This last week was an interesting one! On Monday, Ryan accidentally stabbed his hand with a kitchen knife. He was attempting to poke a hole in the bottom of a can of refried beans (to release the suction so the beans would just fall out instead of having to be scooped out), and he missed the can and hit his hand instead. :( The wound was deep enough to require stitches, and because it was next to the joint on his thumb they put a splint on it for a couple of days to make sure it didn't pop open with too much movement. He'll get the stitches out tomorrow.
Ryan hasn't been driving lately because he hasn't felt clear-headed enough to do so. I'm grateful that he's able to recognize when he's not able to handle the attention that driving requires. It's a difficult thing to explain -- the mental deficits that Ryan is working through -- especially when he appears "just fine" to others. Focusing on one thing usually gives him a major headache, so he's limited on how long he can work on specific tasks. He's also been going through a lot of medication adjustments in an attempt to ease the intense depression he's experiencing. And the restless legs have returned with a vengeance over the past couple of weeks, even though his iron levels are now at a healthy level.
We spent Monday evening dipping pretzels in chocolate. It was much more work than we expected (this was our first time doing this), and very messy! :D We had fun, even though we didn't make nearly as many as we had imagined we could. 😅 It was exhausting! :)
In occupational therapy this week, Ryan re-took the complex vision test to see how his scores now compare to his scores the first time he took it. There were some clear improvements noticeable as he took the test. There were also areas where he still struggled. We won't find out the results until Thursday though.
In physical therapy he's been practicing all the exercises for balance that he's been taught over the past few months. It's encouraging to see how far he's come! Things still aren't "easy" for him, but he is almost always able to keep himself from falling over now!
On Friday we took Nicole to Salt Lake City while Becca stayed home with Grandma. On the way down there, we stopped at the long-term care facility that Ryan stayed in this summer so that Ryan could reconcile his many hallucination-filled memories with reality, and to thank the people that helped us while we were there. We pulled into the parking lot just as the NP who had cared for Ryan was walking out to go to lunch, so we were able to catch her before she left. :) She was completely floored at seeing Ryan up and walking and talking so well! We saw other great employees, and Ryan was able to walk around the facility. It looked a lot different than he remembered. We wish we had been able to see more of the people that helped us so much, but we are grateful for the opportunity to see some!
Ryan, Nicole, and I were able to enjoy visiting temple square! We were going to do baptisms for the dead at the Salt Lake Temple, but they were so busy that they ran out of baptismal clothing, and we ran out of time.
We found a gluten-free bakery, and enjoyed some eclairs and sourdough bread! Then Ryan attended The Piano Guys concert with Nicole while I wandered around the mall and downtown SLC. :) We all had a great time!
On the way home, our car's check engine and temperature lights kept coming on. Once again, we noticed God's hand in directing us where we should go to get our car checked. We've been having issues with our car all year, and despite having multiple mechanics look at it and spending thousands of dollars to "fix" it, it's only gotten worse. (To be clear, our car has been very picky about when it acts up, so the mechanics haven't always been able to experience the shaking/rumbling of the engine that we experience.) Well, the team at Master Muffler & Break Complete Auto Care in North Salt Lake figured out the real issue, and didn't even charge us the diagnosis fee! As we sat in their waiting room and listened to how they worked and handled customer concerns, we were so impressed with their integrity, knowledge, and level of care! We didn't realize until after we left that they were located just down the street from the hotel that we sometimes stayed at this summer while Ryan was in the hospital in Bountiful! And with God's (and Grandma's) help, we were able to get our car back home safely! Now my brother will fix our car for us -- we just don't know how long that will take yet! But we are grateful for everyone's help!!!
We wish you all a very merry Christmas! Please take time to remember the reason we celebrate: Our Savior was born, and He lived, died, and lived again! He is the Light of the world! Through Him, all things are possible! 💜💛💚💙💝🌲🎄🎁✨
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