SOMEBODY LOVES HER DADDY! I also added a photo of Trinity helping Rob plant some flowers. I swear there is always an animal lurking about in the Wall household! I promise to update the photo gallery with some new pictures sometime soon. We attended the Abilities Expo on Friday and spent about 5 hours shopping around. Rob purchased a hand bicycle which should be delivered in about 3 weeks. He is really excited about going for a ride. He also picked out a standing frame that doubles an an elliptical machine. We plan on ordering it as soon as we figure out where it is going to be housed. We looked at a ton of wheelchair accessible vans that have adaptive hand controls and some of them are actually not bad looking. Overall it was a very overwhelming day, not only because of how expensive everything was but also because there were so many handicapped children. You would think that after 7 months of living and breathing wheelchairs and paralysis we would be used to it by now but...realizing that this also happens to children is an entirely new emotion. After the Expo we drove to PA and spent some time with family. We went to my grandfather’s friend’s farm to purchase a few chickens for my brother and attended a good old fashion auction. We had a great time bidding and trying to keep up with the auctioneer. You see, I have a lot of “country” in my blood which is beginning to rub off on Robbie because he can no longer run like hell in the other direction. HA HA. It was an exhausting but fun weekend. Back to reality though-looking forward to the weekend as always.

Happy Spring!!!!
Finally, the nice weather has arrived. Rob actually spent some time on the deck this morning lying in the sun. He was able to transfer himself from his wheelchair onto the deck furniture without my assistance. Actually, he has perfected his transfers over the last two weeks. I think because I hurt my back and was unable to help him out. He can now transfer from the wheelchair to the couch and from the wheelchair to the bed by himself. Rob had a big scare yesterday though; he forgot to fasten his seatbelt on his wheelchair and had a really bad spasm. He ended up falling out of his chair into the coffee table. Amazingly, he hung on to his foot plate somehow and after 45 minutes he was able to hoist himself back on the chair. He was VERY scared by the entire incident because he forgot to put on his Life Alert necklace and would have been on the floor until I came home from work had he not been able to get back on the chair. Needless to say, when I left the house today he had the Life Alert and his seatbelt on! He’s a little bruised up, but okay. His uncles visited this past Monday and built him a workout bench which should hopefully make it easier for him to stretch. I know sometimes he feels like there just isn’t enough time in the day for all the working out he has to do, presently he isn’t answering the phone because he is napping (I’m at work). Tomorrow, we are going to an Abilities Expo to check out adaptive equipment and accessible vehicles. We are actually running out of room in our house for workout equipment but hoping he’ll be able to trial a standing frame. His standing has not progressed at all in therapy because he is only going 3x per week. We are excited to start shopping around for a handicapped accessible van. Rob will be training to drive using his wrists in the next 6 months. Once he is able to drive, he’ll be able to go to the gym at Kessler if he likes. Rob is doing well overall but some days are really bad with pain as well as with his own frustration. I think we both thought by this time he’d be walking. We are heading to Pennsylvania this weekend with plans to go for a ‘hike’ in the woods and for Rob to spend some time relaxing in my Aunts hot tub. Can you believe the poor guy hasn’t been able to soak in a tub (or take a shower standing up) for 7 months? It will be interesting to see how it goes because Rob cannot feel temperature below his shoulders and his sensation is very strange. Actually, he burned himself recently because he didn’t feel the heat. So we’ll see. I’ll be sure to keep Marley away from the donuts this time