I have not done an update for Ethan in awhile so I thought I should try to include as much as possible. School has been going very well for Ethan this year. Taking an extra year in 2nd grade seems to be just what he needed. His confidence has exploded like a garden hose building up with pressure from being twisted or kinked. He is surrounded by friends at school and comes home excited from the great days he is having every day. Academically, he is thriving. The wheels are turning and he is constantly asking questions and curious about so many different facts. Often, we are driving in the car when Ethan comes up with question after question about life and how things work. He is constantly trying to figure the world out. Physically, he is still going to the chiropractor 1-2 times per week depending on the week. He is still wearing head weights and standing on a vibration platform. This may sound kind of odd but the platform sends vibrations throughout his body that help to stimulate and strengthen his muscles. Weird huh? It almost sounds like something from new age science fiction or a hokey pokey thing. But it is working. His strength and balance are improving. He is getting so much better that we have quickly come to a turning point in his therapy. In just about a week he will be getting more weights and he will be standing on increasingly stronger platforms that wiggle and sway while they vibrate. He enjoys the challenge and he says that he feels stronger. He is also feeling more when he goes to the bathroom. He will often tell me that he has ‘to go’ and take care of going to the bathroom on his own. At least twice a week Ethan will tell me that he feels something. We just keep encouraging him and praising him for paying attention. He says that it is hard for him to feel anything during the day when he is busy at school but when he is at home or just finished with doing an enema in the evening times is when he can sense something the most.
Currently, China remains on hold. We are still waiting on Dr. Xiao and when he can perform the procedure. Meanwhile, we have looked into the possibility of stem cells and have this as another possibility if we decide further. The most promising stem cell research and treatments have been done in China. There have been two other children with Spina Bifida that are known to have received stem cells that have seen strengthening and healing in places that were not possible before. I go back and forth with these possibilities in my head very often. I wondered to myself why the Xiao procedure kept being pushed back when it seemed to want to take off in a fury. It seems odd, with all the preparations we made in the beginning which have now just settled down to waiting. Waiting can be kind of difficult at times. All sorts of thoughts run through my head. And I begin to wonder if this actually was the right road to pursue. But I have learned to just quite my brain and trust that it will be worked out in its given and exact moment.
In the mean time we remain steadfast in our journey. With each step we take day by day come new revolutions. Ethan’s journey continues to be a journey for us all. I have been writing on ‘Jen’s Web’ more often due to the revolutions that come to me through watching Ethan and my other children grow and become. Ethan’s journey is what initiated the ideas that run through my head and has helped me to understand that healing comes from within. There is not a day that goes by that I am not fully aware of how far we have come and that this moment is all we have. We continue with our journey and keep watching as Ethan and all our children keep growing and becoming. For now, we are savoring the moments and enjoying how Ethan is blossoming. He is coming fully into his being. He is helpful with others, independent, and purely loving. He is pure acceptance.
We continue to see Ethan as whole and perfect and allow ourselves to be clearly directed daily. China will come when it is time in the most optimal form that is best for Ethan.
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