Hello, everyone.

I'm assuming that you all still want to know about Anthony's progress, but let me know if you want to be taken off my list.

At the beginning of July, Anthony was using his electric wheelchair when his left foot slipped off and dragged under the chair for a bit. He didn't notice it at all, but his friend fortunately did. Anthony was wearing open-toed sandals at the time, and the tops of three of his toes were scraped to the bone. He spent a night and a day (our fifth anniversary, in fact) in the hospital getting IV antibiotics to ward off infection. His toes looked just awful, but after a month of changing bandages every other day (with the help of a wonderful home health nurse), they're much better, though they still have a lot of healing to do. The good circulation in his lower extremities is such a blessing; an incident like this could be a lot worse if circulation were poor, as wounds would take a lot longer to heal.

Anthony's right knee is still slightly swollen after ten weeks in a brace. We have an appointment with the spinal cord doctor in a couple of weeks (he was the one who prescribed this brace), but the physical therapist thinks we'll end up just being sent to an orthopaedic doctor.

Anthony is still doing out-patient physical and occupational therapy (he made a bit of progress, so the OT didn't have to discharge him). He doesn't feel that it helps at all, but if he weren't making improvements, the therapists wouldn't be able to keep him, and I see positive changes, too. He endures it with docility, but I wish he could recognize the good in it.

We spent five or six days visiting Anthony's family in eastern PA, which was good but tough on Anthony. I think all of his limitations hit him again as he got to his family's farm, and the extra commotion of people wanting to see him and talk to him is hard for him to handle, as he usually withdraws from activities and conversations going on around him. His family's big concern is his level of depression, which I haven't mentioned much in emails but which has been getting worse since his return home from in-patient rehab in February. Our friend Suzanne has been helping us to try to find a psychologist who has experience in dealing with brain injuries and who will respect the huge role of faith in Anthony's life, but that's been tough given insurance restrictions (though I'm about ready to pay out-of-pocket soon if I need to). The brain injury doctor just recommended someone from ReMed (the brain injury rehab place), so we'll have to see if he might be suitable. Although I could have a prescription within hours of requesting it, I'm hesitant to start giving him an anti-depressant generally speaking because I'm concerned about potential side effects, but I also don't want to medicate him in the absence of solid counseling. It's hard to know what to do, but despite attempts to be hopeful and optimistic, and despite his hours of prayer and my own, it's become very clear that Anthony isn't breaking out of this depression on his own. He feels that talking to a psychologist won't help because he wouldn't say anything different to a psychologist than he would to me, but at least a psychologist might know how to steer him in a good direction or how to challenge him to think differently--whereas I am at a loss as to how to really help him to get past this.

Anthony went to an evaluation at ReMed at the beginning of July, and just today I spoke to a woman from ReMed regarding services that Anthony was recommended to take part in. The woman didn't have all of the information yet regarding the plan of care for his brain injury therapies, but she did say that he was recommended for their in-patient residential program. In this program, he would stay at a residence in O'Hara Township (sadly about 45 minutes from our home, which isn't terrible, but it's the farthest he'll have been) and have intensive cognitive, speech, physical, and occupational therapies. This will be short-term, but I don't know what that really means. It's not his preference, but he is willing to go. I think it will be really good for him, especially since I know that he isn't being challenged much at home, but it will be hard to have him gone from home again, and I worry that they might not take care of him properly there. So we're praying about it, and we'll see where it goes.

We are buying a new house just a few blocks from our current place. It's a ranch-style, and it's not huge, but it will suit our needs. We'll need to modify a few things (the bathroom is the biggest job), but we should be able to move by the end of September, God willing. I'm pleased with it and so grateful to have found it (thanks to Ele, who was searching for houses for us--we might never have noticed it if it weren't for her!).

Times are tough emotionally right now, but we're still progressing in a good direction, I think, thanks to the support of your continued prayers! I don't understand quite what God is doing with us, but I do see that we're being called to a radical trust in His loving plan, so that's what I'm focusing on.

Please, keep praying for us! And as always, we are praying for you in return.

God bless,
Anna