HE'S HOME!!

4:22am

Taylor is home. Three days short of 5 months, (116 days) and he can sleep in his bed, visit friends without them making the 1 ½ hour round trip to the rehab facility, and pet the cats and dogs whenever he wants.

We had a Limo take 9 of his friends to pick him up yesterday afternoon. Then, as the Limo neared the house, he got a police escort for the final few blocks to a red carpet (really) that led him to our front porch. The Bartow Fire Department had a crew on hand to see the results of efforts of another shift that worked his crash. A “Welcome Home Taylor” banner hung on the front porch and the yard was filled with 50 of his closest friends.

Yesterday was a great day for all of us. For Taylor, it was his first official day home where he could stay more than an hour or so. He had been home between Doctor visits a couple of times, and spent the day last Sunday, but now he can sleep in his bed and hang out with friends whenever he feels like it. For us, we no longer drive to another county to spend the evening and weekends with him.

Now Taylor starts in-patient rehab at Esteem in Winter Haven this coming Friday. He’ll go 3 days a week, and work out at a local gym the other two days a week. We don’t know how long rehab will last, but for now we’re planning on at least through the end of the year. We expect he'll do as well at

Esteem as he did at Lakeland Regional and FINR, so he may be finished sooner.

In the meantime, we’ll continue to work on the facial paralysis issue and pray that his eye continues to heal as it has. His double vision continues to improve. And, we’ll continue with treatment for the hearing loss he’s suffered in the hope that he'll regain some of it.

But, most of all, we’ll continue to love him and thank God for saving his life and returning him to us in a way that he can continue to enjoy life.