Hello From The Wedding!

Hi Justin, Monica and Brandon! Hello from Wisconsin! We are at the wedding right now and we are all thinking of you and wishing you were here. We wanted to try to include you in the festivities - so here's a picture of the motly crew after the ceremony! Yup - little Savanna is now Mrs. John Adams. We're off to the reception now.

My Perspective

On a recent trip to Lynchburg I was able to spend a few days and see for myself how Justin is doing. The initial crisis is over, and now his altered reality has begun. It has been over a month since the accident and Justin is still experiencing constant pain in varying degrees depending on the cycle of medications. How long the nights are when you only sleep a few hours at a time. Waiting for the meds to kick in, trying to find that elusive comfortable position. I started calling him “the thrasher.” The lack of physical rest is wearing on one’s psyche as well.

The doctors say he is healing appropriately, which is good news. However, while watching him struggle to be somewhat ambulatory, and begin the painful physical therapy routine, I realized a full recovery will be no small thing to achieve. While I go about my normal routine, complain about my aches and pains, here is a guy who just wants his “life back.” As we researched insurance policies, organized bills and notices coming in the mail, I thought about the time and energy that will be devoted to managing the paperwork and insurance issues necessary to restore him financially.

I don’t mean to sound negative. I’m just an aunt who loves him, and wishes she could wave some magic wand and make it all go away. We don’t know why this happened to Justin. We are leaving it in God’s hands and are trusting Him to work “all things together for good.” My purpose is to remind us all of the long road to recovery that lies ahead for Justin and to ask you to continue to pray for him and give him your support and encouragement, now more than ever.

An Unexpected Blessing

We are so thankful for the unusual ways God is providing help and encouragement to Justin and the rest of our family.  Tom Mills, a fellow cyclist who was in a similar, very serious accident a year ago, heard about Justin and contacted him through this blog.  Recently, Tom came to our house to meet and visit with Justin.  His visit was such an encouragement.   They compared notes on accident details, surgery and the long road of rehabilitation.  There is nothing that compares with hearing from someone who has been down the road ahead of you and can share the pain and triumphs of such a major life experience.  Tom also brought some helpful items for Justin to use to aid in his recovery.  We are so thankful for Tom and his willingness to reach out to a stranger and offer such support and friendship.

Please keep Justin in your prayers as he is battling with continual pain and discomfort.  He is learning how to grit his teeth and smile in spite of it all.  He has a doctor's appointment tomorrow at UVA that will tell us if his body is healing correctly.  Look for an update after his appointment and forgive me for not updating over the last few weeks!

Let the Activities Begin!

Justin has really appreciated the visitors he's had over the past week.  It's always a good thing when he can take his mind off the pain and each of you that has visited has provided him something else to focus on.  Thank you!!!  He has actually been out of the house a few times this week which is so good for his spirits.  He's gone over to his house a few times, went to a movie yesterday, and is at the homecoming game right now.  Each of these outings takes a whole lot out of him, but he is pretty good about calling it quits when he's had enough. 

Justin's parents left yesterday and his Aunt Annie came into town to help us out.  It was so hard for his parents to leave, but we are so grateful they were able to be here for two whole weeks.  I certainly couldn't have managed without them.  Thank you Grandma & Grandpa Lacey!!

Busy Schedule

Justin has been kept busy over the past week with doctor's appointments, home health, physical therapy, and occupational therapy.  He got 43 staples out yesterday from the surgery he had on Monday.  He has seen his home health nurse twice this week and the occ. therapist and physical therapist once.  We've been working on getting him comfortable without much success.  Keep praying that Justin progresses in this area.  The home health nurse was surprised by his high blood pressure today and made the comment "You must really be in a lot of pain".  Every day will get better and we are celebrating each day's progress.  Win for the past few days: Visitors!!!

A Few Pics

Justin asked that I put a few pictures up of his journey so far.  There aren't many since his injuries were pretty serious and we don't want to scar those of you who read this blog.  Please know how much we appreciate all of you!  Big Win of the Day: having a few visitors : )

Getting Settled

Our house is full and so are our hearts.  It really is so amazing to have the opportunity to have everyone under the same roof...it's something I won't take for granted for a long time.  I would say the transition to being home has probably been a bit overwhelming for Justin and yet I know he is so relieved to be out of the hospital.  He told me yesterday that he is coming to grips with the fact that his life will never be the same again.  He dealing with a lot right now on top of being in a lot of pain and having to depend on other people to do everything for him.  I am so grateful that his parents are still here and together we can make Justin's life a little easier. We will spend the next few days getting used to his new "normal" and figuring out what daily life will look like.  Pray that we know how to make Justin as comfortable as we possibly can.  Big win of the day: Justin got to take a shower!!!!