Therapy 101

Yesterday was J’s first day of meeting with his therapy team. Our first session was with the physical therapist, Olivia. She was great- Anyone who gets our quacky sense of humor is great! Then we moved on to our speech therapists, Julia and finished out with our occupational therapist Nichole. 
Today was all about establishing base lines. None of these ladies had ever met J so they needed to know what is currently going on with his body, what changes have we noticed, and then each came up with suggestions on how to best support these changes to make everyday life a little easier for him. J will be fitted for leg braces on both legs. This will help save a lot of energy when he needs to walk. They explained that right now he is spending a lot of energy lifting his legs to make sure his feet don’t hit anything. So this will somewhat help to create the “roll” we have we when walk. We were given some stretches to work on, some exercise suggestions as well as some do’s and dont’s. We were given some techniques to use in speaking and encouraged to get busy with the aids presented to us that will be essential later on the journey. Lots of aids to help us each day! 
One main thing preached by every therapists was SAVING ENERGY! They explained that there are a list of essentials he has to complete everyday that take up a good portion of his energy. So he has to find ways to conserve energy outside of those essentials each day-and be able to give the energy he wants to give to the important things. So if he spends his energy on talking to a salesman at the door, he may not have the energy later to go to dinner with our kids. And, as each day/week/month progresses, those daily essentials are going to continue to take up more of his battery reserve. It was good to understand and we left with much on our mind of how we need to alter how his energy is being used each day. 
We were there for a total of 3 hours, so to say the least, he is exhausted! Thankfully we are closing on the sale of our Auburn house today, so he has the day off from work. To be able to sleep late, drink an extra cup of coffee and take his time getting into the day is a huge blessing. 
We are so thankful for the team of doctors and therapists the Lord has placed in our lives. To be only 30 minutes from the ALS Clinic is a blessing that we are definitely aware of and thankful for. I’m sure there are many people who have to travel states to find the care we are being afforded just a short drive away. 
Please continue to pray for wisdom as we make decisions on how to best change our habits, routines and schedules to best care for J both short and long term. We also created a team called TEAM J DOG in the ALS United of GA walkALS 2026. It is going to be held on September 19 in Atlanta. We’d love for you to join us that day (we also have some awesome purple shirts for sale on Custom Ink) or if you’d like to support other ALS families in GA affected by this disease, we would welcome any donations that will go toward that cause. ALS United is the operation that offers us support groups, help with finding access to more expensive medical equipment and vehicles, will bring in an OT to help us know how to transition our home to best support J and the changes he will face, and many other wonderful services. So any donations go straight toward these things. 
Thank you for taking the time to follow along this blog. J wants everyone to know how very loved and supported he feels. It’s hard for him because he wants to talk and catchup with everyone. But, talking exhausts him! With his tongue muscle decreasing in strength, it takes a lot of energy to speak. So by reading his blog and catching up on his progress, it enables you to skip past that conversation when you see each other and talk about other things! Don’t feel like J feels unloved if you don’t mention ALS or ask about things. It’s a gift-to both of you. Because it gives you both more time to talk about the things you would have talked about before ALS. And we love getting your prayer requests. To pray for you and your families helps us to not suck into ourselves and get lost in the diagnosis. So please, text us, call me or share in the comments ways we can be praying for you. We love each of you!