Well today was an eventful day at Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC). I discovered shortly after I began my five mile walk that someone very important was coming to the hospital. I have to walk around the base three times to get in five miles. Yes, it's that small. And each time I walked around I noticed more police, more closed roads and gates and more excitement. A helicopter flew around in circles over head for added security. I knew it was the president as I approached the main gate on Georgia Avenue on my third round when a secret service agent came over the hill and motioned for me to turn around and go back the way I had come. I know he saw me before I saw him. There were even snipers on top of the portico where the president would enter. After I turned around some people outside the fence asked me how to get in because they had appointments or needed to get in for work. I had no good information to offer them except the 16th Street gate was still open but it too was not letting anyone in or out either. So I turned around and headed back to Roger's building. I was almost at five miles when I turned around so I had plenty of time to reach my goal and get in some cool down. After Roger & I returned to the room from lunch, he saw the motorcade from the window in his room. We knew it was for sure the president then because of the ambulance. Only the president gets an ambulance following his motorcade. The president was here to visit the hospital after he ordered a commission in March to investigate care for wounded soldiers. Here's a transcript of his speech to reporters after the visit. It kind of annoys me that reporters questioned him about Scooter Libby and nothing about improvements to warrior care. So annoying!
After Roger finished pool therapy this afternoon, I walked out the main gate across the street to Pure Bliss day spa for a treatment (a maintenance treatment not a relaxing one). When I left the physical therapy area and walked to the main lobby to exit the hospital, I almost ran into Ms. United States Kayla Downs. She wasn't wearing a tiara, but a big sash across her little framed body. I had no idea who she was or what Ms. United States was, so I did a search when I got back to Roger's room. Ms. United States and Ms. United States Woman are not affiliated with Miss USA or another of those other televised pageants. But I'm sure the process is probably the same. If you're interested in that sort of stuff, you can read all about it at their website. I'm sure she was here to see wounded soldiers also. That's really the only reason celebrities come here.
Roger also saw the commander of Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the North Atlantic Regional Medical Command, Major General Eric B. Schoomaker, M.D. So today was full of excitement at WRAMC.
Melissa worked Roger pretty hard today at pool therapy. He and his right leg are tired. He's going to take a short nap while I do some laundry before we head out to our friends John & Tamra Rich's home. They let us stay with them on the weekends and holidays. We're always with them anyway. We have plans for where we are watching the fireworks but nothing else. With these friends, we never know what we'll end up doing. I've posted pics from this past week. Click on this link to go to this specific set or you can always click on the flickr banner to the right.
Happy Fourth of July to everyone!!
Jul 3, 2007
Jul 2, 2007
I'm here!
Well, I've been in DC almost a week now. I can't believe it. Time is going by so fast. Roger & I have been running around like crazy. He has numerous appointments each day and between traveling to and from Walter Reed or Bethesda Naval, waiting for doctors and the actual appointments themselves we are constantly going, going, going. We were so busy last week that we barely made it to meals. We were usually running into the dining facility with 30 minutes to spare which if you know anything about military dining facilities, that's when all the "good" food is out. Of course you know I'm being sarcastic. When the menu for that day runs out, they bring out the leftovers. The food is edible. We try to eat a lot of fruits and veggies. We have a salad at lunch every day. Lunch is the best meal of the day for cooked food. Breakfast is easy. Dinner, that's another story.
I thought I would have a lot of down time here so I checked some books out of the local library in Austin. Boy was I wrong. Not only are we constantly going somewhere, but at some of the appointments they actually put me to work too. During pool therapy and physical therapy, I had to be Roger's spotter. I don't mind it at all, but so much for my library books. Pool therapy is really neat. There's a 3-5 foot deep pool on the third floor of the hospital and one pool therapist named Melissa. She's really nice and knows her stuff. Roger can see how it will help his mobility and balance improve. The physical therapy where Roger goes is outside of the hospital in a portable building. The physical therapy inside the hospital is for soldiers missing limbs. And there are a lot of them here. Physical therapy is a little different for Roger because they are targeting specifics now and they show you your exercises at the first session and you are on you're own after that. Since Roger is still susceptible to seizures, they will watch him closely and assist on some exercises, but other than that you are on your own. Some of the exercises he can do outside of physical therapy. He might even buy a jump rope. That's one of the exercises he has to do in physical therapy. He was really surprised that he could jump rope but he did well. He should see a lot of improvement between the pool therapy and the physical therapy.
As for this whole Med Board process, all I can say is that it's interesting. The process is unorganized and seems to change regularly. It can be frustrating at times. They are trying to improve the process but of course anything associated with the military is not simple nor easy. Everyone associated with it seems frustrated. I'll blog more about that later. I'm going to post a few pictures of what we've been doing since I've been here. We've been invited to a baseball game tonight so we're off to get some things done before we get picked up. Check back soon.
I thought I would have a lot of down time here so I checked some books out of the local library in Austin. Boy was I wrong. Not only are we constantly going somewhere, but at some of the appointments they actually put me to work too. During pool therapy and physical therapy, I had to be Roger's spotter. I don't mind it at all, but so much for my library books. Pool therapy is really neat. There's a 3-5 foot deep pool on the third floor of the hospital and one pool therapist named Melissa. She's really nice and knows her stuff. Roger can see how it will help his mobility and balance improve. The physical therapy where Roger goes is outside of the hospital in a portable building. The physical therapy inside the hospital is for soldiers missing limbs. And there are a lot of them here. Physical therapy is a little different for Roger because they are targeting specifics now and they show you your exercises at the first session and you are on you're own after that. Since Roger is still susceptible to seizures, they will watch him closely and assist on some exercises, but other than that you are on your own. Some of the exercises he can do outside of physical therapy. He might even buy a jump rope. That's one of the exercises he has to do in physical therapy. He was really surprised that he could jump rope but he did well. He should see a lot of improvement between the pool therapy and the physical therapy.
As for this whole Med Board process, all I can say is that it's interesting. The process is unorganized and seems to change regularly. It can be frustrating at times. They are trying to improve the process but of course anything associated with the military is not simple nor easy. Everyone associated with it seems frustrated. I'll blog more about that later. I'm going to post a few pictures of what we've been doing since I've been here. We've been invited to a baseball game tonight so we're off to get some things done before we get picked up. Check back soon.
Jun 18, 2007
Almost A Month
Wow, I can't believe it's almost been a month since one of us last blogged. You know I just don't think about it as often as I used to. I'm so used to Roger doing all the blogging and I don't really think about it. But it has been mentioned recently by some, so I decided I would go ahead and blog for us since I have a little more free time now.
Roger went home on June 11th. Sigh. I miss him a lot. I really enjoyed him being home. Especially since he was on leave, he was home all day. It was nice to come home to him. He worked so hard while he was here. He had a very long to do list. I really appreciated all that he did. He was pretty tired each day. We managed to have fun also. We even went out on a date night. I know, some of you are thinking, no kids and no pets, every night is a date night. But a date night isn't sitting at home watching TV on the couch together. And it sure isn't cooking dinner and doing laundry. We really enjoyed going out to eat, sitting across from each other, gazing into each other's eyes and really talking to each other. While Roger was home, our friends John & Tamra from Virginia came to visit us. They were in the Dallas-Fort Worth area visiting family and came down to Austin for a weekend. It was fun dragging them all over showing them Austin. And the weekend they came was a good one. Among the events held in Austin that weekend was the huge annual Republic of Texas Biker Rally, the traveling Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, the Pride Parade and the usual nightly live bands and other day events. So it was a good weekend for them to see what Austin is really all about. We had fun with them because living here we don't usually go out to those areas to avoid the crowds. And downtown Austin was crazy crowded. We actually drove down Sixth Street during the biker rally. I have never seen that many motorcycles in my life. It was really cool. We caught the Pride Parade as it ended at Congress Avenue while we were waiting for the Congress Avenue Bats to emerge at sunset. It was very cool. We were all amazed at how many bats fly out. No matter how many times you've seen it, it's always neat.
So I'm home by myself now. It's kind of boring without Roger. I've been keeping myself busy with chores and my own to do list, plus my daily walking. I'm up to five miles a day (Monday through Friday only). My goal now is to walk five miles under one hour and get faster and faster. I'm at one hour and 13 minutes now which includes cool down. No amount of chores or activities will make me not miss Roger though. It's been difficult to sleep. It takes me forever to fall asleep then I keep waking up. Roger and I both are experiencing problems sleeping well. But my sleeping problems will disappear soon. I travel to DC next week to visit Roger. I can't wait. I'm so excited! There are so many things I want to do while I'm there. This will probably be one of the last times I'm there, so I have a list of stuff to see and do. I'll also be working while I'm there.
As I mentioned in the first paragraph I have a little more free time now. I started today working part time from home. The project I was hired for is at the end phases so my work load has gone down enough for me to go part time. And since my work consists of tracking only now, there's no need for me to be in an office. So I will save about $50 a week on gas plus I don't have to wear make-up, wear work clothes, style my hair, pack lunches or drive in traffic. Yeah! This is a nice break and I'm going to take advantage of the available time to get lots done around the house and for myself personally. The transfer to part time also gives me the opportunity I've been waiting for to go back to school and finish my degree. I will start at Texas A&M on August 27th. It looks like I will be able to take all my classes this fall on Thursdays which means I will only have to drive one day during the week. I plan to take all the classes that remain for my degree and graduate by next May. I'm very excited about that also.
