Day 77, Sunday Nov. 8

Day 77, Sunday Nov. 8

Today was a busy and long day. It started early with Annette getting to the hospital to help Jeff shower. After breakfast they got ready for a field trip home. Zach and Brandi met them at the hospital at 10:40AM so that Zach could complete the transfers necessary to get Jeff in the truck from his manual wheelchair.

Once home Zach and Blake transferred Jeff out of the truck. They decided to try out the new wheelchair lift in the garage but after only a fourth of the way up it stopped working. Jeff was stuck. Luckily Zach, Blake, & Jay had the muscle power needed to lift Jeff, wheelchair and all, off the lift and in the front door.

Blake was later able to figure out where the reset switch was on the lift and got it working again.

Jay and Peggy met them at home and they took a tour to evaluate all the changes. Jeff even pretended to try out the bathroom amenities to make sure things would work how he needed them to. 

Here are pictures of the bathroom. It's almost finished! 

This is the lift that was installed in the garage. In order to do this they had to have the cement stairs removed first. The Durango fits with about 4 inches to spare, a fact that makes Annette a little nervous.

After that Jay and Peggy left for a baby blessing and Annette started an early dinner, our Sunday special: spaghetti! This is the first time the whole family has been together at home since the accident. Having all the grandkids together can be a challenge, but it was great to be a family again! 

Annette bought the kids these outfits for our family pictures for this fall (before the accident happened). We never got to use them, so we decided today was a good day since we were all together. 

Dale Hadley was a great help to us in acquiring a transfer lift for Jeff's bedroom and he even brought it over today. Zach and Blake helped to install it while Jeff supervised. 

It was difficult for him to watch them work and try to figure things out (instructions were not included). He would have an idea of how he wanted things done, but couldn't show them how. He could only describe things and gesture with his hands until they understood.

Jeff said, "I've never been so grateful and frustrated at the same time. Everyone is doing so much to help and I can't do a dang thing!" 

By the time the lift was installed it was way past the time Jeff and Annette expected to be back at the hospital. We could tell he was exhausted, sore, and ready to be out of the wheelchair. 

It's perfect and we are so grateful! It has truly helped to decrease a great deal of stress for all of us to have it! 

We are so grateful we were able to be together today. Having Jeff there in person also helped us recognize many things that need to be done before he actually comes home. One thing was that Jeff can't sit at the table and be pushed in because his knees hit the end when he's in his wheelchair. Ryan is working to remedy that problem.

We had a fun time together, even if it was a bit stressful at times. 

Two weeks has never seemed so short and yet we are looking forward to it at the same time. Please keep Jeff and our family in your prayers as we get closer to that day. We need all the help we can get to overcome the stress, anxiety, and fear that comes with such a huge change!