Friday, August 26, 2011

 Been Busy...Time for an Update!

It's been extremely busy at my household! Bryson has managed to get another UTI, so it's back on meds for him! Ugh! My dog got sprayed by a skunk and it took me two days of cleaning just to get the smell in my house under control! It's still not totally under control because the humidity reactivates the smell and it's coming through my a/c vents. Bryson saw a new orthopedic doctor in Dallas, who we love! I've been working at the store a lot too! It's just been a little chaotic, so I haven't written on the blog for over a week! Time to get focused again!

Ok, I will start with the new ortho! He is great! Very positive and caring and wants to help Bryson in any way he can. Remember, I got a new urologist that we love too, so things are definitely looking up in the doctor department for my little guy. Speaking of my little guy....Bryson is doing some pretty amazing things right now! God is working in him like crazy. When I tell him to wiggle his toes, he wiggles his toes, and now he is getting up on his knees, which he has done for a while now, but it's totally different this time. He is getting on his knees and pushing his rear end way high in the air by using his legs! He is putting all his weight on his hands, but he is pushing off with his legs! Nana got him a tricycle that is used in physical therapy that has hand peddles and foot peddles. He is still a little short and his feet don't touch, but he can just reach the hand peddles and he is now riding his tricycle by using his arms! I can't wait until his legs are long enough and I can strap his feet on the peddles so he can make his legs move by peddling with his arms. This helps retrain the brain to fire off signals to move the legs and is great therapy for training his legs to move! He is also doing this funny thing with his legs at night. He is actually pulling his right leg up to his chest while he is sleeping. The pt and ortho both say he is using his hips to do this, which is great because he is supposes to be paralyzed from ABOVE the waist down! God says no he is not going to be paralyzed and is showing us in so many different ways that this little boy is going to use his legs!

God is still in control and is showing me every day that Bryson is a miracle! I thank you Heavenly Father and I give you all the glory and praise you! When Bryson gets the stem cell treatments, we know that God will be the one placing them right where they need to be to repair the damaged nerves so my little boy will be able to gain sensation is his legs and will be walking, running and jumping! I sing God's praises now and I will sing them from the mountaintops when Bryson takes his first steps!

I absolutely cannot wait until I can give updates and show pictures on this blog of Bryson's progress after the stem cell treatments! Hopefully, this day will come very soon!

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

 What a Fantastic Day, filled with Blessings!

Yesterday was a fantastic day! The fundraisers are doing so well, the giveforward site finally saw some great activity after nothing going on for a while, and Bryson was just in the best mood all day! God is answering many prayers and is filling our lives with so many blessings right now! Thank you Heavenly Father for always providing and being so faithful and giving to us when we need it. Bryson has already been such a testimony that God is in the business of granting miracles and healing and I absolutely cannot wait until Bryson's awesome testimony after he starts walking!

Today is turning into another fantastic day! Bryson has been playing and singing and giving many kisses and hugs! I love it! Nana is out collecting money for the barrel race and is collecting money from the donation jars we have set up all over town and she stopped by to bring Bryson some new toys! Like he needs anymore,but that's beside the point! Nana is always bringing him new stuff all the time, it's her job to spoil him, and spoil him she does!!!! He got a new kitchen and a new fort with a slide on it! He was so excited and has been cooking and playing in that fort all day! He also got a Blues Clues animated dog and he is dancing along with it. Too cute!

It's now nap time, so it's off the dreamland for the little one for a while. Mommy gets a chance now to get some things done around the house for about an hour.

Monday, August 15, 2011

 We're Going to China!

Well,after a lot of praying, soul searching and talking to other moms who have had experiences with China and Mexico for stem cell treatments, we have decided to take Bryson to China instead of Mexico. Both places are fantastic, but in China Bryson will get four weeks of intensive physical therapy while getting the stem cell treatments. I feel the physical therapy is absolutely necessary to help those cells start doing their job, which is to repair the damage that was done to the nerves. In China, they will do an IV in Bryson's foot that will deliver around 300 million healthy cells that were donated by healthy Chinese babies and after those cells are injected, they will do intensive physical therapy, shockwave therapy, and Chinese accupuncture therapy for a week in between the injections. We are very excited about going to China because one of the moms that just took her daughter for treatments (who is responding VERY well, by the way) will be going back to China at the same time we want to go, so we are just making a plan to all go at the same time. This will be good for us because they've already been there once and they know the routine and the system and can show us everything from experience!

Watch out China....Here we come!!!! We are shooting for February of next year, so everyone please start donating and telling everyone you know to start donating! As you can see, the "Chip In" ticker on this page says we need $50,000 and not one single donation has been made from this site. We have raised $3,000 on the giveforward.com site and we have another $3,000 in Bryson's fund at the bank, but that is a long way from $50,000. Please start giving to this cause! It's for such a precious little boy who needs the help so badly! We will be gone for a month so we will need to have enough for the treatments and to cover our bills for that month. Please help! Thank you in advance and God bless!

