April 5th, 2012 HAPPY EASTER!!

Monday March 5th, 2012

And now it's March! Hard to believe.

It dawned on me this weekend that in 10 weeks, Josh will have
been out of the hospital for 1 year. Time has flown.

Based on his progress, Josh was approved for another 8 weeks
of day treatment, 3 times per week. Despite his gains, we were
worried, as always, that the cost of treatment would overshadow
the progress he continues to make, in the eyes of the insurance
company. Luckily, we were wrong.

Josh is now using the walker to get around the house some,
with minimal assistance. Or next goal is to leave the wheelchair
at the front door, only using it for trips outside the house.

For now, we are thankful for such a mild winter. This meant less
wood to split, carry and burn and not one cancellation of day
treatment due to snow. We look forward to warmer days where Josh
can continue his recovery in the warm air outside.

Until then, thank you for following. You can contact Josh daily
on Facebook if you like, or by email at wanijobo@gmail.com
He would love to hear from you!

Thanks!
The Bonjos

Thursday February 2nd, 2012

Time marches on and Josh moves forward.

Josh continues to thrive under the guidance of
the Bryn Mawr Rehab team. He is in the pool every
week now. Despite his protests, he always has a big
smile on his face while he's in the water.

Josh is walking in the pool with little or no
assistance. He can stand at the wall unassisted.

Josh is walking in the gym with and without a walker
with minimal assistance. He can stand at a wall or with
a support on one side unassisted.

In OT, his arm and hand strength continue to increase
and his right arm gains more mobility and dexterity
week after week. "Righty", as we call him, is helping
with dressing, eating, grooming and on the tablet computer.

Josh's memory issues seem to come and go to a varying
degree. For the most part, he is coping, and learning
skills to help overcome this.

At home, Josh is assembling wooden models, paper crafting,
baking and working on his stand up routine. Thanks to Abilities
in Motion for finally getting us some assistance in the home a
few hours a week and finalizing some minor alterations in the
bathroom.

Things were a bit hectic last week. As Mike was flying in
from a trip to Chicago, Darling was driving to Vermont
to help out Rose who was diagnosed with Scarlet Fever.
Everyone is doing better now and back at home this week.
It's always something...

We are thankful for the progress Josh is making and for the
continued love and support from our circle of family and friends.

The Bonjos

Saturday January 21st, 2012

Things continue to move forward. Josh is working
hard in the pool, walking with almost no assistance.
In the gym, he is walking further with minimal assistance.
He is also riding a recumbent bike.

Josh is working in his old college computer science books
and doing really cool stuff on his iPad.

Winter is finally here, 4 inches of snow today.

Mike leaves in the morning for Chicago for a trade show.

The days are getting longer.

Love you all,
The Bonjos

Monday January 2nd, 2012

Happy New Year Everyone!

We had a great holiday filled with many emotions;
celebrations of Christmas, a New Year and the life of
Josh, as well as, difficult memories of Josh's accident
brought to the surface by the time of year.

We are so grateful for the second chance we have been given
with Josh. He understands how blessed he is and demonstrates
this through his hard work in therapy. He is standing and walking
with little or no assistance in the pool. We believe his "dry land"
skills are about to make another leap to a higher level.

Josh is also using a very interesting new program at BMR on the Ipad
which tests, tracks and monitors cognitive skills in many
areas. Josh picked it up immediately, of course, and it looks like
the Ipad has become the tool of choice at the rehab center.

We are so thankful for all of our friends, family, co-workers,
and strangers who dropped everything in their lives to be at
our side in our time of need, a year ago. This has been a truly
life changing experience in so many ways.

So now we move ahead in a new year, cheering Josh on, day by day,
on his race to recovery.

We Love You All!
Mike, Darling, Josh and Rose

Friday December 16th, 2011

This past week included some tough moments. It was both a
celebration of Josh making it through a year in recovery, and the
"anniversary" of the night of the accident. Bittersweet.

Josh also changed his Facebook status to single this weekend, which is
ok under current circumstances and everyone remains close friends.

Still we move forward. Sam and Dylan came for
dinner on Saturday night and lifted our spirits!

Josh had a great week in therapy. Keystone Mercy basically cut
him off for the last 2 weeks of the year, (to save money).
The angels at Bryn Mawr Rehab scholarshipped Josh in until
January 1st, when he automatically gets his benefits reset
for the new year.

Josh's new shoe modification has helped with standing and walking
and pool therapy continues to push him closer to functioning with less
assistance.

If we don't get a chance to post again before the holidays,
please have yourselves a wonderful time! Hug and kiss your
loved ones.

We love and thank you all for your continued support!

Love,
The Bonjos

Tuesday December 6th, 2011

Josh had a minor operation last week on his foot. Everything
went great. He is continuing with lots of standing and walking
exercises and the 3 days of therapy each week have really made
a difference. A lift installed in his shoe has made a noticeable
difference in these activities. Josh is working very hard.
Unfortunately, this leaves him exhausted, but he has to do the
work now.

Josh's right arm is continuing to improve in strength and agility.
He can now eat about half of his meals with "Righty", as we call it.

We are coming up on 1 year since the accident. It's hard to believe.
I don't know how we will handle December 12th, 2011. I feel
anxious as the date approaches, reliving that night in 2010 in my mind.
Really, we should treat it like any other day now that we
have our son back with us. We should be hopeful and thankful
for the gift we have been given.

Love you all,
The Bonjos