Coen's First Steps 2.0

Yesterday, Coen walked on his own ("Walk by self, dada") for the first time since before his first surgery back in late January. Coen had walked for about two months before the surgeries to remove his tumor, but with severe pain that he would sadly pay for later (muscle spasms at night). Yesterday he walked and kept saying "no pain". Then he had a good night's sleep without the crazy spasms that we loathe so much. This is yet another step in the miracle process. It's amazing and needless to say, he loves it. We knew he'd start taking steps again soon, but figured it'd be about 3-4 weeks out. This means that he'll be ready to roll with his cousins in California this summer, which is definitely what we've been hoping for.

Coen's left-side hip and leg muscles are still really stiff and severely contracted. The physical therapist said that it will likely take about 1-2 years to work the muscles out. Coen is in PT every week and we do stretches at home with him everyday (which he hated at first and is now better about). It's going to be amazing to see his limp slowly work itself out. Nobody can perfectly predict the ultimate prognosis right now, but great progress continues to be made, so we're thrilled.

(Side note: Tauni says I sound like an uncaring deadbeat dad in this video, but the reality is that I was holding Ella while she slept and I likewise perhaps fell asleep as well. So, I'm not an uncaring deadbeat dad here, I'm just 3/4 asleep.)

Coen's Cast Is Off!!!

After ten weeks and two casts, Coen's little (and even smaller now) legs are liberated!

Today we had a morning appointment for Coen to have his cast removed by our awesome orthopedist Dr. Yandow. Coen wasn't thrilled when they brought in the "CastVac", but he honestly managed really well, going from scared to curious during the 15+ minutes that it took to remove his grisly cast.

Once the cast came off, an impressive stench came over the room. His legs looked like he'd been living in a foxhole for a few months. I felt bad when we found a leaf from one of the trees in our backyard in there (he loves to help me water the trees, lying on his belly to do it). The other lovely prize was a strand of mom's black hair. It's no wonder this kid was constantly grab our hands and having us scratch inside his cast. It's just a good thing he got that cast off before the summer heat crept in.

Within about 15 minutes of having his cast off, he wanted to try standing. Needless to say, his legs are really weak right now, but I imagine that he'll be standing against things in the next few days and then we'll see after that. He's a little trooper, so I know he will go for it. I just hope his body can keep up with his mind.

It's such a relief to have this phase of his recovery behind us. There is a lot of aggressive physical therapy in store for him (likely a couple of years), but we're making progress. Lots of things still need to heal (femoral head needs to stabilize and 'marry into' the hip socket, the pelvic bone needs to finish healing, etc.), but it's happening one step at a time and we're immensely grateful for that.

Thank you very much to everybody (coast to coast and across the oceans) that has sent their love and most importantly their prayers. They are working and we're humbled by that. We'll be eternally grateful to you.

Lots of photos here: Cast coming off / Still in his cast.
Videos here.

Tauni & The Two Tons

Thanks to some recent cleaning efforts, this old picture surfaced of Tauni and I from the summer of 2004 (what could rightfully be called the "summer of new love").

Perhaps even more embarrassing, we found a CD of the song we recorded together. At the time, I was still finishing my band's last CD (here) and Tauni would sometimes come to the painfully tedious mixing sessions that lasted two nights a week for about a year (after a year of recording). During this time, I was approached to record a song for a Janice Kapp Perry tribute CD that was to be released by Halestorm Entertainment (here). I hit Tauni up to sing on it and we sorted out one of the few Janice Kapp Perry songs that we knew.

When it came time to record, I enlisted the help of my friend Steve Brown (who recorded the final Arrogants CD referenced above). Tauni sang, I played guitar, bass, and sang a bit, and Steve played drums; thus was born "Tauni & The Two Tons". Here's the song (posted for posterity's sake, if nothing else).

Tauni & The Two Tons - "Song of Testimony" (Janice Kapp Perry cover).