While I'm in DC I'll also get to experience Walter Reed Army Hospital and what Roger goes through every day. It's still not easy. Every day is filled with more and more ridiculous requests and changes. That place is something else. I truly hope they get this process all figured out soon so all these soldiers don't have to go through all this crap for long. The latest charlie foxtrot discovered last week is mail wasn't being delivered to the soldiers since May of 2006! Civilian contractors were involved and fired but it is still unbelievable. I mailed a package to Roger on May 10th and he received it this morning at his 0730 formation. He said there were buckets and buckets of mail at formation this morning for soldiers. That's quite sad for the soldiers that are there and could benefit from letters and cards from loved ones. I'm still amazed and frustrated how our soldiers who are injured and trying to get well are treated. It's enough to make you mad.
Here's an update on my dad. His leg is about the same. The blood clot is going to take forever to dissolve. His leg still swells up after he walks and he still tires very easily. He started experiencing drainage problems in his leg so my mom made an appointment for him to see Dr. Bond. He basically told us what we already knew, it's going to take a long time and it's not going to be a fun experience. I asked my mom to ask Dr. Bond if my dad should see a specialist. I don't know how my mom asked him so I don't know if he responded in frustration but he basically said he was the specialist and there wasn't anyone else for my dad to see. I don't know if he meant no one in Bryan-College Station specializes in this or if there's not a doctor that specializes in what my dad's got going on. Sometimes I wish I was sitting in those appointments. Anyway, the week after that (last Thursday) my dad had an appointment with Dr. Kirby. I guess the fact that my dad is not gaining weight and still tires so easy came up. So he had an angiogram or a cardiogram done on my dad and it concluded that his heart is only working at 15-20%. Dr. Kirby said no wonder you aren't gaining weight and can't exercise like I want you to. So they are going to prescribe my dad heart medication and hopefully that will help him heal faster and gain weight. And hopefully those results will help my dad's application for disability. He had an appointment and interview last week with a social security disability person. I'm sure he will be denied the first time, but at least the process has been started. I'm sure it would help with a lawyer but I think one denial will help my parents see that a lawyer would be good.
I don't even want to get started on that so I'm going to close now. I hope this long update finds all of you in good health and great spirits. I will try to be better about blogging now that I have some free time. Please keep my parents and Roger in your prayers. Until the next blog, God bless.
Roger went home on June 11th. Sigh. I miss him a lot. I really enjoyed him being home. Especially since he was on leave, he was home all day. It was nice to come home to him. He worked so hard while he was here. He had a very long to do list. I really appreciated all that he did. He was pretty tired each day. We managed to have fun also. We even went out on a date night. I know, some of you are thinking, no kids and no pets, every night is a date night. But a date night isn't sitting at home watching TV on the couch together. And it sure isn't cooking dinner and doing laundry. We really enjoyed going out to eat, sitting across from each other, gazing into each other's eyes and really talking to each other. While Roger was home, our friends John & Tamra from Virginia came to visit us. They were in the Dallas-Fort Worth area visiting family and came down to Austin for a weekend. It was fun dragging them all over showing them Austin. And the weekend they came was a good one. Among the events held in Austin that weekend was the huge annual Republic of Texas Biker Rally, the traveling Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, the Pride Parade and the usual nightly live bands and other day events. So it was a good weekend for them to see what Austin is really all about. We had fun with them because living here we don't usually go out to those areas to avoid the crowds. And downtown Austin was crazy crowded. We actually drove down Sixth Street during the biker rally. I have never seen that many motorcycles in my life. It was really cool. We caught the Pride Parade as it ended at Congress Avenue while we were waiting for the Congress Avenue Bats to emerge at sunset. It was very cool. We were all amazed at how many bats fly out. No matter how many times you've seen it, it's always neat.
So I'm home by myself now. It's kind of boring without Roger. I've been keeping myself busy with chores and my own to do list, plus my daily walking. I'm up to five miles a day (Monday through Friday only). My goal now is to walk five miles under one hour and get faster and faster. I'm at one hour and 13 minutes now which includes cool down. No amount of chores or activities will make me not miss Roger though. It's been difficult to sleep. It takes me forever to fall asleep then I keep waking up. Roger and I both are experiencing problems sleeping well. But my sleeping problems will disappear soon. I travel to DC next week to visit Roger. I can't wait. I'm so excited! There are so many things I want to do while I'm there. This will probably be one of the last times I'm there, so I have a list of stuff to see and do. I'll also be working while I'm there.
As I mentioned in the first paragraph I have a little more free time now. I started today working part time from home. The project I was hired for is at the end phases so my work load has gone down enough for me to go part time. And since my work consists of tracking only now, there's no need for me to be in an office. So I will save about $50 a week on gas plus I don't have to wear make-up, wear work clothes, style my hair, pack lunches or drive in traffic. Yeah! This is a nice break and I'm going to take advantage of the available time to get lots done around the house and for myself personally. The transfer to part time also gives me the opportunity I've been waiting for to go back to school and finish my degree. I will start at Texas A&M on August 27th. It looks like I will be able to take all my classes this fall on Thursdays which means I will only have to drive one day during the week. I plan to take all the classes that remain for my degree and graduate by next May. I'm very excited about that also.
While I'm in DC I'll also get to experience Walter Reed Army Hospital and what Roger goes through every day. It's still not easy. Every day is filled with more and more ridiculous requests and changes. That place is something else. I truly hope they get this process all figured out soon so all these soldiers don't have to go through all this crap for long. The latest charlie foxtrot discovered last week is mail wasn't being delivered to the soldiers since May of 2006! Civilian contractors were involved and fired but it is still unbelievable. I mailed a package to Roger on May 10th and he received it this morning at his 0730 formation. He said there were buckets and buckets of mail at formation this morning for soldiers. That's quite sad for the soldiers that are there and could benefit from letters and cards from loved ones. I'm still amazed and frustrated how our soldiers who are injured and trying to get well are treated. It's enough to make you mad.
Here's an update on my dad. His leg is about the same. The blood clot is going to take forever to dissolve. His leg still swells up after he walks and he still tires very easily. He started experiencing drainage problems in his leg so my mom made an appointment for him to see Dr. Bond. He basically told us what we already knew, it's going to take a long time and it's not going to be a fun experience. I asked my mom to ask Dr. Bond if my dad should see a specialist. I don't know how my mom asked him so I don't know if he responded in frustration but he basically said he was the specialist and there wasn't anyone else for my dad to see. I don't know if he meant no one in Bryan-College Station specializes in this or if there's not a doctor that specializes in what my dad's got going on. Sometimes I wish I was sitting in those appointments. Anyway, the week after that (last Thursday) my dad had an appointment with Dr. Kirby. I guess the fact that my dad is not gaining weight and still tires so easy came up. So he had an angiogram or a cardiogram done on my dad and it concluded that his heart is only working at 15-20%. Dr. Kirby said no wonder you aren't gaining weight and can't exercise like I want you to. So they are going to prescribe my dad heart medication and hopefully that will help him heal faster and gain weight. And hopefully those results will help my dad's application for disability. He had an appointment and interview last week with a social security disability person. I'm sure he will be denied the first time, but at least the process has been started. I'm sure it would help with a lawyer but I think one denial will help my parents see that a lawyer would be good.
I don't even want to get started on that so I'm going to close now. I hope this long update finds all of you in good health and great spirits. I will try to be better about blogging now that I have some free time. Please keep my parents and Roger in your prayers. Until the next blog, God bless.
May 23, 2007
Home Again
After a full day of travelling, I am back home in Austin for a few weeks. It sure is nice to be home... More soon.
May 22, 2007
More Leave
With everything going on here, I forgot to mention that I am taking leave to go home back to Austin starting... well... today, May 23 through Jun 11. My flight leaves at 1100. I'm done packing and need to get to bed. I have to catch a bus at 0800 to the metro station to be at the airport around 0900. I sure am looking forward to being home again for a while!
May 16, 2007
Finally moved and settled and G6PD
I know I haven’t posted in a week. I have actually been very busy here and have been so tired at the end of the day that I just can’t find the energy to post. Anyway, know that I am doing fine here in DC. I have been taking classes all week on transitioning out of the Army. The classes are really for people that are retiring after 20+ years or are getting out after their contracts are up. I already have a job and don’t need most of the training, but it’s good to learn anyway.
Last week I started a post but never finished it, so here it is. This is from last Thursday…
“I finally finished in-processing yesterday. The last thing on the list was a meeting with the Company Commander. He’s a fellow Texan and he also ‘pinned’ me on Friday. So, that’s finally done. It took me about three weeks to get it done.
Yesterday I also had a physical therapy evaluation. I asked to get a little more PT in since I’m here and have a good amount of free time. I figure anything I can do to improve the strength in my right leg and arm is good.
I also had an internal medicine appointment with my PCM today to review the lab results from two weeks ago. They confirmed that I do have a G6PD Deficiency. It really is not a big deal. You can read more about it on Wikipedia and MedlinePlus from NIH. I just can’t take certain drugs or eat certain foods. But I’ve lived for 32 years without a problem (except a brain tumor… ahem) so I think I’ll be okay. But Mirna and her kids need to be tested. And I most likely got it from my mom, so she should be tested too.
