The secret pal struck again this morning. The Pal left three books for the kids and a note encouraging them to read during the summer.

I have been traveling a lot lately while Saint Michelle provided family duties so I notice subtle differences in symptoms with the kids more. Tyler has been practicing baseball and very excited about the Cooperstown trip we are taking next week. Yes, Michelle, Tyler and Myself will be out of town but if you plan to rob my house at that time I would not advice it. "Guido" will be staying at the house with the kids and there is always our two trained dogs to contend with. Tyler has made some real strides in his ability to be involved and play baseball. Last week at practice his coach was hitting fly balls to him in left field and Tyler was catching them. Several people called and said how cool they thought that experience was and how other kids have grown from this experience. Kyle McGriff and other friends of Tyler’s were giving him high fives and encouragement. Cooperstown is going to be awesome. Tyler has had some bad pulling in his left arm that makes him hold his arm almost straight up into the air. The docs have been trying to program his dbs and take that away and just last week Tyler received Botox injections in many areas like his jaw and arm to try to help. Tyler has been taking extra shakes during the day since he is out of school and really needs to gain weight.

Samantha has been progressing in her symptoms as far as I can tell. She seems more uncomfortable lately than before a few weeks ago. Her back and neck are pulling against each other and make her bend and contort more. She is still always in the wheelchair and unable to walk. The docs are starting to try some more aggressive setting for her dbs so that she may be able to straighten her feet and allow her to walk. She sometimes starts to cry and I know it is because she is frustrated and wants to be able to do more. She doesn’t like talking about what frustrates her. Sammy still impresses the heck out of me with her drive to learn. She reads a lot. As an example of some small things we take for granted but Samantha struggles with happened at the pool yesterday. Samantha wanted water but we didn’t have the wheelchair for her and she cannot stand at the water fountain. A simple task of wanting and getting water was a major ordeal for us. We need to and will find a cure in the relatively near future.

Luke is still Spiderman and got another Spiderman book to read. He has attended one week of summer camp and will be going back for another week next week. He is learning tennis and swimming a lot. Luke is an EXCELLENT swimmer. He is 5 yrs old and tiny but can swim to the bottom of a 12 ft pool and pick up dive sticks, does flips off of the wall, dives, and is learning the different strokes. Next week he starts golf. Giving Luke a weapon(golf club) is not wise but last week his weapon(tennis racket) was confined to a fenced in area. I am just joking, Luke is very sweet and a great kid he is just a race car in the red all of the time.

The annual Tyler’s Hope golf tournament is coming up in August and I am excited about the health care industry support we are receiving this year. Almost everyone I have contacted has become a supporter and is into helping the cause. People can help in ways other than money by placing the logo and link on their websites and doing the same in the signature of their emails. Some of the National industry support we have received this year is from MD Publishing, AllParts Medical, Parts Source, Ditec, A+ Medical, Ce Tech, Shands Healthcare, Imaging Associates, Absolute Imaging, and the InterMed Companies.