July 2016 ~ Tyson’s Disability Story

This month came and went so quickly but we had so many fun and amazing things happen! During the first week Tyson had an Audiology and Neurosurgery follow up which showed that he had no hearing loss and that his brain healing and size is going really well. We also did a 24-hour EEG at Primary's which showed us that the eye glances seizures that he has been having are in fact not seizures at all which is good but I wish they would have figured that out like I asked before we medicated him to treat them. But we did learn that he was having some tonic seizures which up to that point we had never seen before. Basically the only sign of them is that he periodically stiffens up. Tyson hatred being stuck in a hospital bed with the EEG machine on his head for a whole day. He was extremely irritable the entire time. It was an amazing contrast to last summer when he was in the hospital because then he was so out of it that he didn't voice any objections. We are glad he is able to fight back not and let us know how he feels.

During the rest of the month we did a lot of periodic packing in between all of our appointments and the other fun things we had planned. A little later in the month we were able to go back to the EIRMC PICU to see two of our favorite nurses from when Tyson was in the hospital there. We tried going a few times before that but this was the first time we actually made it there. It was so fun to see them and to see the love they had for Tyson. They were both very shocked at how well he was doing, and both said they never expected him to progress this much with how bad of an injury he had last summer. It was also interesting being in the PICU again because it brought back some traumatic memories but because of some trauma recovery and therapy I have been doing over the last year it didn't send me into a panic or emotional breakdown which is what I was kind of expecting to happen. We are so grateful to this day for those people who helped to safe Tyson at that hospital, we will never be able to thank them enough.

Towards the middle of July, I decided to run away for a day and go and float a river in the island park area with my wards relief society. It was very memorable to say the least. The float took about 5 or 6 hours when it was originally only supposed to be 2 or 3. And the weather was very cold and windy and we were all sitting in interludes without bathing suits on. Everyone else who was on the river were in jackets and we're out of the water in their boats. We also had a lot of trouble getting to the river due to some traffic along the way. It was extremely memorable and I'm so glad I went. We had such a wonderful Ward family that we left in Idaho. We will miss them so much but we are so grateful they were in our lives over the last two years.

Tyson's cousin also had his baby blessing while we were still there which was so fun to be a part of. Almost all of Cameron's family was there as well as my sister in laws family. We also had a really fun luncheon at the park afterwards and it was so nice to hang out with everyone and have fun. It has been harder then I realized moving away from all our siblings that we had in Rexburg. We did a lot of family dinners and had them over a lot and we defiantly miss that.

The week of Cameron's Graduation we had 6 extra family members and an extra dog staying with us in our apartment and in the apartment below us. We had lots of extra help for moving too but it did get a big crazy from time to time. Cameron's Paramedic Pinning Ceremony was really special to be apart. It was also sad because this was the last paramedic class from BYUI since they are closing down the program but all of the students were very excited to graduate and move onto their internship and jobs. I was able to go up and pin Cameron's onto his shirt which was pretty special. It was an exciting accomplishment especially considering all we have been through in the last year. That evening we had a really fun barbecue at our house as well to celebrate together as a family. The next day was the actual Commencement and Graduation Ceremony. Tyson was a bit restless and his Grandma walked him around most of the time. Earlier that day we also picked up his new wheelchair so we were able to test it out. It was so nice that he was able to sit up and enjoy seeing everything around him instead of having to lay down all the time.

The rest of that week we finished packing and cleaning and by Saturday morning we were moved out thanks to our family members and friends from our ward. We couldn't have done it without so much help! We put our stuff into a storage unit in Saint Anthony while we were on our month long vacation. On our way out of town we had to drop a few last items off at the storage unit before we left for Utah but we got stuck in a Pioneer Day parade that was going on and somehow boxed ourselves in town so we had to wait for the parade to finish in order to get to our storage unit which was frustrating at the time but now it's a funny story. Before we left we were also able to have lunch with Cameron's dad and Sister in Rexburg at the Hickory. It was sad and exciting to leave the town we met in, got engaged in and where we had Tyson. But we are also excited to move on to our next chapter.