I told you yesterday that I’d get you up to speed on my housing issues. As I mentioned before, I have to move out of my nice dorm style room now that I’m an E-7. Just so you know, right now my room has plenty of storage space, 11 drawers to be exact, and plenty of cabinet space. It has a twin bed, walk-in closet, restroom with a stand up shower, kitchenette with a sink, stovetop, microwave and fridge, an iMac (which I don’t use), an LCD HDTV, internet access that I use with my laptop, and a small love seat. The setup is pretty cushy, if you ask me. I have windows that open and HVAC that works really well. Really… a very nice setup! This is for the junior enlisted soldiers.
I called the Malogne House on Monday and spoke to the day manager who has been trying to get me a room in a building they call the Guest House. Well, today she let me know that my room was ready. I went over to check it out and boy was I surprised. It was a much smaller room with a twin bed, very small closet, the HVAC did not work and the room was hot as heck, there were only three drawers for storage ad the best part? It had a shared restroom with the room next door. Okay, so you tell me – who has it better? The juniors on the seniors? Anyway, I went back to tell them that the AC was not working but the manager wasn’t there. I know another SFC who fought tooth and nail against moving out of here, but he lost. I know I’m not going to win that battle either, so I’m going to at least fight for a decent room. I’ll let you know how it goes. Maybe I’ll post pics soon so that you can see the difference yourself.”
Okay, that was last Thursday. Well, last Friday Tamra once again helped me move into my new room. I am now staying in a building called Delano Hall. It’s just okay. The room is definitely smaller, but it has a full size bed, mini fridge, mini microwave, an iMac (that I don’t use), an LCD HDTV (which I do use) and it has enough storage space. And the best thing? The AC works! I do share a bathroom with someone, but there are locks so that neither of us can intrude on the other. He’s a little loud and has all kinds of crap all over the sink and lots or protein drink mix everywhere. But I have never seen the guy. I imagine him as a huge guy that could probably squash me like a bug. I hope I never find out.
So far it has been pretty quiet here, but tonight some jeep has been sitting in the parking lot (which my window faces) with its music all turned up. It has been there for the past half an hour with the engine running. I think I just heard the doors close. Oh good… he just left. Now I can go to sleep.
Last week I started a post but never finished it, so here it is. This is from last Thursday…
“I finally finished in-processing yesterday. The last thing on the list was a meeting with the Company Commander. He’s a fellow Texan and he also ‘pinned’ me on Friday. So, that’s finally done. It took me about three weeks to get it done.
Yesterday I also had a physical therapy evaluation. I asked to get a little more PT in since I’m here and have a good amount of free time. I figure anything I can do to improve the strength in my right leg and arm is good.
I also had an internal medicine appointment with my PCM today to review the lab results from two weeks ago. They confirmed that I do have a G6PD Deficiency. It really is not a big deal. You can read more about it on Wikipedia and MedlinePlus from NIH. I just can’t take certain drugs or eat certain foods. But I’ve lived for 32 years without a problem (except a brain tumor… ahem) so I think I’ll be okay. But Mirna and her kids need to be tested. And I most likely got it from my mom, so she should be tested too.
I told you yesterday that I’d get you up to speed on my housing issues. As I mentioned before, I have to move out of my nice dorm style room now that I’m an E-7. Just so you know, right now my room has plenty of storage space, 11 drawers to be exact, and plenty of cabinet space. It has a twin bed, walk-in closet, restroom with a stand up shower, kitchenette with a sink, stovetop, microwave and fridge, an iMac (which I don’t use), an LCD HDTV, internet access that I use with my laptop, and a small love seat. The setup is pretty cushy, if you ask me. I have windows that open and HVAC that works really well. Really… a very nice setup! This is for the junior enlisted soldiers.
I called the Malogne House on Monday and spoke to the day manager who has been trying to get me a room in a building they call the Guest House. Well, today she let me know that my room was ready. I went over to check it out and boy was I surprised. It was a much smaller room with a twin bed, very small closet, the HVAC did not work and the room was hot as heck, there were only three drawers for storage ad the best part? It had a shared restroom with the room next door. Okay, so you tell me – who has it better? The juniors on the seniors? Anyway, I went back to tell them that the AC was not working but the manager wasn’t there. I know another SFC who fought tooth and nail against moving out of here, but he lost. I know I’m not going to win that battle either, so I’m going to at least fight for a decent room. I’ll let you know how it goes. Maybe I’ll post pics soon so that you can see the difference yourself.”
Okay, that was last Thursday. Well, last Friday Tamra once again helped me move into my new room. I am now staying in a building called Delano Hall. It’s just okay. The room is definitely smaller, but it has a full size bed, mini fridge, mini microwave, an iMac (that I don’t use), an LCD HDTV (which I do use) and it has enough storage space. And the best thing? The AC works! I do share a bathroom with someone, but there are locks so that neither of us can intrude on the other. He’s a little loud and has all kinds of crap all over the sink and lots or protein drink mix everywhere. But I have never seen the guy. I imagine him as a huge guy that could probably squash me like a bug. I hope I never find out.
So far it has been pretty quiet here, but tonight some jeep has been sitting in the parking lot (which my window faces) with its music all turned up. It has been there for the past half an hour with the engine running. I think I just heard the doors close. Oh good… he just left. Now I can go to sleep.
May 9, 2007
Order Mania
I haven’t really posted much since the promotion. Life here at WRAMC has been steadily amusing. And I don’t mean that in a good way. Let me take you back to last week. Here’s a little teaser of things to come in this blog. You read my last post, right? The one where I got promoted? You know how I found out I actually got promoted? I happened to log on to our HR website and noticed that my rank was changed there. Nobody called me to tell me the good news; nobody patted me on the back. In fact, I didn’t even get any orders. When I went to the staff here, they said they couldn’t pull up my orders. They told me to go to another office on base. I walked there and they could not either, they sent me to another office. The last office said they could not either. So here I am, I know I got a promotion, but I have no way to prove it because I have no orders. Without the actual orders in hand, and can’t wear the new rank. I’m going to stop here on this story. Remember where we left off, okay?
Speaking of orders… I needed orders assigning me to WRAMC. Easy enough, right? When I came over here the week of April 23rd, they started to in-process me. My other orders were set to expire on April 27th, so they put in a request for orders (RFO) assigning me. They finally came on the 26th, but I thought the start date would be the 28th, they came with a start date of the 23rd! This really worried me since I had already paid for a week’s worth of lodging in Rosslyn. Anyway, without getting too complicated, they amended my original orders that ended on the 27th to end on the 22nd, and then they amended them again putting them back the way they were to end on the 27th, finally they cut a new order rescinding the original order that brought me to DC in the first place so that the medical retention processing (MRP) order bringing me to WRAMC could take effect. Confusing? You bet. That’s three orders, remember that. To make matters worse, I then had to go to the Malogne House, which is like a hotel here, to get what is called a statement of non-availability (SNA) to say that the hotel was full and I had to stay in Rosslyn so that I could get paid for the week I was worried about. Here’s the clincher… you remember the three orders? Nobody here could produce those for me either. One guy gave me one of them, but I needed all of them.
So I had three assignment orders and a promotion order somewhere out in space that I could not get. So you know what I did? I made a few phone calls to the place I was working here in DC. I called up my co-worker Angela and she gave me some numbers for people I knew could help me. I called up the office that could help me and within fifteen minutes I had all four orders in my inbox. I love having connections.
Other than that, last week went okay. I had a dental exam and they didn’t see anything to worry about – I just need a cleaning in the near future. I also talked to my neurosurgeon, Dr. Rosenbaum, and he is going to work to get my NARSUM completed. In fact, I got a call from one of the neurologists over at NNMC who is working with my neurosurgeon and neurologist to get it done. He said it should be completed early next week. You see, that’s why things here take so long here. One thing has to happen to trigger something else. And if one thing gets delayed, everything else gets delayed. Patience is key, but it is hard sometimes.
Lastly, Friday afternoon, I got a call from my Platoon Sergeant. She said that since I got promoted, I was no longer eligible to stay in the room where I am now. I was going to have to move out into another building that is supposedly a step up from where I am now. That has been an adventure in itself, but more on that tomorrow.
Speaking of orders… I needed orders assigning me to WRAMC. Easy enough, right? When I came over here the week of April 23rd, they started to in-process me. My other orders were set to expire on April 27th, so they put in a request for orders (RFO) assigning me. They finally came on the 26th, but I thought the start date would be the 28th, they came with a start date of the 23rd! This really worried me since I had already paid for a week’s worth of lodging in Rosslyn. Anyway, without getting too complicated, they amended my original orders that ended on the 27th to end on the 22nd, and then they amended them again putting them back the way they were to end on the 27th, finally they cut a new order rescinding the original order that brought me to DC in the first place so that the medical retention processing (MRP) order bringing me to WRAMC could take effect. Confusing? You bet. That’s three orders, remember that. To make matters worse, I then had to go to the Malogne House, which is like a hotel here, to get what is called a statement of non-availability (SNA) to say that the hotel was full and I had to stay in Rosslyn so that I could get paid for the week I was worried about. Here’s the clincher… you remember the three orders? Nobody here could produce those for me either. One guy gave me one of them, but I needed all of them.
