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Prayer for Zac Chapman - family needs help

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Glad to see Zac (and all y'all) trudging on the road to recovery. I was going to post last year at the anniversary (8-8, I think?) but missed it...now two years.
 
Thank you all for your words of encouragement and prayers. Texted with the #1 son tonight. He has had a catheter in since he got out of the hospital this last time. He had an appt with the urologist today and the catheter was taken out. Zac was glad of this! Zac also found out that DARS (dept of adult rehab services) is going to allow him to stay at Pate longer to make up the days he lost while in the hospital. The new discharge date for Zac to come home is Sept 28. Bathroom remodel continues at our house. School has started and the 3 of us are having SO MUCH fun sharing 1 bathroom with one of us being a 16 year old female teenager. Ha Ha!!
Zac's 22 birthday is approaching on Sept 7th. I'm doing my best to use any method necessary, including guilt, to make sure he spends an ENTIRE day with his mother over the holiday weekend. A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do ;)
 
:tab Once he is home, will he still be doing any kind of regular structured therapy or will he be pretty much on his own to continue doing strengthening and coordination exercises?

:tab We are still praying that he get back to being able to swallow so he can enjoy eating regular food again!
 
Zac will continue therapy once he comes home. He was hoping to be able to do therapy here in Weatherford, but there is not 1 clinic that offers all 3 therapies. So, it looks like therapy may be done in Ft. Worth.
Zac and I were talking on the phone and he was telling me about the things he has eaten with his speech therapist. He has been getting baby food and taking it to his speech therapist to eat with her. He talked about how gross it looked, but it wasn't that bad; things like Lasagna. He reminded me once again that when you haven't really eaten anything by mouth in 2 years, it doesn't taste that bad. He is still not allowed to eat with anyone but her, but it sounds like he is doing well, no problems when using the swallowing techniques he has been taught. So, it sounds like we will be able to make him some different things, puree them, and then he can eat with us soon!
Our bathroom should be in working order by this coming weekend, so hopefully Zac will be staying at our house soon. I am so excited about this!!
I'm still working with the border collie pup, who will be 5 months old on Sept 12. She can now catch a frisbee, so I am excited about her potential for other things as she matures. I can definitely agree with all the people that have told me how intelligent they are, as well as how they need a task, or job to do.
Zac is at the CMRA races this weekend, which he absolutely loves. He got in a go cart/buggie at the last race and was able to do the spectator lap with someone else driving. He liked being on the track again he told me.
I just got one the board today to see all the other prayer requests for people that I know have prayed for Zac and our family. I want to be faithful to pray for them just like they prayed for us. I have enjoyed feeling like part of a family, even though I have not met many of you. It's a good feeling:-D
 
The kids were asking about any updates on Zac this evening when we sat down to pray. Any news?
 
Sorry for not posting in a while, we have had excitement lately; bad and good, but ending with good!
Last Friday was the final "discharge planning meeting" for Zac. I was able to re-arrange my work schedule and be there in person for this final meeting. The therapists spoke of how Zac is continuing to make progress up until the very end of his stay there at Pate. It is such a miracle how far God has brought Zac. It was recommended that Zac can even return to college, with special accomodations.
So this last week was Zac's final week of rehab before being discharged home, for good. I got a call from his Dad on Monday night that Zac took a tumble out of his shower chair while in the bathroom by himself. For a very long time, Zac has been left alone in the bathroom for periods of time with a pull cord in reach with no incidents. He was leaning forward, as he has done before, but this time he ended up falling forward and hitting his head. (Not recommended if you have had a brain injury as well as several surgeries performed on the head) Zac pulled himself up to sitting and just as he was about to pull the cord, staff came in and found him. He was taken to the ER for a CT scan and, thank the Lord, there was no apparent injury. It was a late night for him, so he slept in the next day, but was able to do a half day of therapy. He did have some scrapes, but other than that, no other injury.
He finished out the week, and after his therapies were done yesterday, he headed home, for good!! I got to have him today at my house from about 11:30 until 6. It was wonderful :) We had lunch together, his was pureed. It was nice having my whole family sit down together for a meal. Zac did a great job eating his pureed food and drinking his thickened liquids.
So, now starts the rest of Zac's life!! He will take this week to just get settled in as well as go see the Dr. that will become his primary care Dr. Next week he should start outpatient therapy and continue to progress and make even more improvement.
Thank all of you for your prayers and well wishes, they will continue I hope :)
 
Fantastic!! The kids have been praying for him to get to come home and they will be thrilled to hear this! We will continue praying that he eventually be able to eat "normal" foods again without any problems.
 
Last week was Zac's 2nd week of therapy at Harris hospital downtown Ft. Worth. He goes to therapy Tues-Fri from 1-4. His days are very busy now that he is home. He spent all weekend with me last weekend, and is going to this coming weekend as well. I love getting to spend as much time as possible with him. Last Sunday he went with our family to our church. Many people there had been praying for him, and some of them got the opportunity to shake his hand and speak with him. The pastor recognized him from the pulpit and gave God the glory for the miracle that Zac is in all of our lives.
Will try to give updates from time to time!
 
An unbelievable journey, very glad to hear of Zac's progress and hope for continuous progress.
 
Thanks for the update! The kids were just asking about him this evening. Any progress on the swallowing issues?
 
I talked to Zac for about 15 minutes yesterday at Texas World Speedway. He recognized me immediately and asked if I was still racing with the Texas Mini GP. Zac and I raced minis together when he first started racing. He still has his sense of humor and made a joke about me having 8 motorcycles. He thinks that's a good start. I had seen him earlier this year and I can say that he is still making progress toward a recoveryl
 
humanrace said:
I talked to Zac for about 15 minutes yesterday at Texas World Speedway. He recognized me immediately and asked if I was still racing with the Texas Mini GP. Zac and I raced minis together when he first started racing. He still has his sense of humor and made a joke about me having 8 motorcycles. He thinks that's a good start. I had seen him earlier this year and I can say that he is still making progress toward a recoveryl
Click to expand...

Awesome! I had no idea he was about to get out to the track.
 
Better and better all the time. He's on facebook fairly regular. According to his facebook acct, he was at MSRH last weekend. I'll try to get him to post up on TWT

from this
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to this
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The kids were asking about him recently. We still pray for him nightly. Any improvement on his ability to eat regular food on his own and without help?
 
Yes, he's not able to eat anything he wants, but he's swallowing much better.
 
This is Jenny typing, but Zac is telling me what to type.
On the swallowing aspect, I am now allowed to eat any foods that are not too crispy, but I get to eat chips, trail mix, and eggrolls. I can also eat bread. This morning I had cinnamon rolls, mmmm. I was also progressed to only slightly thickened drinks.
This makes me less reliant on my feeding tube for nourishment, and I can take medicine crushed and mixed with applesauce by mouth as well. I am only 5 lbs under my original weight.
I am still going to outpatient rehab 4 days a week. I am walking with a walker better now, but still reliant on the wheelchair for transportation. Within a couple of weeks I will be getting Botox injections in both of my legs that will help my leg muscles relax so that I can walk easier.
There are still several surgeries in my future, so please keep me in prayer as I still have a ways to go in my recovery.
~ Zac
 
Zac, I've been following your progress on your Mom's Facebook pages but this is even better getting to hear straight from you. Keep the faith Bro, you are an inspiration to a bunch of us. Will keep you in our prayers.


Posting with Tapatalk for iPhone.
 
Thanks for the update!! It really has been amazing to see the extent of your recovery when I look back at the early posts where hope seemed so far away... :clap:
 
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