Video Clips From T’s PT Monday

T was so far advanced when he came for his PT on Monday that the PT had to change up what he had planned to do with T that day. Here are some clips of strength exercises they are doing. What T does in sparring training is so much harder than this...LOL!  He is showing the PT that he can do more than the PT thinks he can do though. He’s ready to get on with this and back to training...LOL! 

Update on T’s Injury

So PT and laser therapy went swimmingly today. The PT advanced him a lot in his PT after T surprised him with how far he had come since they last met. The laser therapy is advancing his turn around time a lot faster and that’s exciting T so very much. I love when T astonishes doctors by healing quicker than they expected. I love that T is getting stronger and will be able to ease back into training hopefully by next week. He has really been pushing himself so that he can get back at it. He hates having to miss so much of his sparring training.  Although this down time has given me the time I need to focus more on our house and get things done that need doing.

T’s New Bed and Dressers are Bought!

This weekend we made a stop and picked up T’s new bed and dressers. They are all in this:
I went to my favorite store. Those who know me well know where I went. The fun will be putting it all together...LOL!  

Video from BBW 3rd Dan Final Test 2019

Enjoy the video. T doesn’t do his Poomsae full force because he’s under doctors orders not to because of his injury. He did such a great job considering his circumstances. Grand Master was so proud of him. Enjoy the video. 

3rd Dan Black Belt Final Test (10/26)

Yesterday T did his final test and although he couldn’t do everything because of his injury he did fantastic on what he could do. Here are a few pictures of him with Hyejin Amy Park (Master Amy), Victor Daewoo Kim (Master K), and Grand Master Jun Lee. He so loves his Masters so very much. Enjoy!

Master Amy!

Grand Master Jun Lee!

Master K!

Healing Nicely/Challenges of Wearing Glasses

T had a chiropractor adjustment today along with another laser therapy session on his pulled muscle. He’s healing nicely and is feeling quite good. This is the dangerous stage so the chiropractor and his PT doc say. This is the crucial period where lots of reconstruction is going on in his muscle and it feels so good that you wanna get back to normal but that’s a no no from what we’ve been told. Keeping T at bay and not doing anything to reinjure his thigh muscle is hard when he’s so used to working out a ton all the time. 

Lots of changes happening with him though. He’s doing strength training with the PT for his thigh muscle, doing laser therapy, and wearing glasses. Getting used to wearing glasses is no easy task. We went back today for them to adjust them for him and he’s still complaining they hurt so we’ll go back again tomorrow for another adjustment on them. Plus he’s had some headaches. That’s to be expected. After a couple of weeks it will be old hat for him. 

Reading is Renewed for T

T got out one of his favorite books about how things work and started to read better than I’ve seen from him in a while. I wear glasses myself and I should have noticed the signs but didn’t realize there was a problem because he hadn’t spoke up about it until now. I think it finally reached a point that something had to be done is why he started telling us he can’t see. Now we move forward with things and hopefully at a more accelerated pace...LOL! 

New Glasses 🤓

Here’s a picture of T with one of his new pairs of glasses. He is so incredibly happy to be able to see clearly. There’s no telling how long he has had this problem. He tells us it’s been a long time now. We had a conversation with him about coming to us and telling us when something is really wrong like his pulled muscle and now his eyes. Being farsighted like he is could have a whole lot to do with why he hasn’t been able to do half of what he’s been asked to do from me with school and from his coach with TKD. It’s a whole new world for him now and he can sharper than either his dad or I...LOL!  Check him out. He looks even more like his dad now....LOL! And he chose Ralph Lauren glasses. 

Eye Exam Today

Well T has to have glasses. He’s farsighted. So we are getting him two pairs of glasses 🤓. One to train with TaeKwonDo in and wear when he’s riding his dirt bike and the other for everything else. He goes back in to be fitted for contacts to wear when he fights on Tuesday next week. Here’s the two frames he chose:

PT Today

The PT assessed him today and he gave him exercises to strengthen his muscle and he goes back twice next week then we will go from there and see where he is at. Pictures from today.

Yesterday’s PT Appointment

I was under the impression that we were going to get started on PT yesterday since T had already been diagnosed down in Matthews but it was yet another consult🙄. So today T goes for his actual first PT session for his thigh. The doctor gave it a different name than the one in Matthews. I can never remember the technical language though. He explained that there are 3 stages to pulls. There’s a stage 1 that’s a very slight pull, stage 2 (which is where we are being told T is) is a more significant pull, and stage 3 is an actual tear and we are doing surgery. So that’s where we are currently. I will keep you posted as we have more to share. 