Thursday, August 11, 2011

 God is Moving in so many ways!!!!!

Wow, what an action-packed week I have had! God is so good all the time! I have so many good things to report, are you ready???

First and foremost, I want to give ALL the glory to God for all the blessings I have received this week! Gosh, where do I start? Ok, the golf tournament is off to a wonderful start. We have made a final decision on the date and the location. "Birdies for Bryson" will be held at Lands End at Lake Fork, on October 16, 2011. I am very excited about this event because, not only do I get to see some high school buds I haven't seen in about 20yrs, but it is gonna be off the chain fun, with a chance to win a 2011 Dodge truck! You heard me, Longhorn Dodge has donated a new truck as a hole-in-one prize! Lands End has been wonderful. They are taking care of everything, even designing and printing up the flyers and registration forms for us at no cost. They are providing lunch for the players and taking care of all the games that will be played on all 18 holes and they are adding a link to their website where the golfers can register online through them. Heck, they are even emailing the details of the event to their entire database! Essentially, they are promoting the tournament, marketing the tournament and handling every aspect of it except gathering donations and prizes! It's been a phenomenal experience working with them! The "Barrels for Bryson" benefit is gonna be so huge, I can't even describe how big it's gonna end up being! The donations are pouring in and the prizes that have been donated for this thing are out of this world! The publicity it's gotten is unbelievable. We may be barrel racing til 4am on this one! Well, that's about it on fundraisers. Now, let's get to the exciting stuff with Bryson!

Mom told me a couple of days ago that Bryson has been moving his toes when she asks him to! I told her his toes always move and twitch all the time. She said no, he is moving them when she asks him to. I did a test and asked him to wiggle his toes and he wiggled his entire butt, so I told her it must have just been a coincidence that he was moving them at the same time she was asking him to! She held firm that he was not moving them and when she asked him to, he wiggled his toes and was concentrating on doing it. She said she showed 2 other people and they saw it too. I continued to ask him and he wiggled his whole butt every time! Well, today we were at Market Hall, in Dallas, buying clothes for the store and she sat him down and asked him to show mommy how he wiggled his toes. By golly, he did it right when she asked and then stopped and she asked him to do it again, and they moved again and then stopped, and then again! I was stunned! I whipped out my cell phone and videoed it and he sure is doing it! Glory to God!!!!! He CAN wiggle his toes on his left foot! This is HUGE because he does it when you ask him to! It's not just involuntary flinches or twitches anymore! He gets really still and concentrates really hard when he's doing it too. God is already moving in Bryson and healing him even before the treatments!!!!!

Please continue to pray for healing for Bryson. It's working and God is listening to all of us. God is still the Great Physician and is still in the healing business and He's proving it on my little boy.

Oh, and one more thing. This is hilarious! Bryson informed a lady today that "I'm the boss" when she asked him what his name was!!!! I just laughed and told her "You got that right!" "He pretty much is the boss of all of us!"

Monday, August 8, 2011

 God is Working in Bryson!

For the past week now, Bryson has had some really strange movements in his right leg! When we are in bed at night, his right leg goes straight up, bent at the knee, and he pulls it to his chest! I try to push it down and he fights me to pull it back up again! There's definitely something going on here people!!!! God is working in my little boy and He is giving me glimpses of what's to come. I am just chomping at the bit to get these stem cells treatments going. We have such a long way to go with raising the money. It won't be long, though, because the Barrels for Bryson fundraiser is gonna be off the charts and it's coming in September! Then, in October, we are having a golf benefit at the Links at Lands End at Lake Fork!

I have been cleaning house and starting over with all new doctors for Bryson here lately because it seems that he has kind of gotten lost in the shuffle at Scottish Rite. I found a new urologist that I really like and I have an appointment set up for a new orthopedic doctor in August. It seems like every time I ask for Bryson to be fitted for braces of any kind, they give me this pathetic line of "He can't, He won't" and they won't even let him try. It frustrates me to no end! When you have a 2yr old telling you, "Mommy, I wanna run, teach my legs" it probably means he wants to try to be in an upright position and wants to try to use his legs! Why do these people not want to even give him a chance to see if he can do it? I know so many other little kids with Spina Bifida who are paralyzed, but they are walking with the assistance of braces and walkers and it breaks my heart that no one will even give Bryson a chance. He has lost so much precious time and is so far behind now. All I can say is, my faith tells me that God has a perfect plan and it's all happened this way for a reason. God will make sure Bryson will walk and when he does, I will take him to all the doctors that said it could not, and would not, ever be done and show them what my God can do!!!