So I had three assignment orders and a promotion order somewhere out in space that I could not get. So you know what I did? I made a few phone calls to the place I was working here in DC. I called up my co-worker Angela and she gave me some numbers for people I knew could help me. I called up the office that could help me and within fifteen minutes I had all four orders in my inbox. I love having connections.
Other than that, last week went okay. I had a dental exam and they didn’t see anything to worry about – I just need a cleaning in the near future. I also talked to my neurosurgeon, Dr. Rosenbaum, and he is going to work to get my NARSUM completed. In fact, I got a call from one of the neurologists over at NNMC who is working with my neurosurgeon and neurologist to get it done. He said it should be completed early next week. You see, that’s why things here take so long here. One thing has to happen to trigger something else. And if one thing gets delayed, everything else gets delayed. Patience is key, but it is hard sometimes.
Lastly, Friday afternoon, I got a call from my Platoon Sergeant. She said that since I got promoted, I was no longer eligible to stay in the room where I am now. I was going to have to move out into another building that is supposedly a step up from where I am now. That has been an adventure in itself, but more on that tomorrow.
May 4, 2007
I got promoted!!!
I'm going to make this quick... I got promoted today to Sergeant First Class (E-7). Tamra came this morning to take pictures for me (thanks again Tamra). The company commander pinned me (or velcro'd me.) Anyway, this was three years in the making. Thank God!! 
May 2, 2007
Almost done in-processing
I had another long day of briefings and classes. I started my day with a class that taught us about the Medical Evaluation Board (MEB) process. The people that will be handling our cases were there – and they knew what they were talking about. They gave us a lot of material that I just need to sit down and read. But overall it was very informative. I also learned that the average time it is currently taking for Reserve Component (RC) soldiers like me to get through the process is 157 days. So, the estimated I have received of 5-6 months sounds right. Eesh! Anyway, I may be taking some leave here in the near future to go back to Texas for a week or so. We’ll see.
My next briefing was about the programs and benefits offered to us by the USO and MWR to do things here in DC while stuck in the area. They basically encourage us to get out there and see stuff when we have off days. I was already planning to do that… so nothing new there.
The last briefing was about all the VA and the benefits they provide and also help in getting a job for the future. I already have a job in Austin, but they’ll be good classes to take regardless. Those classes last a whole week. So they will keep me occupied for a while.
Overall, lots of good information today! I also met an Active Duty Army Major who also had a brain tumor removed, but his was from the front of his brain. We have similar situations, so I’m going to keep in touch with him and his wife, who I also met, to see how things go for them. It was neat because I kept on running into them. I saw them in the Dining Facility and joined them for lunch, then I was waiting for a briefing and they walked up for the same one, so it was cool.
Tonight I went to the community house again for dinner. My fabulous friend, Allison (or Allie, as she prefers to be called) gave me a ride from the Court House metro there. Matt P cooked a fabulous meal and we ate outside in the cool breeze. It was a great meal and the company was excellent, as always. After, Allie gave me a ride back up to WRAMC, but I felt bad because she printed out directions, but I made her go a different way. And in DC you can’t seem to ever be able to make a left turn, so it was a real pain because we could not get turned around to go the way we really needed to go! Well, we figured it out and I obviously got home safely. I’m sorry, Allie, for the crazy driving tour of DC. I hope your trip home on 495 and the parkway was easier!
Tomorrow I just have to stop by the dental clinic for an exam and cleaning and then I am done for the day and then will be pretty much done in-processing. All that is left is a meeting with the Company Commander. Tamra needs to turn in some keys here, so we might meet up for lunch if she has a chance. I think that next week I’ll have a better handle on where we go from here. We’ll just have to see.
My next briefing was about the programs and benefits offered to us by the USO and MWR to do things here in DC while stuck in the area. They basically encourage us to get out there and see stuff when we have off days. I was already planning to do that… so nothing new there.
The last briefing was about all the VA and the benefits they provide and also help in getting a job for the future. I already have a job in Austin, but they’ll be good classes to take regardless. Those classes last a whole week. So they will keep me occupied for a while.
Overall, lots of good information today! I also met an Active Duty Army Major who also had a brain tumor removed, but his was from the front of his brain. We have similar situations, so I’m going to keep in touch with him and his wife, who I also met, to see how things go for them. It was neat because I kept on running into them. I saw them in the Dining Facility and joined them for lunch, then I was waiting for a briefing and they walked up for the same one, so it was cool.
Tonight I went to the community house again for dinner. My fabulous friend, Allison (or Allie, as she prefers to be called) gave me a ride from the Court House metro there. Matt P cooked a fabulous meal and we ate outside in the cool breeze. It was a great meal and the company was excellent, as always. After, Allie gave me a ride back up to WRAMC, but I felt bad because she printed out directions, but I made her go a different way. And in DC you can’t seem to ever be able to make a left turn, so it was a real pain because we could not get turned around to go the way we really needed to go! Well, we figured it out and I obviously got home safely. I’m sorry, Allie, for the crazy driving tour of DC. I hope your trip home on 495 and the parkway was easier!
Tomorrow I just have to stop by the dental clinic for an exam and cleaning and then I am done for the day and then will be pretty much done in-processing. All that is left is a meeting with the Company Commander. Tamra needs to turn in some keys here, so we might meet up for lunch if she has a chance. I think that next week I’ll have a better handle on where we go from here. We’ll just have to see.
May 1, 2007
No surgery now and Almost done in-processing
The weekend went well – but it was very tiring. I went with Amanda to the house we worked on at 7am on Saturday morning… yes!!! 7am! We really had a good time working out there all day. I personally worked on a few projects. First of all, I took over 150 pictures for Amanda. I also worked on fixing a toilet, installing smoke and carbon monoxide sensors around the house and then repairing the fence that surrounded the house, which involved hammering in probably a hundred nails! After we cleaned up, we ended up back at John and Tamra’s for some pizza and games. Sunday we went to church and then John took me to the PX so that I could buy cleaning supplies for the room. After that, we headed back to the house to try to finish the fence. The fence was repaired, but needed to be primed and painted. We were able to finish priming and painting the outside of the fence, but only got as far as priming part of the inside of the fence. I guess we’ll need to go back and finish the job in the future. I left with John, Tamra and Zach, we had dinner, and then they dropped me back off at WRAMC.
Walking back into my room was a shock. I hadn’t realized what a mess I had left it! I decided to start unpacking and I just kept going and going until I felt like it was habitable. When I looked at the clock, it was 3am. You know… it was worth it. I’m just one of those people that unpacks first just to get comfortable. I’m glad I did because it was done! Yeah, I had to be at a formation at 0830 Monday morning, but I could get sleep after. I got a few hours of sleep and walked into the Gym across the street from our billets and was surprised to see a gaggle of people just sitting on bleachers. Apparently, a formation just means we show up and they account for us. I was expecting to stand in lines of platoons and squads, but I guess we don’t do that here. After that I ran off for a quick breakfast and then met with my social worker who talked to me about my options regarding choosing to stay in the reserves or elect to have a board where I will be medically discharged or retired depending on what disability rating I get. Well, I’ll have more on that later. The rest of the day I just went from place to place to continue in-processing. I was exhausted from all the walking around and decided to go back to my room to take a short nap. Well, the short nap turned into a long nap and I missed dinner. I set my phone to wake me up, but dismissed the alarm. Thanks to my friend Jill N. who called to say hi, she woke me up before I slept way too long! Luckily, there is a little place in the hospital, called Walt’s, which is open rather late where I can use my meal card. I got a hot dog, a salad and some other items, and headed back to my room. I watched some TV, worked on a little paperwork and went back to bed.
This morning I was awakened by a phone call at 0630 by my new squad leader. I knew it was him because I put all the numbers I needed in my phone and the Caller ID tipped me off. I’m not really sure what we said to each other… I guess he was checking on me to make sure I was ok. I went back to sleep thinking that I didn’t have to check in now and decided that I was going to sleep in to get some rest and finish in-processing in the afternoon. My phone woke me up again at 0900 when another squad leader from the platoon called to see if I was okay. Man… I told him about the earlier call and he said he never talked to the guy who called earlier, so they didn’t know what my status was. Anyway, I hope that never happens again! Okay, so I finally got my lazy butt up at 1100 and got going. I must have been extremely tired from the weekend and Monday. I did all the in-processing I could for the day and got ready to go to community group. I made it from WRAMC to where we meet in Arlington in only 40 minutes, which I think is pretty good for mass transit. After the meeting, friends Kezia and Jana gave me a ride back here.
Okay, last thing… my neurosurgeon has wanted to fix the incision on the top of my head for quite some time now. He just doesn’t like the way there is an indention and no hair across it. We talked last week and I thought we were going to do it this week. But after my neurologist said they might be able to go back in to fix the seizure issue, everything got confused. I finally talked to him today and here’s the skinny: My neurosurgeon doesn’t think that any surgery in the brain should even be attempted until all other options have been exhausted and no earlier than 36 months after the end of my radiation therapy. Not only that, but he doesn’t even want to work on my scalp until 12 months after the end of my radiation therapy… which is mid-July. So, no brain surgery for at least two more years, and no working on fixing the scalp until after this July. But he and I are confident that they won’t have to go back into my brain. I know I’m in good hands and he’s pretty sure it will resolve itself over time.
