Ethan's Web (Part 11)

Ethan has been doing fabulous these past couple of weeks. As you know, we were in Pennsylvania visiting family for several weeks and taking a break from our routine out here in Michigan. This meant that Ethan would have a good two week break from physical therapy. I was a little bit nervous about this and hesitant to be gone for so long. Of course I did not want Ethan to lose any of the strength and progress we had made thus far. But what I did not foresee is how much a break would help him instead of hinder him. It was not only a break and a new beginning for me, as I have written in these past blogs, but it was a time of revitalization for Ethan as well. He thrives on being in the presence of his cousins (Kendall-8 years, and Veronica-6 years) and he absolutely loves his Grandma and Grandpa and his Aunt Holli (Kendall and Veronica’s mommy and my sister-in-law). Aunt Holli has always held a special place in her heart for Ethan and Ethan has always felt incredibly connected to Holli. She is our connection overseas in China to Dr. Xiao, who will be performing the nerve rerouting surgery on Ethan. As I have stated in my past blogs, Holli and her husband Brian and their two daughters, Kendall & Veronica are living in China for at least another year. They are who we will be staying with while we are there for the surgery, whenever we go.

Our trip back to PA to spend some time with Ethan’s cousins, his Aunt, and his Grandma and Grandpa brought a new light into his eyes. The happiness he shares with them filled him up and released him to another level of his healing. He brought this new energy back with him to Michigan and it lingers with him every day. Since we have been home, I have felt him more connected to life and living than ever before in so many ways. For instance, instead of always having to remind Ethan that he needs to do his physical therapy exercises he is telling me every day when it is time to do them! He is motivated to get them done and get stronger when before they were a chore that he had to work really hard at to get done. In the past, I was constantly thinking of ways to motivate him through a star chart, money, and the occasional have a friend over or ice cream bribe. Now, he is motivated on his own and he is reminding me that we need to get his exercises done! In addition, the exercises that we are doing have become incredibly EASY! He had limited hamstring strength before (the muscles on the back of your legs behind your thighs). These muscles are important for keeping our balance (in the forward and back directions) when we walk and run. When we exercise these muscles Ethan is laying on his belly with his legs stretched out as he curls his heel up to his butt at his knee joint. This used to be difficult for him! We have even had Orthopedic Doctors test him in the past and tell us that he has no hamstring muscles. But now, he is curling his legs without any help and he is whipping through the exercises so easily that we have to start adding ankle weights to make the exercises more difficult. And you should see the smile on his face and the sense of accomplishment that overwhelms his entire spirit when he realizes how much stronger he is! He is like a new kid with an incredible sense of confidence and happiness within him that resonates and touches everyone around him! Not only is he getting stronger and he knows it but his Physical Therapist, Heather and his Dad are praising and noticing as well. Heather told me just the other day that she can see his abductor muscles working and getting stronger. She is very excited by this because she knows Ethan had very minimal ability in this area and had to be moved by someone else in order to activate these muscles. Now he is lifting his legs to the side (the abductor muscles are near your butt and hips and they keep you from falling to the left or the right) on his own! And his muscles are twitching like crazy because they are working so hard! Encouraging, VERY ENCOURAGING

Next, the other day he decided to walk down the steps that lead to the second floor of our house. This is highly unusual for Ethan. Normally, he scoots down on his butt because he does not feel comfortable or strong enough to walk. On this particular day, I noticed him walking down the steps on his own while holding on to the railing. As I was very surprised I remarked, “Did you just walk down the steps?” He smiled humbly and said, “Yeah, Mom.” “Are you kidding me?” I said with a smile on my face and excitement in my voice. “YES.” He confirmed. “Wow, nice job Ethan that is just so awesome. You the man!” I told him and gave him a big hug. He was pretty excited. This is something Ethan just doesn’t do on his own. He never goes out on a limb to try something new without me prompting him to do so. And there he was taking a risk all on his own!

Lastly, Dad just reported on Sunday that Ethan ran the fastest he has ever seen him run around the bases at his miracle league baseball game. This is a big deal. And Ethan is extremely proud. His face lights up when we talk about it. This is not all…

I’d like to share with you what else we have been doing to help Ethan reach his goals. We have been meditating and envisioning what it would be like for him to walk without his arm crutches. Yep, I am teaching him to close his eyes while he is doing his exercises and to envision himself standing up straight without his arm crutches and then we talk about taking his first steps and eventually running down the street. With each leg lift, hamstring curl, bridge, and balance activity we are talking through why we are doing this and what it feels and looks like to achieve our goals. We are feeling it now in the present moment. We are also envisioning a healing pillar of white light coming down through the top of his head, down through his spine, down his legs and feet and into the Earth. This white light is helping to heal his body and gives him the strength to heal and become stronger in order to achieve his goals. We have even ordered a free ‘miracle cloth’ off the internet which he keeps in his pocket from time to time in order to give him some ‘extra’ strength. The most incredible thing about all of this is that Ethan is doing it and he is having fun and he BELIEVES in himself. He Believes

Now that he believes and he is claiming his power there is nothing that can stop him. He is seeing results and he is very encouraged to keep going. We have talked about his next goal and he has stated to me that it would be very ‘cool’ if he could walk onto the plane on the way to China without his arm crutches. I almost fell over with joy when he came up with this idea. Like I have said before, we do not know when we are going yet but it does not matter because we know that divine timing is working it out for us. Ethan wants to walk onto the plane. That is all that matter right now. This is very reminiscent of a past goal that we came up with together about 3 ½ years ago. At that time, we were working very hard with Kevin, Ethan’s Physical Therapist, to get him to go from walking with a walker to walking with arm crutches. This was a big next step for him and we wanted him to do this before going to Kindergarten in the fall. We came up with the idea of going to visit Grandma and Grandpa in Kansas City and we would have to take a plane to get there. This was very exciting to Ethan. Taking a plane to go see Grandma and Grandpa was a huge part of his motivation. We told him that if he learned how to walk with arm crutches then he could walk onto the plane all by himself with his arm crutches like a big kid. It worked. Several weeks later he learned and we were on our way to Kansas City on a plane. And Ethan did walk onto the plane all the way over to his seat all by himself! This was a first and a huge accomplishment for everyone. We celebrated like crazy! Of course, I cried. I’ll never forget the first day he walked with his arm crutches at therapy, I never cried with such joy and pride in all of my life. It was the same emotion you get when you get married or when you have your first born child. That day, the first thing we did was drive over to Daddy’s office to surprise him. We had Ethan walk to his office door and just say, “Hi, Dad!” Boy was he surprised! He was so surprised that he scared Ethan with his excitement and Ethan fell over laughing with joy. It was a hilarious site. Everyone cheered for him.

So, now we are not only going to China sometime in the near future but we are going to walk on to the plane without any arm crutches! It is exciting! We will keep working hard, enjoying the ride, and trusting that this is all being divinely orchestrated one step at a time. Until next time, Namaste!