Laser Therapy Yesterday

T had his second laser therapy on his pulled hip flexer muscle yesterday. He was feeling much better and it’s lasting longer. They told us since they went deeper yesterday that he may be a little more sore but he never was. We were so thankful for that. He’s making great progress in a short period of time. He goes to the PT for the first time at 2pm today and we fill them in on all that he’s been doing to get this healed as quickly as possible so he can get back to training. We’ve been informed by other parents of athletes in this sport that you have to really push the PT’s to do what’s best for them because they will want to play it safe. We don’t have time for that. In TKD sparring if you are down too long it can be a game changer for you as a fighter in this sport. T has worked too hard for this to keep him from moving forward. We’ll let you know how it goes today. 

Fun Walking at Knightdale Station Park

We’ve been walking a ton lately. Mainly because I need it but since T’s muscle pull injury he needs it too. I got some nice shots of T yesterday while walking. 

The kid never takes a bad photo even when it’s off the cuff like yesterday was. 

Another Update on T

He is doing better. Laser therapy helps a lot. He goes back in for more laser therapy on Monday. On Tuesday he sees the PT for the first time and we will find out just what stretched he should be doing for that muscle. On Thursday he goes back for more laser therapy on it. In the meantime we are also using a tens unit on it. We are doing everything we can to get him back to training as soon as possible. Every day he’s not training is very costly for him. The laser therapy shortens his turn around time from about four weeks to two weeks. We are praying that by the 26th his muscle will be healed so he will be able to do his final testing for his 3rd Dan black belt testing cycle. It’s amazing what they can do for pulled muscles now that they couldn’t do back when I was doing sports as a kid. Advancements in technology can be mind blowing. 

Visit to the Capital Building

Since T is having to be careful because he pulled a muscle. We decided to take him to visit our Capital building yesterday and let him see the inside of it.  He’s seen the outside of it with all its cannons and statues several times. We had a great time seeing everything on the inside and it was a great learning experience. 

Update on T’s Injury

We went to see our chiropractor today and he had to do two key adjustments near the area of his muscle pull. While there we found out about their laser therapy for muscles. So we opted to do laser therapy on T’s leg. We are getting a run around with PT/his regular doctor that it takes a certain amount of days to get approval and we can’t wait 5-7 days to get him seen and healing. We found out from the chiropractor that the laser therapy has a faster turnaround rate, like a possible 10 days, rather than doing generally PT that would be a possible 4 weeks. This chiropractor has been adjusting T since he was born and he knows our son well. We trust him for T’s care verses doctors that don’t know him at all. After the adjustment today and the first laser treatment T’s leg is feeling a lot better. More treatments to come though. We will update more as we have more to update. 

Good News / Bad News

T pulled his llipsosas muscle on Sunday during training. It’s a muscle that goes from your hip into the upper thigh muscle. At first I thought it was just muscle pain from his training as hard as he does.  When he went to see his stretcher on Monday we found out that it was more than just muscle soreness. He recommended T be seen sooner rather than later so off I went to make an appointment for him to be seen with a sports medicine doctor. We saw the doctor today and sure enough it is a pull. He’s going to need PT and he won’t be able to compete this weekend at the tournament. As soon as we can get him into the PT we will know how long he will be out of commission. 

Good news is that the doctor had X-rays done today to make sure nothing was wrong with his hip and the X-ray technician informed T that he still has a lot of growing ahead and that he was going to be tall. Those aren’t words we hear too often when referenced with T...LOL!  That made T feel good. Not being able to fight and train though made him feel bad. It’s his first real injury with this sport. 

When we go to PT we are going to have to come up with a game plan that will get T back to training ASAP. Any time down is no good in this sport. 

My Silly Boy

So T got his father and I talked into playing Pokémon Go with him. I’m not a big fan of Pokémon. But the game is cool. It gets you moving more. I’ve moved more and gotten more exercise in the last month then I have in the last year. It’s been something fun to do as you get your exercise. We are always trying to ☝️ up the other while we play and walk. I sit so much of my days because of homeschooling T and also taking him to his training sessions. I’m really enjoying moving more. We are outside more and at home sitting less. It’s been a good change and gives us more bonding time with our son. So many things I thought I’d never be doing. Like, raising an elite athlete, playing Pokémon Go, traveling a ton for competitions. None of those things were in my plans. God knew though. He gifted us our crazy silly athletic boy and we wouldn’t trade the life we are living now for anything in world. We are loving every moment with him. Here’s a pic of T fighting Hitmonchan. 

What A Handsome Young Man

Took this picture Sunday after church just before we went out for lunch. 

3rd Pretest in the books...

T took his last pretest tonight and passed his written exam with a perfect score. He tied with the other 2nd Dan testing for their 3rd Dan also. He passed his sparring kicking combinations also with flying colors. So proud of this kid. He was doing so good against his partner that his partner got very frustrated with him so they put T with another partner that is a 1st Dan but a foot taller than him and T was whooping up on him pretty good. I have to always remind myself that this is just family TKD and not competition TKD and there is a huge difference. Of course it doesn’t keep his partners from being very upset 😡 when T gets the better of them...LOL! 

One happy boy right here. He loved passing so well tonight. It made his night and ours too. We’ve been quizzing him for his written exam like crazy this afternoon.