The other issue I have been having here is that my Narrative Summary has not been completed yet and I still don’t have the permanent profile that I need to get this process started since my new doctor last week changed it to a temporary one. Well, I explained all of this to my neurosurgeon and he is going to do both. It won’t be this week, but he said he’ll take care of it. With him involved now, it looks like I am in good hands. I’m going to let my case manager know and put them in touch with each other, if necessary.
Tomorrow I have to attend three briefings throughout the day, so it should be an uneventful long day. But I’m almost done in-processing! After tomorrow, all I’ll need is to have my teeth checked and I’ll be done.
Walking back into my room was a shock. I hadn’t realized what a mess I had left it! I decided to start unpacking and I just kept going and going until I felt like it was habitable. When I looked at the clock, it was 3am. You know… it was worth it. I’m just one of those people that unpacks first just to get comfortable. I’m glad I did because it was done! Yeah, I had to be at a formation at 0830 Monday morning, but I could get sleep after. I got a few hours of sleep and walked into the Gym across the street from our billets and was surprised to see a gaggle of people just sitting on bleachers. Apparently, a formation just means we show up and they account for us. I was expecting to stand in lines of platoons and squads, but I guess we don’t do that here. After that I ran off for a quick breakfast and then met with my social worker who talked to me about my options regarding choosing to stay in the reserves or elect to have a board where I will be medically discharged or retired depending on what disability rating I get. Well, I’ll have more on that later. The rest of the day I just went from place to place to continue in-processing. I was exhausted from all the walking around and decided to go back to my room to take a short nap. Well, the short nap turned into a long nap and I missed dinner. I set my phone to wake me up, but dismissed the alarm. Thanks to my friend Jill N. who called to say hi, she woke me up before I slept way too long! Luckily, there is a little place in the hospital, called Walt’s, which is open rather late where I can use my meal card. I got a hot dog, a salad and some other items, and headed back to my room. I watched some TV, worked on a little paperwork and went back to bed.
This morning I was awakened by a phone call at 0630 by my new squad leader. I knew it was him because I put all the numbers I needed in my phone and the Caller ID tipped me off. I’m not really sure what we said to each other… I guess he was checking on me to make sure I was ok. I went back to sleep thinking that I didn’t have to check in now and decided that I was going to sleep in to get some rest and finish in-processing in the afternoon. My phone woke me up again at 0900 when another squad leader from the platoon called to see if I was okay. Man… I told him about the earlier call and he said he never talked to the guy who called earlier, so they didn’t know what my status was. Anyway, I hope that never happens again! Okay, so I finally got my lazy butt up at 1100 and got going. I must have been extremely tired from the weekend and Monday. I did all the in-processing I could for the day and got ready to go to community group. I made it from WRAMC to where we meet in Arlington in only 40 minutes, which I think is pretty good for mass transit. After the meeting, friends Kezia and Jana gave me a ride back here.
Okay, last thing… my neurosurgeon has wanted to fix the incision on the top of my head for quite some time now. He just doesn’t like the way there is an indention and no hair across it. We talked last week and I thought we were going to do it this week. But after my neurologist said they might be able to go back in to fix the seizure issue, everything got confused. I finally talked to him today and here’s the skinny: My neurosurgeon doesn’t think that any surgery in the brain should even be attempted until all other options have been exhausted and no earlier than 36 months after the end of my radiation therapy. Not only that, but he doesn’t even want to work on my scalp until 12 months after the end of my radiation therapy… which is mid-July. So, no brain surgery for at least two more years, and no working on fixing the scalp until after this July. But he and I are confident that they won’t have to go back into my brain. I know I’m in good hands and he’s pretty sure it will resolve itself over time.
The other issue I have been having here is that my Narrative Summary has not been completed yet and I still don’t have the permanent profile that I need to get this process started since my new doctor last week changed it to a temporary one. Well, I explained all of this to my neurosurgeon and he is going to do both. It won’t be this week, but he said he’ll take care of it. With him involved now, it looks like I am in good hands. I’m going to let my case manager know and put them in touch with each other, if necessary.
Tomorrow I have to attend three briefings throughout the day, so it should be an uneventful long day. But I’m almost done in-processing! After tomorrow, all I’ll need is to have my teeth checked and I’ll be done.
Apr 30, 2007
Finally! Cruise Pictures!
Well, I was finally able to post some of the pictures from our cruise. They don't have any descriptions yet but you can at least see them now. You can click on the picture below or click on the Flickr link on the right to be taken to the set in Flickr.We'll add some comments later. Hope you enjoy!
Apr 27, 2007
Moved In... Sorta'
Thursday was a very busy day for me. I had to go to the office to finally turn in my badge, turn in some keys, take care of some paperwork, but most importantly... sign and get a copy of my NCOER!!! The ordeal is over! It took a few weeks, but I finally got it in - and it was a pretty good review. But it took so long to get everything done that someone had to drive me to WRAMC for my 1530 doctor apointment (Thanks for the ride Alan - and thank God for that GPS!) I made it to the doctor appointment and it went well. My new PCM is on the ball and should be easy to work with over the next few months. Earlier this week I got a call from a nurse at the clinic at Fort Belvoir - she told me that a test they did on my blood last week came up positive for G6PD deficiency. I'm not going to go into detail about what is now because when I told the doctor he thought it would be a good idea to run the test again to make sure they got it right. He's also going to check my liver enzymes to make sure they're at a decent level. I went down to the lab, they took my blood, and I was off to my apartment to pack. I also finally talked to my Neurologist and we talked about my EEG results. We had a bad connection, so at first I thought he said that they were wildly abnormal... I was confused! But it turns out that he said they were mildly abnormal. He didn't see any epiliptic activity and said that the results were in line for what would be seen in a post brain surgery patient. So, basically nothing to worry about right now. We just need to see how this new drug works over time.
I'm learning how to get to and from WRAMC using the metro system. Buses run pretty frequently on two streets at the front and back of the post. I take a bus to the Silver Spring metro station and then take the red line to Metro Center and transfer to the orange or blue line to get to where most of my friends live. Total time during rush hour is about an hour. I'm guessing that off peak it will take about an hour and a half. I don't think it's too bad - the fact that I can even get around this easily is amazing.
I went home and started packing. A few friends from my new Tuesday night Community Group from church came over to help and after a while we got hungry, so we went to Cafe Asia to eat (I love their food!) They all went home and I continued to pack. With an end in sight I kept at it until 3am when basically everything was pretty much ready to go.
This morning Tamra came over and we got everything loaded into her car and made the trek over to WRAMC. When we got there we had a hard time figuring out where to park to offload the goods. A young Private agreed to watch the car while we unloaded in the circle drive and took everything up. When we finally got everything up to my room on the third floor, my key wouldn't work on the door. Tamra went down to park the car and I went down to the S-4 office to see what was wrong. They told me to call the guy that assigned me the room. I called the SSG that assigned me the room and he said I needed to call S-4. Not so fast! No passing the buck here... he told me to meet him at the S-4 office. It turned out that since I didn't put anything in the room, when they did a walk-through of the rooms, my room was empty, so they assigned it to someone else. Now, this may sound like a Charlie Foxtrot to you, but this is par for the course for an Army operation. Anyway, several phone calls were made, rooms were looked at and by the time we were sure I could have a room on the second floor, two hours had elapsed.
The room is decent. Each room has a walk-in closet, tile floors, a bathroom with a stand up shower, a kitchenette with a small stove, fridge, microwave and sink. There is also a plasma TV and an iMac in each room. The room wasn't exactly clean and the furniture wasn't placed very well, so we methodically moved furniture around, swept and mopped the floor underneath and put it all in new places. It took us quite a bit of time to get everything wiped down and cleaned up. We basically got it to a state where Tamra could take all her cleaning stuff home and I could finish up any odds and ends when I get back on Sunday. It was getting late in the afternoon, so I packed up some clothes for the weekend and we headed out. John, Tamra, Zach, Amanda and I had a nice dinner at Ray's the Steaks between Rosslyn and Court House and then we hung out at John and Tamra's for a bit. Now I'm at Amanda's for the weekend. She graciously offered their spare bedroom to me and I gladly accepted.
Tomorrow we're working on fixing up a run down house in Alexandria and then rest in the afternoon. I feel like I have a lot to do in my room still and that's occupying my thoughts. Amanda offered me some towels and bedsheets that I can use while I'm here. I have towels, but they're thirteen year old brown Army towels. And they gave me bed linens, but they're not fitted and not comfy. Thanks Amanda! I just need to unpack and get everything put away so that it feels like a home away from home. After that, I'll be happy. Please pray for a smooth move-in!
I'm learning how to get to and from WRAMC using the metro system. Buses run pretty frequently on two streets at the front and back of the post. I take a bus to the Silver Spring metro station and then take the red line to Metro Center and transfer to the orange or blue line to get to where most of my friends live. Total time during rush hour is about an hour. I'm guessing that off peak it will take about an hour and a half. I don't think it's too bad - the fact that I can even get around this easily is amazing.
