Get Rid of Your Junk!

Well, garage sale season is upon us.  My neighborhood has a garage sale and I am joining in this year.  I've been planning on doing this for several months but since we learned Ben got accepted to the constraint-inducted therapy (CIT) program at Children's of Alabama, I decided we are going to use the money we make to help pay for the three week trip. 

I've had a couple people ask if or how they can help...and here's where getting rid of your junk comes in!  If you have anything you are planning to donate to Goodwill or The Salvation Army, consider donating it to...

Ben's Garage Sale Extravaganza!

Don't have any junk to get rid of?  No problem!  Come get some at the garage sale!  Here are the dates:

Thursday, June 5th: 8am - 8pm*

Friday, June 6th: 8am - 8pm*

Saturday, June 7th: 8am - 2pm

*The neighborhood garage sale hours are 5pm - 8pm Thursday and Friday but we'll be there ALL day.  Well Jeremy will be at least. ;)

Leave a comment, email, or text me if you have junk to get rid of!

reannayenger@gmail.com

 This little guy thanks you!

 

 

Birmingham or Bust

It's been four months since I blogged last!  Crazy!  Well, there are probably a million things I could share but I want to get right into some good news.

Ben was accepted into the contraint-induced therapy program at Children's of Alabama.  So we are going to Birmingham!

This is a nationally, and even internationally renowned program for kids with CP or pediatric stroke.  We are scheduled to go in January of 2015 - that's the soonest available.  It is a three week, intensive therapy program.  Ben will go to therapy four or five days a week for three or four hours.  I'm going to go down with him and stay two weeks and Jeremy will come down for the last week while I go home and then bring Ben home when he's done.

So we'll have to buy three round trip plane tickets, find a place to stay for three weeks and buy food, rent a car (maybe - I don't even know), entertain ourselves when we aren't at therapy, and probably twenty-seven other things I'm not even thinking of right now.  Luckily we have awhile to plan...and save...

So what's contraint-induced therapy you ask?  Well, they constrain the "good" hand/arm and force the patient to use the affected hand/arm.  In this program they do that with casting.  They will put a cast on his right arm and hand so he has to use his left arm and hand.  Sounds like torture you say?  Yep, I think so too.  However, it works.  It's proven to improve functionality of the affected hand.  Ben has very limited movement and use of his left hand.  He'll never use it like you and I do but we can only improve from where he's at.  Here's a couple clips I sent in as part of his application:

Let me tell you...he is NOT going to like this.  I anticipate this will be an emotional test as much as a physical one.  I'm kind of nervous about it but these people know what they are doing so I'm going to trust them.  And take wine.  For me...not for Ben.