And the Adventure Begins!

Wednesday evening we drove to Baltimore and checked in for our first night at the Ronald McDonald House, what a blessing that place is!  We were so relieved to find out that they had a room for us, immediately lifted a huge piece of the financial burden. Ryder has been taking lots of pics on his ipad of the house, so I’ll save that for another post! 

Thursday morning he had his first day of therapy at Kennedy Krieger.  It started off with lots of meetings between us, the therapists, the doctors, and nurses.  Then they began his therapy by making a movie of him doing specific activities.  The cool part about that is they will do the exact same movie after therapy is over and we’ll be able to clearly see the progress he has made.

All was well up until that point.  Then it was time to put the cast on.  And we went downhill from there.  He got really upset as the cast was going on because he couldn’t see his fingers.  We were talking him through that part, then they started cutting the cast off.  Then he started hyperventilating.  Once the cast was off, he calmed down and we were done for the day.

I’m so thankful that Alan & I decided to do the first week together.  We needed each other for moral support, plus we were able to take him to do fun things.  After day 1 we went to Arundel Mills and took him to the Lego Store.  It was a nice distraction from the day. 

Day 2 we decided not to go back into therapy with him, he put his brave face on and went by himself, came out 3 hours later with a cast and a smile!  That was a relief.  They had taken the cast and water proofed it over night then put it on permanently the next day. 

Maisy stayed at Nana’s (Vicki’s) house while we were in Baltimore with him, we were so thankful to know she was in a comfortable, safe place.  The plan from here is for Alan & I to alternate weeks going to stay with him so the other can be with Maisy and continue to work. 

This weekend has been hard.  Emotions are high for all of us.  Ryder is having some major anxiety about the whole thing, causing lots of stomach issues and he just seems depressed.  We’re trying to motivate him and keep him (and ourselves) focused on the end goal.  If he gives this program his all, great things can happen.

As we approach the first full week, my prayer is that we can get into a routine so things feel more normal for Ryder.  I pray that our family can stay strong as we spend the week apart.  And I thank God that He’s in control of this entire situation and is holding us up as we take these steps in faith.

Ryder does have a cubby where he can get mail, he insists on checking about 5 times a day.  If anyone wants to send a little note here’s the address:

Ronald McDonald House of Baltimore

635 West Lexington Street

Room 307

Baltimore, MD 21201