Medical Stuff, Father’s Day, and Athletics Fundraiser

Sorry that it’s been about a month since my last post. It’s been a little bit slow over here. Not much happening. I probably could have gone another couple of weeks before posting, but I didn’t want any of our regular readers to get worried. Of course, you could always check on James’ Facebook page which gets more frequent updates.

 

Medical Stuff

About a week ago James went to the spinal doc for a checkup to see how his scoliosis has been doing since he got the new TLSO (thoracic lumbar sacral orthosis), aka brace, aka turtle shell. They took some x-rays and compared them to the x-rays that were taken in April. The doc was very pleased. The top curve of his spine went from around 70 degrees to 54, and the bottom curve from 54 degrees to 35. He said to continue using the TLSO, come back to see him in four months, and we’ll put spinal surgery on hold for now.

I think I mentioned this before. The neurologist James is seeing at Rush University Medical Center has an upcoming drug trial for a seizure med that she thinks James would be a good candidate for. We’re taking James down there in about a week to do some preliminary testing and if it all looks good (or bad?), he might be starting the trial in August.

 

Father’s Day

 

Jeff and James sit close together on a red couch. Both wear dark sweaters, and Jeff leans in to kiss James gently on the forehead. Behind them is a window with white blinds and a small wooden side table holding a potted plant. Text on the left side of the image reads “THANK YOU DAD HAPPY FATHER’S DAY,” giving the scene a warm, affectionate Father’s Day message.
Picture card that Stacy and James made for me

 

Stacy's dad, Jeff, and James sit together outdoors in a backyard setting. On the left, Stacy's dad in an orange polo shirt and light shorts sits relaxed with one hand resting behind Jeff's back. On the right, Jeff holds James, who is wearing a white shirt and plaid shorts and leans comfortably against them. Behind the three of them are tall green plants, a wooden fence, and part of a house with siding and latticework.
My father-in-law, me, and James sliding off my legs

 

Athletics Fundraiser

Every summer Elmhurst College Athletics has a golf outing to raise money for their various athletic programs. I have supported them in the past because it was for a good cause, and hey, any excuse to miss work and play golf, right? I used to play golf all the time when I was younger. It was one of the benefits of living across the street from a golf course. I was also on the varsity golf team in high school. But life happened, and I don’t play nearly as much as I would like to. Sometimes I go years between rounds of golf.

This year Stacy, James and I were invited to be guests at the dinner they had after the golf outing. We couldn’t say no to that, could we? Little did we know that they were going to promote the fundraiser that the Acts of Random Kindness club at the College is having for us in September. These were on the dinner tables:

 

A foil‑wrapped Hershey Kiss lays on its side on a tabletop, with a yellow sticker that reads “JamesWalk.com” on the bottom. The table surface has an illustrated figure swinging a golf club, drawn in a casual, sketch‑style design. Behind the candy is a glass filled with a dark drink, and a bit of pink paper peeks in from the right edge.
Hershey Kisses promoting our fundraiser

 

This is why I love this College. We’re like a big family and support each other. I mean how many fundraisers have you been to where they promote another fundraiser? If you would like more information about the James & the Chocolate Factory Walk, check out that website, or the Facebook Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1394476413974064?ref=newsfeed

And that’s all I got. We’ll see if things get a bit more exciting in our lives, or if it will be another month before I have enough to post about.