I went home and started packing. A few friends from my new Tuesday night Community Group from church came over to help and after a while we got hungry, so we went to Cafe Asia to eat (I love their food!) They all went home and I continued to pack. With an end in sight I kept at it until 3am when basically everything was pretty much ready to go.
This morning Tamra came over and we got everything loaded into her car and made the trek over to WRAMC. When we got there we had a hard time figuring out where to park to offload the goods. A young Private agreed to watch the car while we unloaded in the circle drive and took everything up. When we finally got everything up to my room on the third floor, my key wouldn't work on the door. Tamra went down to park the car and I went down to the S-4 office to see what was wrong. They told me to call the guy that assigned me the room. I called the SSG that assigned me the room and he said I needed to call S-4. Not so fast! No passing the buck here... he told me to meet him at the S-4 office. It turned out that since I didn't put anything in the room, when they did a walk-through of the rooms, my room was empty, so they assigned it to someone else. Now, this may sound like a Charlie Foxtrot to you, but this is par for the course for an Army operation. Anyway, several phone calls were made, rooms were looked at and by the time we were sure I could have a room on the second floor, two hours had elapsed.
The room is decent. Each room has a walk-in closet, tile floors, a bathroom with a stand up shower, a kitchenette with a small stove, fridge, microwave and sink. There is also a plasma TV and an iMac in each room. The room wasn't exactly clean and the furniture wasn't placed very well, so we methodically moved furniture around, swept and mopped the floor underneath and put it all in new places. It took us quite a bit of time to get everything wiped down and cleaned up. We basically got it to a state where Tamra could take all her cleaning stuff home and I could finish up any odds and ends when I get back on Sunday. It was getting late in the afternoon, so I packed up some clothes for the weekend and we headed out. John, Tamra, Zach, Amanda and I had a nice dinner at Ray's the Steaks between Rosslyn and Court House and then we hung out at John and Tamra's for a bit. Now I'm at Amanda's for the weekend. She graciously offered their spare bedroom to me and I gladly accepted.
Tomorrow we're working on fixing up a run down house in Alexandria and then rest in the afternoon. I feel like I have a lot to do in my room still and that's occupying my thoughts. Amanda offered me some towels and bedsheets that I can use while I'm here. I have towels, but they're thirteen year old brown Army towels. And they gave me bed linens, but they're not fitted and not comfy. Thanks Amanda! I just need to unpack and get everything put away so that it feels like a home away from home. After that, I'll be happy. Please pray for a smooth move-in!
Apr 25, 2007
Sign of things to come?
I showed up at WRAMC for my 0900 appointment with my Social Worker and guess what? My SW has been out all week. I hope this isn’t a sign of things to come… When I went back to the building where all the Case Managers were, they were all gone to some ceremony. Seems to me that at least one should stay behind – they all just up and left. I checked in to see if my orders assigning me to WRAMC came in yet and they hadn’t. And my promotion orders didn’t come in either. I poked my head in the housing office to see if I could at least get my room, but that person was out too. My day was really beginning to feel like a downer. I checked into my platoon’s office and checked my email and such. I decided to look in the housing office one more time and success! I got a room assigned and went off to check it out. It is in what appears to be a recently renovated building because it sure didn’t look old. My room is on the third floor and will do nicely for a few months. I’ll have more details on the room when I move in after Friday. The only issue I have is that the last person didn’t do a very good job of cleaning it. So, before I move in I’ll be giving it a good scrub down to make it meet my standards.
When I was checking out my room, my Case Manager called me to see if I was still in the area. I was and went by the office to drop off some paperwork and found out that I have an appointment with my new Primary Care Manager (PCM) tomorrow at 1530. So, I’m going to go to my work in the morning to turn in my pager and badge, finally sign my NCOER and if the orders come in, get my E-7 pinned on (or velcro’d on) and grab some lunch. Then I’ll make my way to WRAMC for my appointment. Tomorrow night I have to gather everything up again to prepare to relocate. If you’re free and want to hang, give me a shout – I might be able to use a little help and it’d be nice to not be alone.
Allison picked me up tonight and we had dinner with a bunch of friends who live together from the church. They really did a great job of cooking! They do it every Wednesday night, so I might make this a regular thing. Thanks to all of you at the community house for dinner! And thanks to Kezia for the ride home. Another long day tomorrow – off to bed with me. BTW: I am feeling much better on my meds. I think the extra rest I’ve gotten over the past few days has helped, but my tummy is still a little uncomfortable. That should pass in time though… I hope!
When I was checking out my room, my Case Manager called me to see if I was still in the area. I was and went by the office to drop off some paperwork and found out that I have an appointment with my new Primary Care Manager (PCM) tomorrow at 1530. So, I’m going to go to my work in the morning to turn in my pager and badge, finally sign my NCOER and if the orders come in, get my E-7 pinned on (or velcro’d on) and grab some lunch. Then I’ll make my way to WRAMC for my appointment. Tomorrow night I have to gather everything up again to prepare to relocate. If you’re free and want to hang, give me a shout – I might be able to use a little help and it’d be nice to not be alone.
Allison picked me up tonight and we had dinner with a bunch of friends who live together from the church. They really did a great job of cooking! They do it every Wednesday night, so I might make this a regular thing. Thanks to all of you at the community house for dinner! And thanks to Kezia for the ride home. Another long day tomorrow – off to bed with me. BTW: I am feeling much better on my meds. I think the extra rest I’ve gotten over the past few days has helped, but my tummy is still a little uncomfortable. That should pass in time though… I hope!
My Dad Update: Wednesday, April 25, 2007
My dad was released from the hospital on Monday. They put him on medicine to thin his blood and dissolve the clot but over the weekend in the hospital they thinned it too much and took him off it. Monday they said the blood clot went from his mid thigh to his mid calf. That's a long blood clot. And they still sent him home with no meds. I do not understand that. They told him he had to be very still at the hospital because the medicine was dangerous (Coumadin) to prevent the clot from moving to his brain and causing a stroke but they sent him home on Monday. Doesn't make sense to me. So he goes back Thursday for more blood work. And they are saying that it will take months for the swelling to go down which means he won't be able to work which I don't think he should anyway. But he's so worried about not working and their bills. I can understand his worry but he's going to kill himself from the stress or if he tries to go back to work. And it's hard for me to tell him not too worry and it will all be taken care of. Please keep praying for them. Thank you and happy hump day. Two more days and it's the weekend!
Apr 24, 2007
MRI Results
I slept good last night. I went to Bethesda NNMC today for my EEG, but didn’t get a chance to talk to my Neurologist – he asked me to call him tomorrow for the results. I did sit down with my Oncologist and we looked at the MRI pictures. Everything looks stable and there is no new growth at this time. Yippee!!! It’s late so I’m making this a short one. I have a few appointments at WRAMC tomorrow, so I need to get to bed.
Apr 23, 2007
Is Today Only Monday?
I'm really tired, so I'm going to be short and to the point today. My commute to WRAMC this morning went fine. I found the building I was supposed to report to and the office too. I met with the LTC and she got me moving in the right direction. I met with at least ten other people in various departments. I got a meal card so that I can eat in the Dining Facility (DFAC) for free; was assigned a Social Worker that I'll meet this Wed; a Case Manager, whom I met today; the people in the Reserve Liaison office, who will cut my new orders; the housing guy, who will give me a key to a one man room in building 14 (not the famous 18) on Wed; the Chaplain; the personnel folks in S-1, who take care of the paperwork; and my new command structure, as I have been assigned to 5th Platoon of the Medical Holdover Company. They tell me that my orders assigning me to WRAMC will start 28 April 2007. My current orders end 27 April 2007. This means that I will move out of this apartment in Rosslyn, Arlington, VA on Friday and move into the housing on WRAMC in DC. If you want to write me, you may do so after this weekend at the following address:
SSG Mommaerts, Roger J. Jr.
WRAMC, MHO 5th Plt
6900 Georgia Ave
Washington, DC 20307-0001
My cell phone number and email address will remain the same. I’ll really begin in-processing to WRAMC next week and visit with many more people. They tell me that I’ll be here anywhere from 90-150 days. Right now I understand that they have only two formations per week where everyone assigned must show up to make sure everyone is here: Mon and Fri at 0830. Tue-Thu we just call in to let them know we’re still alive. Weekends we’re free to do whatever we want as long as we don’t leave a 50 mile radius. If we do, we can get a pass or take leave if we’re eligible. I’m sure that those that are in good health will be assigned some kinds of tasks every once in a while, and that’s okay. For now, that’s about all I know about WRAMC. I spent pretty much the whole day there, from 0800 to 1545. And it was a warm one today too. And the AC isn’t on yet… because it’s not the right time of year. That is so government, right?
I talked to my Oncologist today and he said the MRI looks good. I’m going to meet with him tomorrow after he talks to the radiologist and after my EEG. I’ll give you the skinny on that tomorrow.
