Tuesday, December 26th, 9:45pm

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas, Hanukkah, or Quanza. We had one of the best Christmas' that I can remember. We brought Sam home on Friday and even stopped in to see our 99 year old great-grandmother in LaGrange on the way back. Saturday, we enjoyed a really good time with everybody that came over for the little get together. Thanks everyone for coming out. I know Sam had a blast. Christmas day was wonderful. We had the entire Sleadd gang (who helped tremendously along with Bobalicious). Also Grandma, Mom and Hollis came. And Dad, Jamie, Gran, and Granpappy were here for a delicious lunch. Sam ate well all weekend and just enjoyed being away from a hospital atmosphere. He played outside on Saturday with our dog Houser which was priceless. It felt good to see so many friends and family this weekend. We all enjoyed it very much. He's back in ATL today and tomorrow it's back to work rehabbing. If all goes well we plan to bring him home this weekend for a New Year's get together Sunday night with entertainment provided by Steve Miller and SA's band for Ctudio Sea's inauguation. So if you don't have any New Year's plans come on out and have a good time. Take care and we'll see you soon.
George

December 23rd, 2006

Just wanted to remind everyone about the get together tomorrow night to celebrate Sam being here and to celebrate a couple of birthdays. We brought Sam back this afternoon and we got to see our 99 year great-grandmonther in LaGrange on the way back. That was a good visit and we promised her a tea party soon. We listened to alot of different music on the way back and you could just tell that Sam was just so happy to get away from the Atl and back to C-town. If you need directions, call me on my cell 706.566.0420 or Sam's 706.577.8599. Hope everyone came make it out.
George

Tuesday, December 19th, 2006 9:30pm

Well I know it's been a while since the last update... sorry about that we've all been a little busy. Sam goes into the day program tomorrow. This program will last about 2 to 4 weeks and he'll stay in a Shepherd apartment with either me or Dad. I'm going to move him tomorrow with the help of Aunt Susan and Robert and will stay with him this week. Dad will stay with him the week of Christmas, then I'll take the first week of January, then Dad. I spoke with Sam tonight and he's excited about coming home this weekend and is really looking forward to seeing you guys on Saturday. Today he had graduation from Shepherd and received the Most Improved Award. He was also very excited about his loaner chair (they've ordered his chair but it hasn't come in yet). His loaner chair has blinkers, horns, lights, and hydraulics. It will actually raise upward. He's was riding up above other people tonight getting a kick out of that. His headaches seemed to have gone away some and he's been feeling much better today. We've been getting the house and Ctudio Sea ready but it's still work in progress. Hope everyone is doing well and we'll let you know how the move goes tomorrow.
George

Wednesday December 13

I am visiting Sam today. He's sleeping. Not feeling very good due to the Bacufin trial that he had yesterday. He had to cancel the outing to the Atlanta Airport that was scheduled today. He's having a medium grade headache that is a side effect of the drug injection. In general, he just isn't feeling well. The Bacufin is taken to relieve the spasms that he is having. Since he didn't tolerate the Bacufin well, Dr. Bowman will be adding Dantrium to the Bacufin to hopefully get a better reaction. Sam is still scheduled to be discharged to the Day Program next Wednesday.

Tuesday December 14

Talley and I went to see Sam on Sunday. She had her 4th birthday party on Saturday and we took Sam some cake and a DVD on the party. She rode in Sam's chair with George. Lots of fun!

Susan called me today to say that Sam had a spinal injection that would hopefully relieve some of the spastic reactions that he has been having. He had to stay on his back for 4 hours after the injection. Sam says that the injection didn't seem to help much. George talked to Sam this afternoon and says that the doctors will probably try a different medication.

Sam is scheduled to go to the Atlanta airport on Wednesday morning at 9:00 for a 6 hour outing. That should make an interesting story...

