Moments with Jacob: FREEDOM!

Sunday, July 5, 2015

FREEDOM!

As Jacob is getting older and bigger, we now seem to have yearly projects to modify something in our home so it can accommodate Jacob's needs. Last summer, we noticed that it was harder and harder to get Jacob out in our backyard. The wheel chair hardly fit through the door, and then we had two stairs right outside the door. There was also hardly no space for Jacob's legs sitting at the table and he often bumped his toes into the patio furniture. If we went out in the backyard for a quick dinner, Jacob often ended up sitting in the door due to it being a "project" to get Jacob out. It just didn't sit right with any of us that Jacob couldn't join us for dinner at the table.

Right after the holidays, I started collecting bids for making our backyard patio accessible for Jacob. We found out that Jacob's Medicaid waiver would be able to help with modifying the door and to get Jacob out to the patio. Anything helps, so we decided to go that route even if the majority of the cost would fall on us. There were many times this spring I wanted to give up on involving Jacob's Medicaid waiver, since it was so much back and forth between the agency managing Jacob's waiver and the different contractors. The bids had to match perfectly, and that took months to accomplish. The whole process took 5-6 months with many phone calls and emails involved. As the agency submitted the bids to the State, the State only took 24 hours to approve the work, so I guess they did something right.

Last week, we got to see the results. I have already in the last week taken Jacob out in the backyard for his afternoon feeds and dinners and it's SO easy! I simply roll his chair out, and voila! Freedom for our boy who always want to go somewhere and loves the outside.

Yesterday we had a BBQ for 4th of July, and we all could enjoy it together on our deck! Jacob was feeling better from the cold he had struggled with earlier this week, and decided to be a chatter box! I don't think our friends had heard him ever talk this much. It was fun to see Jacob participate.