So, these new meds I started taking on Friday… they give me no less than a few side effects which include but are not limited to: headaches, fatigue (I feel tired ALL day), slight chills, stomach ache, twitches, my right leg feels very tired at the end of the day, trouble waking in the morning (BIG trouble), pressure up my spine and on my shoulders, and last but not least, it’s messing with my emotions. I had a major breakdown today. I’m not afraid to admit it. I was blubbering like a baby, but didn’t really know why. I guess it felt good to get it out, but I guess I wasn’t exactly sure why I was crying. I don’t feel very good on this medication right now and I hate being alone. I was and maybe that contributed to it too. Well, my good friend Kezia called me just at the right time and saved the day. She swooped in and picked me up. We went to dinner and then hung with friends Chris and Jumoke. I feel a lot better tonight and hope this doesn’t happen again soon. There is so much going on right now and I suppose I just needed a release. And with these meds in my system, they came out this way. I have that EEG tomorrow and will voice these concerns to my Neurologist – we’ll see what he thinks. Also, I understand that my promotion is in the works and the orders for that should be cut by the end of the week. Yay!!
SSG Mommaerts, Roger J. Jr.
WRAMC, MHO 5th Plt
6900 Georgia Ave
Washington, DC 20307-0001
My cell phone number and email address will remain the same. I’ll really begin in-processing to WRAMC next week and visit with many more people. They tell me that I’ll be here anywhere from 90-150 days. Right now I understand that they have only two formations per week where everyone assigned must show up to make sure everyone is here: Mon and Fri at 0830. Tue-Thu we just call in to let them know we’re still alive. Weekends we’re free to do whatever we want as long as we don’t leave a 50 mile radius. If we do, we can get a pass or take leave if we’re eligible. I’m sure that those that are in good health will be assigned some kinds of tasks every once in a while, and that’s okay. For now, that’s about all I know about WRAMC. I spent pretty much the whole day there, from 0800 to 1545. And it was a warm one today too. And the AC isn’t on yet… because it’s not the right time of year. That is so government, right?
I talked to my Oncologist today and he said the MRI looks good. I’m going to meet with him tomorrow after he talks to the radiologist and after my EEG. I’ll give you the skinny on that tomorrow.
So, these new meds I started taking on Friday… they give me no less than a few side effects which include but are not limited to: headaches, fatigue (I feel tired ALL day), slight chills, stomach ache, twitches, my right leg feels very tired at the end of the day, trouble waking in the morning (BIG trouble), pressure up my spine and on my shoulders, and last but not least, it’s messing with my emotions. I had a major breakdown today. I’m not afraid to admit it. I was blubbering like a baby, but didn’t really know why. I guess it felt good to get it out, but I guess I wasn’t exactly sure why I was crying. I don’t feel very good on this medication right now and I hate being alone. I was and maybe that contributed to it too. Well, my good friend Kezia called me just at the right time and saved the day. She swooped in and picked me up. We went to dinner and then hung with friends Chris and Jumoke. I feel a lot better tonight and hope this doesn’t happen again soon. There is so much going on right now and I suppose I just needed a release. And with these meds in my system, they came out this way. I have that EEG tomorrow and will voice these concerns to my Neurologist – we’ll see what he thinks. Also, I understand that my promotion is in the works and the orders for that should be cut by the end of the week. Yay!!
Apr 21, 2007
No News
I didn't get a call from my Oncologist today. I called his office, but there was no answer. I think he never made it in to work! I wouldn't have wanted to work today either. Today was beautiful here in DC! I had a hard time waking up today and getting going. I think it may have had to do with the new meds. Buddy came over and encouraged me to get out of the apartment, so I did. We played TopGolf with Tamra and Zach. I have never even swung a club at a golf ball before in my life, so it was a new experience for me. Needless to say, I stink. I did much better at miniature golf afterward.
Tonight we grilled some steaks over at Buddy and Amanda's with two of their friends. Then we played some Yahtzee, which I've played in the distant past, so it took me a while to relearn it. I had a good night. I'm going to get ready for bed and see if I can fall asleep at a decent hour tonight.
Tonight we grilled some steaks over at Buddy and Amanda's with two of their friends. Then we played some Yahtzee, which I've played in the distant past, so it took me a while to relearn it. I had a good night. I'm going to get ready for bed and see if I can fall asleep at a decent hour tonight.
Apr 20, 2007
All Day at the Hospital, New Meds
Today was a pretty stress free and straight forward day. I got up, headed to Bethesda NNMC on the metro and saw my Oncologist for my 1130 appointment. It was a fairly easy visit. He had a resident there learning today so I got the help teach strength, balance and memory testing. They do this every few visits just to gauge my level and see if there any differences from last time. I think my strength gets better each time, but the memory stuff stays the same. I'm not getting any younger!
After that, I grabbed a quick bite and then headed to my Neurology appointment. We discussed my last seizure and also talked about the strange twitches going on around my right big toe and the side of my foot. For about two months before the seizure, the activity was so pronounced that I would lay in bed and could feel it. Sometimes it would keep me awake for a while. Then, after I had the seizure, they seem to have slowed down quite a bit. He was interested by this and seemed fairly certain that these were, in fact, tiny focal seizures occurring throughout the day. I thought it was just my brain confused and healing doing that, but that is basically a type of seizure, I guess.
We did more strength testing and he also seemed satisfied with my improvement, but wanted to control the seizures. I am at the maximum dosage for Keppra at 2,000mg per day. He also told me that Keppra is good at controlling generalized seizures, but not so good at focal seizures. I tend to have focal seizures that progress to a generalized seizure. So, he waded through the list of additional medications that he could add and finally ended up at one called Tegretol. I’ll be taking 400mg per day to start. I took my first 200mg tonight and feel okay – a little drowsy – which is a side effect. He said that it also might make my stomach feel upset for the first few days, but it should pass. It’s feeling pretty good so far. The only issue with the Tegretol is that it can increase liver enzymes, so he’ll need to draw levels to make sure that I’m getting enough of the medication into my system and that my liver enzymes don’t increase to a dangerous level. He also wants to do an EEG on Tuesday, just to see what kind of activity by brain is creating. He mentioned that there may be some scar tissue or something else in my brain that is irritating it and causing these seizures. It is apparent that something in the part of my brain that controls my right foot around my big toe is irritated. He said that if I was interested, they might be able to pinpoint it in time, and possibly go back in to remove the irritation. Hmm… we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. He was also happy that I had an MRI scheduled for later in the afternoon and would use the data from the EEG and MRI to compile the NARSUM for my MEB. He said that he’d have a better idea of what to include in the NARSUM, but was not going to do it until I was stable. That means that next week, WRAMC will only transfer me into their system, I’ll have to move there and then will have ongoing appointments until the doctors think my condition is stable enough to begin the board process. In addition, my doctors don’t want to see me moved to a different location – they would prefer that I stay close to them for my care during the MEB process. My Neurologist said, “Why start you over again with a new doctor? That’s just stupid.” I agree. I hope WRAMC agrees.
After the visit with him, I went down to MRI, and after a short delay due to an emergency MRI, I had my time in the machine and actually fell asleep inside the magnet again. I didn’t have a chance to get a CD of the images because it was after 1800 when I finished, but my Oncologist is going to call me Saturday morning with the results. I’ll pick up a CD on Tuesday when I’m there for the EEG and will try to share them with you.
After the MRI, I high tailed it back to Clarendon and joined up with Amanda, Buddy, Ryan, Zach (John’s brother) and Tamra for dinner to celebrate Tamra’s getting out the Army. We went to The Cheesecake Factory and ate a lot of food and of course, dessert too. Buddy and Amanda gave me a ride home and hung out for a while with me. All in all – another good day. I’m looking forward to a weekend of rest and beautiful weather here in DC. I’ll let you know what my Oncologist says about the scan results tomorrow.
After that, I grabbed a quick bite and then headed to my Neurology appointment. We discussed my last seizure and also talked about the strange twitches going on around my right big toe and the side of my foot. For about two months before the seizure, the activity was so pronounced that I would lay in bed and could feel it. Sometimes it would keep me awake for a while. Then, after I had the seizure, they seem to have slowed down quite a bit. He was interested by this and seemed fairly certain that these were, in fact, tiny focal seizures occurring throughout the day. I thought it was just my brain confused and healing doing that, but that is basically a type of seizure, I guess.
We did more strength testing and he also seemed satisfied with my improvement, but wanted to control the seizures. I am at the maximum dosage for Keppra at 2,000mg per day. He also told me that Keppra is good at controlling generalized seizures, but not so good at focal seizures. I tend to have focal seizures that progress to a generalized seizure. So, he waded through the list of additional medications that he could add and finally ended up at one called Tegretol. I’ll be taking 400mg per day to start. I took my first 200mg tonight and feel okay – a little drowsy – which is a side effect. He said that it also might make my stomach feel upset for the first few days, but it should pass. It’s feeling pretty good so far. The only issue with the Tegretol is that it can increase liver enzymes, so he’ll need to draw levels to make sure that I’m getting enough of the medication into my system and that my liver enzymes don’t increase to a dangerous level. He also wants to do an EEG on Tuesday, just to see what kind of activity by brain is creating. He mentioned that there may be some scar tissue or something else in my brain that is irritating it and causing these seizures. It is apparent that something in the part of my brain that controls my right foot around my big toe is irritated. He said that if I was interested, they might be able to pinpoint it in time, and possibly go back in to remove the irritation. Hmm… we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. He was also happy that I had an MRI scheduled for later in the afternoon and would use the data from the EEG and MRI to compile the NARSUM for my MEB. He said that he’d have a better idea of what to include in the NARSUM, but was not going to do it until I was stable. That means that next week, WRAMC will only transfer me into their system, I’ll have to move there and then will have ongoing appointments until the doctors think my condition is stable enough to begin the board process. In addition, my doctors don’t want to see me moved to a different location – they would prefer that I stay close to them for my care during the MEB process. My Neurologist said, “Why start you over again with a new doctor? That’s just stupid.” I agree. I hope WRAMC agrees.
