Justin's Road to Recovery

We enjoyed a visit from Steve's mom for Thanksgiving, and also kept our 4 favorite dogs, yes all at the same time. Our own version of G.O.A.T. (left to right Riggs Theo Ivy Koa) We had an early snow, and Justin boarded on Snowbird opening day, then hopped a plane to Orlando. Unfortunately no more snow to speak of. Christmas was low-key, but we have ALL enjoyed the week off of work and school.  Someone asked if I'd be happy the year was over, implying hardship, difficulty, etc. We said, "Justin is alive, what is there to move on from?" By the grace of God we are still Four Fabulous Fahrenkrogs. Wishing each of you a Happy New Year and welcome to 2024 tomorrow. 🎉😁💝 (Here are also a few more scenes from State Cup from a professional photographer.)

 I wanted to reach out to all of you again and make several posts to cover the rest of the year. This will be the soccer summary. In addition to the boys placing 2nd in State Cup (previous post), they won their P1 Comp (Premier Competitive) Division, last one of their careers. We had a fun celebration party at Calle (a teammate's parent's indoor soccer place in SLC). In November the boys also played in the first round of Desert League in Phoenix, currently ranking in 3rd place. Steve went with Justin and was able to connect with a friend of ours there also. After that was National League Playoffs in Orlando in December. I was able to travel with the team this time, ironically my first trip to a far far away game.   First off, we had SO MUCH FUN!!!  Second, the ESPN Wide World of Sports facility, run by Disney, is a SUPER nice facility, and we only had one game in full afternoon humidity. You do sign your life away as you have to have an ID card and a fingerprint scan...

As a Senior, a big thing that happened this fall was filling out applications to schools Justin is interested in. He applied to 4 universities and we have heard back that he's in 2 of the 4. Waiting on the others. We also chose to visit Colorado School of Mines in Golden, CO in November, and toured the University of Utah this past Thursday (not as time consuming). We had a fun weekend driving out to CO and a good visit of the school in a very cool small town & campus. We received tickets to the football game which was fun, and Mines has won the National Championship in their Division multiple times, including this year.  We were also able to see both of my brothers and one sister in law. So good! It was good for Justin to be able to see and hear from both schools on reasons to attend.  It will make it easier to make his decision.  He is looking forward to actually taking classes this semester that he gets graded for. 😊👍

  I haven't gotten around to posting yet this week. Justin's team played last Saturday morning and earned a spot in the State Cup final! They played Monday night at the Real Salt Lake stadium! The big pitch under the lights. What a cool experience and what an honor to be there!  I'm so grateful to all of Justin's friends that came to support him! We gave a big cheer when he took the pitch. 🎉😘⚽️ Thank you to our whole team and their families who care for Justin so much and to Steve and my friends that came to support him also! ❤️ Lisa kept saying "just 2 months ago we were outside the hospital praying". When he couldn't walk or talk yet. 2 months.  The game did not go the way we wanted. Enough about that.  I'm so grateful for each experience and person joining us in this road to recovery.   

 I can't believe it has been 2 months since Justin's surgery.  SO much has happened in that time.  Being in the hospital seemed like it lasted forever. Then adjusting to home and school and friends and IV and schedules and home health seemed so lengthy. Then it also seems like a dream not reality.  Even being in the hospital last week seems like a long time ago.  We saw the ID docs this week and they checked him off as Justin continues to improve and have no lingering effects from his fever or stomach issue last week. Amazing! I don't know if the doctors reevaluated or if I missed it but they said what they see in the MRI in the brain is not infection just fluid! Omgosh!! He has played a little soccer and his team won their Quarterfinal playoff game tonight under the lights! We are so grateful for each of you and couldn't be on this journey without you!

 Justin only spent 2 nights in the hospital this time. It seems like forever, yet not that long. For all of us, including Justin, it started out feeling like a repeat of the trauma that sent us there in the first place. I'm sorry for any repeats, but I'm just going to try to cover everything. Justin had a fever on Sunday afternoon. After a dose of Tylenol that did not reduce the fever, the plan was to go to ER at Primary. They admitted him and confirmed we did the right thing. The doctors ordered all the tests. They did blood work, ultrasound of his neck (which was actually scheduled for Monday, post-surgery follow-up), and also scheduled the MRI for Monday (a week early, post-surgery MRI follow-up). They also decided to admit him for overnight observation and put him on antibiotics to get a head start on any infection. Incidentally, a friend of his from elementary, middle, high school and soccer was there with his little brother, who is FINE! yea! Monday morning Justin still h...