Welcome Home Hunter!!!

Dear Hunter,

I can't tell you how happy I am to have you home with me. It feels like it has already been such a long journey. But, our journey has only began. Your drive and determination never ceases to amaze me. Since the day you were born, you approach everything with a "watch and see what I can do" attitude. So, my sweet child here are my promises to you:

1. I'm going to promise you that this will be a long road. We have therapy 4-5 times per week for one year. Therapy sessions last a couple hours per day. But, I promise that we won't miss one session.

2. I promise you that I will wipe your tears when times get tough. But, I am going to push you and will never enable you. I do this because I know you can do it.

3. I promise to always stand beside you, support you, and fight the battles with you.

4. I promise to always cheer you on.

5. I promise to always have faith in you.

6. Most importantly, I promise to always love you!

Okay, so the big question that everyone wants to know...How is Hunter doing? He is doing great!  However, he has a lot of swelling on his back. They were contemplating another surgery to fix the swelling. But, at the last minute, they decided to discharge him and not go through with the surgery. They decided that it is more dangerous to do the surgery to repair the swelling. Now, the next question...what's causing the swelling? It could be a spinal fluid leak. It could be fluid leaking from the tissues in his back.  But, the swelling is not slowing him down, hurting him, nor is it getting worse. The neurosurgery team believes that the swelling will re-absorb into the body with time. They will follow Hunter closely for awhile.  If the swelling gets worse or slows down his rehabilitation, surgery is still an option.

Hunter has been working hard in therapy. I have talked to the therapist. I asked her to rate the severity of Hunter's cerebral palsy before and after surgery. They use a scale of 0-5. A score of 0 would be someone with normal muscle tone. A 0 score would be someone who did not have cerebral palsy. A score of 5 would be the most severe case of spastic diplegia (cerebral palsy). She said that before the surgery, Hunter was rated at a 3. After the surgery, Hunter has been rated as a 0-1. I can't tell you how excited this makes me.

As I've mentioned before, they have to train Hunter how to do everything again. In this video, Hunter stands for the first time following surgery.