with your strength. Even though we are miles apart, your acts of kindness, prayers, and faithfulness continue to touch our lives.
We are sorry for the lack of updates on the blog, we have not forgotten just not much to report. We will have much more to say as soon as we are able to get back into physical therapy. The nature of a spinal cord injury is that it is like "watching grass grow". We will continue to update you with each progressing moment as they happen.
Everyone continues to ask what they can do for us. Well we have an idea, we would love for you to eat out of our garden. We have many items ready to be harvested and would love your help eating it. Koby J can only get the chickens to eat so much zuchini etc! Please come over and help yourselves. A big thank you to whomever has kept the weeds out, we are truly grateful for your work.
We love you all so much and are overwhelmed with feelings of gratitude each day as we count our many blessings. The emails that you send to Josh are read to him each day, and he dictates to us as we write back, they are incredibly healing for Josh and brings him so much happiness, thank you! The Lord loves us and the gospel is true.
Love from,
Cord, Lisa Josh, and family
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