That's the question that Adam's surgeon casually posed to him after examining him last week, 6 weeks after his injury.
I don't think I've ever really let it sink in that Adam's injury was very, very close to leaving him paralyzed.
From day one, I could not let my mind linger there for very long. I simply knew I could not let myself go there and be able to function in taking care of the boys, Adam, and myself. In a few moments of weakness, I would find myself searching the internet for information on spinal cord injuries. Searching for what could be expected for this type of injury. Searching for miraculous recoveries (and not easily finding stories). None of that ever proved to be helpful to my mind and heart. And it never proved helpful to try to think too far ahead and wonder what the future may look like.
We've been trying to take it one day at a time. And that's been helpful.
Adam is doing quite a bit of walking during his therapy sessions. They are even pushing him in walking on un-level surfaces, walking uphill, practicing his balance. He is not using any sort of walking-aid much of the time when he is walking. He does still use a powered wheelchair to get around at the hospital quite a bit. His grip is getting better. He ate using regular silverware last night. He still struggles to do very small things. He does not have a lot of feeling at the end of his fingers. He seems to have stopped losing weight (he lost 20lbs).
On Wednesday, the surgeon said that his neck was healing great from the fusing of several vertebrae in his neck with a metal plate. Adam attributes it to all of the milk that he drinks. He told Adam that he could wean himself away from the neck brace. (Adam was super excited about this and shaved his manly beard off by the next day, as he was mostly keeping the beard as his neck would've gotten very irritated by being shaved and being in the brace still).
This past Saturday I took Adam to a multi-church youth group flag football event for an hour or two. He was the surprise guest speaker during the devotional break time. I know Adam was very excited to be able to get out and share what he's been experiencing and how God has been working in his life. Some of our youth group kids were there and many other youth groups that knew about Adam's injury and have been praying for him were there also. Adam spoke for about 30 minutes and was simply seated/leaning on a high stool.
Remember, it wasn't that long ago that we were celebrating him being able to move his fingers. It wasn't that long ago that they were having to move Adam from his bed to his wheelchair using a sling that lifted him from one to the other. It wasn't that long ago that he was having to be fed by others. It wasn't that long ago that he was needing nurses to come in every 2 hours at night to shift him so that he wouldn't get bed sores.
We know that Adam's progress thus far is not typical for his injury. It is extremely accelerated and he's gaining a significant amount of movement and ability back. It's not completely unheard of, but it is not very common either.
While this is amazing and what we've been hoping and praying for, it's also rather humbling to be on the receiving end.
Right now, we are surrounded by people who are not seeing such wonderful gains and have much more serious and difficult injuries at the hospital. We know of several people in our lives who are dealing with aggressive and ugly cancers.
And in many of those cases, we know that many, many people are praying for healing and restoration. Just like in our case.
But it doesn't always come. God doesn't always choose to use His hand to show a beautiful picture of His ability to physically heal. And sometimes our finite minds simply cannot make sense of when and how He chooses to move. And we never will.
But wow.
Why us, God?
We are so grateful for all that we are seeing God do in Adam's body and spirit. So, so grateful. And we are striving to point it all back towards Him.
Not gonna lie though, we're still asking Him for even more.
We know He's capable of doing even more.
Right now, we are surrounded by people who are not seeing such wonderful gains and have much more serious and difficult injuries at the hospital. We know of several people in our lives who are dealing with aggressive and ugly cancers.
And in many of those cases, we know that many, many people are praying for healing and restoration. Just like in our case.
But it doesn't always come. God doesn't always choose to use His hand to show a beautiful picture of His ability to physically heal. And sometimes our finite minds simply cannot make sense of when and how He chooses to move. And we never will.
But wow.
Why us, God?
We are so grateful for all that we are seeing God do in Adam's body and spirit. So, so grateful. And we are striving to point it all back towards Him.
Not gonna lie though, we're still asking Him for even more.
We know He's capable of doing even more.
