Days 18 & 19 of therapy. Lots of learning to do, and after this, looks like Bill can earn his CME certificates one and two. He is doing very well with the exercises with Austin. Very impressive. Ramone stated today that the time he has spent with Austin has gone by very fast. He said that Austin is not quite ready to be walking yet, but his brain is receiving the signals, and with every day he will get closer and closer. He sees great improvement in Austin since we first arrived three and a half weeks ago and he says we will see more and more over the next few weeks. This has been such a great experience for us. We have learned so many new things about this wonderful type of therapy called CME and the potential that Austin and his brain truely have. We have experienced such a neat culture and made some great friends while here. The future is going to be so great for the Benschneider Family with Austin's new found abilities. We are tentatively scheduling our next session for Austin in Chile for October 2009, this time however, we will only be staying two weeks instead of four. This is not the end of Austin's journey, just the beginning. I will continue to blog and keep updates going and hopefully get some videos on here (one day!). Thank you so much to everyone for their love, support, prayers and encouragement, It has made our trip a great success. We will be leaving for home on Saturday the 28th at 11 pm at night. We will get to LA on Sunday morning at 0740. Looking forward to being home again and seeing Zach.

Days 16 and 17 of therapy. Let me start off first by saying that are weekend was very nice although Austin picked up the "dreaded" cold somewhere, and in our last week here, we now are dealing with that!! Bill arrived on Sunday and it is so great to have him here with us. It would be so nice to have Zach too, but we are very happy to be so fortunate to be able to have Bill join us. We decided to do a winery tour on Sunday, but we forgot to ask Austin how he felt about that, and low and behold he let us know his thought when we arrived there. It was a nice scenic car ride there, and so beautiful when we got there, but Austin was having nothing to do with it. Cried non stop from the minute we got there, to the exact minute we left and entered the car that had been waiting for us. It was a nice tour for me, since Bill was such a great husband and let me do the tour while he sat with Austin trying to enteratain him for an hour and a half. I did bring him out a glass of wine everytime we were given one, and then at the end we were able to eat some cheese and have a glass of wine together, as we tuned out Austin (knowing it was hopeless at this point), and let everyone else find a way to deal with it on their own.
Therapy on Monday was okay but again, a very crabby morning for Austin. After the first session that Bill saw, he became a believer in the CME and had a very good first impression. Today we started learning our home program routine and will learn more and more everyday this week to prepare us for at home. Ramone is making a video for us and writing out each exercise so we won't become overwhelmed. When I asked him when would he like to see us back he said, five to eight months after we leave. If Austin would complete some of the exercises befor five months (that is master them) then we need to send him a video and he will give us some new exercises over the phone. Such a great guy he is, and the confidence he has in us. I hope we don't let him or Austin down.
We went on a city tour today and saw some great sights and had a great day. Austin enjoyed this outing, maybe it was the ride on the double decker bus with the fresh air that he liked. Have another therpay this afternoon, then dinner with our friends from Canada. Will fill you in more tomorrow.

Days 14 and 15. Austin has been doing great, Yesterday he stood for 600 numbers on his own, which is equivalent to about 5 minutes. Way to go Austin!!! I am a bit behind in my blogging, but for good reason. We have been out celebrating with our new friends here in Chile, so party time for Erika and Austin. We can't have all work and no play!!!! It has been well deserved for both of us. It is so nice to have a cocktail hour. Austin ended the week on a good note and did well in all his therapies the past few couple of days. We are looking forward to Bill coming and joining us on Sunday, yes Sunday!!! We are so excited, well, I know I am. Time seems to be flying now and just think....after three weeks, we are now down to our last week. The next month at home will be just as important to continue with the therapy that Austin's brain has been shown. We plan on having a very busy month, then hopefully if will just get easier and easier for all of us. Wishing a good weekend to all.

Day 13. Well either I was really tired yesterday or getting old and senile, but I can't remember how last nights session was.....sorry. It must have just been "okay."
Today started off rough this morning for therapy. After the first session, Ramon's words were......"I hope we have a better afternoon session", not something I was hoping to hear. Austin faught so hard this morning with Ramon. He actually was fighting against him. Ramon's response to that was...."In my 39 years of working, I have never had someone fight me this hard, especially someone with so much potential." He also told me not to worry, he thinks out loud and he wants to explain things to me, but this only makes him think harder, and now needs to figure out how to overcome the power Austin is giving. Session two went very well...who would of thought after Austin fell asleep literally 5 minutes before the therapy session was to start. He was sleeping when I took him in. Ramone did a little acupuncture technique on Austin and instantly Austin was wide awake. How cool to see. Austin then had a great session. He did so good and cooperated very well. No fighting from the brain this time or Austin. I was so glad to see that since Ramon's thumb was hurting him so bad, and Austin was going to be his last client for the day. Glad to see Austin and his brain are considerate of others. The story of the day. More later.