Saturday, December 9th, 7:30 pm

Hey you guys, just figured I'd let you know what's been going on up here in the ATL. Lan and I got up here last night and couldn't find Sam when we got to his room. We should've known he was out and about hanging with some friends. When we got him back to his room I gave him a good shave b/c he was beginning to look like that picture that was posted when he was in ICU looking like a hobo. Anyways he got a good shave but I did leave him with some chops.
Today we've been hanging out having a really good time. Mom came up and we did some IC training. Also Uncle Brooks and Jennings came by and brought us a Xmas gift and Sam some clean clothes. Uncle Lewis and Susie came by too and hung some Xmas lights in Sam's room (they look really good). I'm not sure if I told you guys but Sam was recently a hand model. His OT has to speak at some national conference and she's been impressed with what Sam has been able to do with his hands even without movement. This week they're going to photograph his shoulder blades b/c apparently they look really good for someone with his type of injury. He is very excited about the party on the 23rd at our place. I hope all of you guys can make it. I'll post more with details but Sam would like for everyone to dress up. (Sorry Mailman... but just think we'll finally be able to all get together and celebrate your birthday too.) I'll talk to you soon.
George

Wednesday, December 6th, 8:00 p.m.

Hey everybody. Just wanted to let you know how Sam's been. Today Mom and Dad visited Sam. Mom brought Sam a singing Coca-Cola Bear from Grandma. She also took lessons on ICs. Dad and Sam got a Xmas list together for Grandma on some good adaptive equipment for music production on a computer. He's feeling much better today. He did some OT with Patty and met with an adaptive technology specialists as well. All in all, Sam had a good day. Also Sam was recently on T.V. in Atlanta on Fox 5 about a report regarding one of his roomates. I'll try to get Dad to post the link where everyone can see it and I'll also try to get some more recent photos posted. Don't forget about the shindig here for Sam on the 23rd. Wish I had more news to report on but that's all for now. Take care. See the Fox 5 Sports report
George

Tuesday, December 5th, 5:30 pm

Hey everybody. Just got off the phone with Granpappy, he and Gran went to visit Sam today like every Tuesday. Granpappy said that most of the morning they were measuring Sam for his chair. So hopefully, they got the order in for Sam's wheels. We'll save the customization until he gets home so that we can all discuss whether he needs spinners or 20's. Personally, I think some nice spinners would look good, and a horn. Sorry I got delayed in finishing this post, Sam just called. He says he's been a little weak today due to low blood pressure. They've put him on some medicine for muscle spasms that has now caused his blood pressure to drop making him weak. He says sometimes you can't fix a problem without creating a new one. So today hasn't been the best of days but that's ok. Grandin, did you have any similar issues? Looking forward to getting up there this weekend since I didn't go this past weekend. Please keep Sam in your prayers and also pray for Kari Coldwell, Jeremy Dockery, and the family of Michael Houston. Kari is still in ICU. Jeremey is recovering from a 4 wheeler accident. And Michael passed away last week, he will be greatly missed.
Until next time,
George

Saturday, December 2nd, 11:30pm

Hey everyone it's George. Like Dad said, he, my Mom, and myself attended some training in ATL this week so sorry for not keeping you up to speed on Sam's always amazing progress. Friday they fitted Sam with some air splints for his arms that allows to do push-ups and other mat exercises like jump-n-jack type movements that really demonstrate the muscles and ability to work the muscles that he has. He told me that all of the therapists were extremely surprised to see him raising himself so far off the mat during the push-up exercises... who would have ever thought that Sam could do a push up :-) . Anyways, Sam had some visitors on Thursday including Uncle Zim and cousin Charlie, Dustin and Lauren, and also a friend that he met in peer support John (he's 29 and in a chair as well). I didn't make it to ATL this weekend but spoke with Sam on the phone today and he had a pretty bad morning with the 2nd string nurses that come in for the weekend shift. He's afternoon was a little better. Good days, bad days. Since Sam will be going directly into the day program at Shepherds on the Thursday the 21st of December, we plan on bringing him home for the long weekend over Christmas so I would like to invite everyone and anyone to our home on Saturday the 23rd for a little get together with Sam. Well have a lot of fun so anybody is invited and I'll post more details in the days to come but put in on your calendars that the 23rd we'll have a little shin dig here at the house with our boy Sam-I-Am. Hope everyone is doing well and we'll talk to you soon.
Also please keep Kari Coldwell in your prayers and her family. Many of you know Rick and his sister is really going through a tough time at the moment. They need all the prayers and support now more than ever.
Love you guys,
George