You'll never believe where we are in our journey!

I have not posted since early June.  It's been like a whirlwind but wait until you hear how far we have come in our journey!  I made some goals in June and I stuck to them with avengence.  Didn't let anyone get in my way and if they did, well, they are probably mad at me, ha.ha.

I must update about the baclofen pump surgery Matthew had in March of 2010.  Besides his feeding tube, this was another surgery that I am very happy with.  His hip pain is 85% better.  His gait is incredible!  Remember, before surgery you couldn't get a flat palm between his thighs and changing

a diaper was getting impossible.  He can get his legs almost flat and sometimes he is so loose, it's like changing a newborns diaper..(well not that loose but there is a significant difference.)  ADVICE: Get a baclofen pump if your child is diagnosed with severe spacticity and it's so bad it's pulling their hips out of socket and causing atrophy in the joints! Don't wait until the atrophy sets in and the hips are dislocated!

Guess where we are living.  Tennessee? No.. BRISTOL VIRGINIA.. The Birthplace of Country Music

Bristol is located in the Blue Ridge Highlands region of Virginia and lies directly on the Virginia/Tennessee state line. Washington County surrounds the city.

After researching for a while, I found out that the waiting list for home health care for Matthew would be almost as long as the one in MS.  So, as bad as I wanted to move close to family I had to keep looking.  I have an FB friend that lives in Virginia and I began corresponding with her. First of all, she said what I was doing is called "shopping states."  So I did more shopping and found out Virginia has their waivers broken down and go BY THE SEVERITY OF THE CHILDS NEEDS..DO YOU HEAR  THAT MISSISSIPPI??? THE SEVERITY OF THE CHILDS NEEDS AND BREAK DOWN WAIVERS!!!!....
After I got all my facts straight and did my homework I set my goals.  I found that through a waiver called EDCD there was NO waiting list for him to get an attendant.  That was all the push I needed to get me moving.  Didn't matter if it was a nurse or not.  I just needed some kind of help.

The way things fell in place will amaze you.  My oldest son moved back home while him & his wife worked things out.  He already knew of my plans to move before he came back home.  I offered them our house in MS... all they had to do was take over the note...a lot less than they were paying and take over the utilities.  As they were unpacking their dishes, clothes, etc.. I was using the same boxes to pack mine up in!  My son had some time off so he pulled a 20ft trailer all the way to VA for me.  My sisters best friend was working on a house that they were getting ready to rent that they had turned into a  2 bedroom duplex. Great price, great location, beautiful old house.

 
 

 

My dad and my son Casey built Matthew's ramp. It was early July and it was HOT!  As of July 1, 2010, we were official residence of the State of Virgina, City of Bristol. (For your NASCAR fans, I am 2 exits away for Bristol Motor Speeway!)  Gotta take a break now but I have even more exciting news to share about the services we are getting now!!! And If you are wondering about my husband, well, I'll have to tell you about that too! 

I'll tell you all about the NEXT photo in my next BLOG.