If any of you want to see what stem cells can do for Bryson, go to Facebook and do a search for Healing Ava Grace Fundraiser and watch the videos they made while they were in China getting her treatments. The progress Ava has made is phenomenal! Also, you can do a google search on Spencer Tomc Spina Bifida and watch the 3 part video his mom made. Jennifer gives a ton of information on Spina Bifida and stem cells. She is the reason we are seeking stem cell treatments for Bryson today. I talk to her and Jessica, who is Ava Grace's mom, quite often, and I can't wait to share my success story with them when Bryson get his treatments!

Thursday, August 4, 2011

 Yet another UTI! Ugh!!!!

Bryson has another UTI, dang it! I'm so ready for this little boy to be well and rid of those nasty things. The good news is, I found another urologist yesterday and I really liked him and he seems to think he knows what's causing all the problems. Bryson's reflux is being caused by constipation and his ureter tubes are also too short. The constipation is causing too much pressure on his bladder and making the urine flow backwards and the tubes being too short add to the reflux as well. Dr. Strand did a sonogram of Bryson's kidneys and bladder and said his bladder looked great and his kidneys were not dialated in any way, so the problem is not the bladder itself, which is great news. He recommended a ureter implantation surgery to lengthen the tubes and to get the pediatrician to get Bryson on a bowel maintenance program. This should clear all the problems up. Bryson's original urologist, who I don't care for in the least, wanted to do a deflux procedure on him and Dr. Strand said he and Dr. Snodgrass don't see eye-to-eye on a number of things! Lol! Dr. Strand seems to think the deflux procedure would not fully work and Bryson would still have some reflux, so why not fix the issue the right way the first time, that way no unnecessary surgeries are being done. I like his way of thinking!

On to the funny stuff!!! When we were at the doctor's office, Bryson got to play with a ton of other kids. He loved it! There were cool toys and he found a Shrek action figure and let's just say he wasn't gonna let that thing go anywhere but home with him! I told him we had to leave it because that was the doctor's office toys and other kids might want to play with it and it would be there for him the next time we came to the doctor. He gripped that thing with a death grip and said, "No! That mine! I want it!" The nurse assured me that the office would not miss it and he could have it. He was so happy when she said he could take it home! He also got to pick a little toy out of the treasure chest at the reception desk and he picked out this little teeny, tiny skateboard. All the way home he kept trying to put this big Shrek on it so he could ride it! Well, when we got home he did something even funnier. He said, "Look mommy, I'm riding the little skateboard!" He had put this two inch long skateboard under his belly and was pretending to ride it! It was so hilarious!

So, the doctor's appointment went well and we found a new urologist that we like and that seems to care about his patients, which more than I could ever say about Dr. Snodgrass! This guy gave me his cell phone number and said to call him if I had any questions or needed him for anything! I'm impressed! God is still leading me in all the right directions and down the right paths! Thank you Heavenly Father!

Monday, August 1, 2011

 Finding new doctors!

Well, I've been going at it all day like a chicken with it's head cut off! I had a list a mile long to accomplish, and I did it all! Whew! I need a nap now! I had to make several phone calls, as I am finding Bryson a new urologist. The one he has now has absolutely no bedside manner or communication skills and I was referred to another doctor by a new friend of mine, who has a daughter that's 2yrs old and has spina bifida like Bryson. I also called around and got on some waiting lists for in-home physical therapy, because my pt seems to think Bryson only needs pt twice a month and I beg to differ! I had to go make bank deposits, mail thank you cards, go to the grocery store, and pick up Bryson's prescriptions! Like I said, busy day! I designed a flyer for the golf tournament and made up entry forms for that as well. God is putting some great people in my life and I am so thankful for that. I'm about to clean house with the doctors who aren't willing to work with me on Bryson's goal of walking! Seems like all Scottish Rite wants to do is tell me my kid won't, and will never, walk. They actually laugh at me when I tell them they aren't God and the only person who knows what my baby boy will do is God! I just let their nonsense go in one ear and out the other these days. Thankfully, the new people I am in contact with are giving me great information and Bryson is going to start getting the chances he needs to start walking.

The donations have just about totally stopped and it's disheartening, but I know God will provide in a huge way when it's time! I am keeping my head up and keeping my faith and letting God know that He is in control and I trust Him without a shadow of a doubt! I still pray for healing for Bryson daily and I still ask for the donations to start flowing in daily, and I know God will make that happen for us. When Bryson gets these stem cell treatments, I will give ALL the glory to God because I know it was made possible by Him and Him alone! Thank you Heavenly Father!

Well, I'm off to start preparing a special dinner for Monty! His favorite Chicken Scallopine! I haven't made it in a while and I thought it would be a nice treat! He walks over 15 miles in the this retched heat every day as a city postal carrier and he's always starving when he gets home. Just a little "thank you" dinner for all the hard work he does these days. He works his butt off to provide for this family and so I can stay home with Bryson and we love him for it!