Well, Matt’s been home since Monday the 25th in the pm.  We were scrambling a little in the begining  but it’s all starting to settle in a bit now.  Matt has had a couple of rehab people that earlier this week but finally we had  a therapist in today that really knew what was going on and it was amazing to say the least!  He asked allot of questions then spent about an hour stretching Matt’s body.  He brought in a bench and then things really got interesting.  We first put shoes and socks on Matt and that was about a 10 minute adjustment.  Then we got Matt up onto the bench and sat him up.  What an adjustment but after about 10 minutes you could see Matt start to relax and hold himself up, it was amazing.  Every time Matt was pushed, he’d stress over it at first then you could see him adjust and start to take over on his own.  Then Spencer, the therapist, had him put some weight on his feet, slowly and very patiently.  Matt tolerated this increasingly well.  Then Spence looked over and said we are going to stand him up and that we did, all the way up standing while Spencer was supporting him, all 6 feet 2 inches.  It was spiritual.  What a moment after 5 months on his back, outside of when we all had him up in a chair, Matt was on his feet with a little help looking right across at Lindsey.  We did this twice then sat Matt back down and he sat there like sitting now was not such a big deal, holding his head up, looking a bit tired but after 2 1/2 hours of working like that, he deserved to be a bit tired, we all were emotionally exhausted.  Spencer was just amazing but I think as he saw what was happening, he had to keep pushing and Matt kept going.  What a feeling and what a relief!  We have all been saying that if Matt gets pushed he will do it.  It’s been a long and frustrating road to this point but now seeing that having him home and having control of what Matt is receiving as far as care and therapy and having someone like Spencer who is truly interested in helping Matthew and not being directed by some corporate bean counter, is just such a day and night contrast.  We have scheduled 3 more sessions for the next week to give Matt a rest in between because we all know he will be a bit sore and give us time to pick up more equipment for the next session.  Lisa and I are still looking for a van to transport Matt out of the house in the coming weeks so if anyone has a lead we are in the market for a handicap minivan and a speech therapist also that can help us out at the house with Matt.  Thanks again for all the positive thoughts and please keep Matt in your prayers because we all know that Matt’s real doctor is not of this world, we are all only the tools for doing his work.

Sincerely,

Lisa, Mario, Brittney, Lindsey, Joan, Jerry and Matthew

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