After the visit with him, I went down to MRI, and after a short delay due to an emergency MRI, I had my time in the machine and actually fell asleep inside the magnet again. I didn’t have a chance to get a CD of the images because it was after 1800 when I finished, but my Oncologist is going to call me Saturday morning with the results. I’ll pick up a CD on Tuesday when I’m there for the EEG and will try to share them with you.
After the MRI, I high tailed it back to Clarendon and joined up with Amanda, Buddy, Ryan, Zach (John’s brother) and Tamra for dinner to celebrate Tamra’s getting out the Army. We went to The Cheesecake Factory and ate a lot of food and of course, dessert too. Buddy and Amanda gave me a ride home and hung out for a while with me. All in all – another good day. I’m looking forward to a weekend of rest and beautiful weather here in DC. I’ll let you know what my Oncologist says about the scan results tomorrow.
My Dad Update: Friday, April 20, 2007
My dad's back in the hospital today. He went to the doctor this morning because his foot was still swollen and hurting so bad he couldn't walk. So Dr. Bond sent him to the hospital for a sonogram. Dr. Bond got the results and sent him back to hospital. There's a clot blocking blood going back to his heart at his foot. They put him on an IV of meds to dissolve the clot. He may be in until next Thursday. Praise the Lord my dad actually made a doctor's appointment and they caught this blockage before it traveled to his heart or brain or led to amputation. Please pray for the clot to disappear and his health to improve faster as a result. He's been doing pretty good except for the swelling. This has prevented him from going back to work so he is concerned about their bills and the impending hospital bills. Please also pray for the Lord's provision. Thank you.
Apr 19, 2007
More Successes Today, MRI Tomorrow
Today Tamra and I did the whole military hurry up and wait thing. She picked me up at 0700 and we headed down to Fort Belvoir, stopping at a Dunkin’ Donuts for breakfast. We got to the clinic at 0730, checked in and then we waited… they called me back to take my vitals at 0800 and I went to another waiting room with Tamra. And there we sat… and sat… and sat. I’m not kidding. We sat there for hours and finally near 1130 they called me back to see a doctor. They only had two doctors working, and so many people showed up to in and out-process, that they had to fit us in between other patients. The doctor that saw me questioned how I was going about the process. I told him about the plethora of people that I have talked to about how to go about this and he still seemed confused. He finally gave in and did what he had to do; he approved my permanent profile and gave me a form 14 that I’ll take to WRAMC. Then he said he needed to call someone at WRAMC, a LTC. It turned out to be the same LTC that told me to go this route to begin with! So, everything has come full circle. He didn’t reach her but sent me on my way a little after 1230.
I didn’t get a call from work either about my NCOER, so I didn’t have to stop there. I had a nice early day and got a chance to take a nap. I did call the LTC at WRAMC and also had to leave her a message. She called me back this evening and said that I needed to come in as soon as I could. But tomorrow I have appointments with my Oncologist, Neurologist and I have an MRI, all at Bethesda NNMC, throughout the day. I told her the soonest I could be there would be Monday morning, so I have a 0800 appointment. She said that she looked up my record and noticed that my home of record (HOR) is Austin, TX; she suggested starting me at WRAMC and moving me to Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) in San Antonio, TX to finish up. It was loud where I was and couldn’t really have a discussion so I just said I understood and told her I’d call back tomorrow with more questions. We’d really like to do the MEB here in DC because of several reasons:
I didn’t get a call from work either about my NCOER, so I didn’t have to stop there. I had a nice early day and got a chance to take a nap. I did call the LTC at WRAMC and also had to leave her a message. She called me back this evening and said that I needed to come in as soon as I could. But tomorrow I have appointments with my Oncologist, Neurologist and I have an MRI, all at Bethesda NNMC, throughout the day. I told her the soonest I could be there would be Monday morning, so I have a 0800 appointment. She said that she looked up my record and noticed that my home of record (HOR) is Austin, TX; she suggested starting me at WRAMC and moving me to Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) in San Antonio, TX to finish up. It was loud where I was and couldn’t really have a discussion so I just said I understood and told her I’d call back tomorrow with more questions. We’d really like to do the MEB here in DC because of several reasons:
- -My doctors are all here
- -I have lots of friends and support here
- -I have a supportive church here
- -I can’t drive and could get around well on the Metro
- -Holly can come to DC to work and see me too (maybe)
- -I might have another minor procedure to improve my incision next week (4/27)
- -I think the care would be far superior
So, I have my reasons. But ultimately, it is going to be what the Army wants. But, my prayer about not wanting to move before this weekend has been answered – it will for sure be sometime next week. I have that MRI tomorrow, so please pray that the tumor has not come back and that I’m still healing up there. I think I am. Tomorrow evening we’re having a little celebration dinner for Tamra. Today was her last day in uniform in the Army. Now’s she’s on terminal leave until July (I think.) If you're interested in joining us, let me know. Tamra, you’ve been a real life saver and great friend this week. Holly and I thank you and John so much for supporting us through everything. We love you guys.
Apr 18, 2007
Easy Day Today, Unknown In Store Tomorrow
Not a whole lot to report today. I had a hard time going to sleep again last night. This morning I spent a good amount of time trying to figure out where my evaluation was. Even though my NCOER was reportedly signed by everyone except for me, there must have been some kind of change or it got lost, because the completed NCOER is apparently now on somebody’s desk to be reviewed... again. Soooo…. when the powers that be finish reviewing it, everyone will sign it - and someone is supposed to call or page me to let me know that I can come by to sign it.
With that all figured out, I was finally able to call Tamra to pick me up and we made our way back down to Fort Belvoir. I made it through every step of the medical checklist except for the review with the doctor. They only do these out-processing reviews Mon thru Wed and Fri from 1300-1400 and Thu from 0700-0830. Well, tomorrow is Thu – so guess what that means? By bootie has to get up extra early because Tamra will be here at 0700 to pick me up. Tamra has to be at WRAMC in the afternoon, so we are hoping that we can finish up at Fort Belvoir pretty early and then make our way to WRAMC where I expect I’ll need to go next to continue the process. I really don’t know what’s going to happen when I talk to the doctor. I know that they’re going to see that I need to be put on medical hold, but I have no idea how they’re going to do it. I’ll have all the details on how that goes tomorrow. And hopefully my work calls to say that my NCOER is ready to be signed, so that we can stop there on the way to WRAMC and finally cross that off the list.
After getting back to the apartment, I had to tend to some more emails and also worked on a paperwork issue related to my pending promotion. I’m hoping that I’ll be promoted soon! I went to a farewell this evening for dear friend Erika, who is going to San Antonio for a few months for some military training. She’s a good friend of mine and Holly’s, so she and Holly might get together since she’ll only be about 80 miles away. In fact, she’s going to a school at a location that I’ve been to – so I know for sure it is a quick drive.
Okay – I’m heading off to bed now. I need to get up around 0530. Goodnight.
With that all figured out, I was finally able to call Tamra to pick me up and we made our way back down to Fort Belvoir. I made it through every step of the medical checklist except for the review with the doctor. They only do these out-processing reviews Mon thru Wed and Fri from 1300-1400 and Thu from 0700-0830. Well, tomorrow is Thu – so guess what that means? By bootie has to get up extra early because Tamra will be here at 0700 to pick me up. Tamra has to be at WRAMC in the afternoon, so we are hoping that we can finish up at Fort Belvoir pretty early and then make our way to WRAMC where I expect I’ll need to go next to continue the process. I really don’t know what’s going to happen when I talk to the doctor. I know that they’re going to see that I need to be put on medical hold, but I have no idea how they’re going to do it. I’ll have all the details on how that goes tomorrow. And hopefully my work calls to say that my NCOER is ready to be signed, so that we can stop there on the way to WRAMC and finally cross that off the list.
After getting back to the apartment, I had to tend to some more emails and also worked on a paperwork issue related to my pending promotion. I’m hoping that I’ll be promoted soon! I went to a farewell this evening for dear friend Erika, who is going to San Antonio for a few months for some military training. She’s a good friend of mine and Holly’s, so she and Holly might get together since she’ll only be about 80 miles away. In fact, she’s going to a school at a location that I’ve been to – so I know for sure it is a quick drive.
Okay – I’m heading off to bed now. I need to get up around 0530. Goodnight.
Apr 17, 2007
300 and minor victories
This blog is our 300th! Holly and I started this thing up when I first mobilized to DC in May 2004. We’re at almost exactly three years so it would appear that we average 100 posts per year... interesting statistic. Or not. :-P
Okay, so today… what did I get done today? Well, before I even get there, let me tell you that I tossed and turned until about 3am. My mind races through all the things that I need to get done in the next few days, ways to get them done quicker, and the ever present thought of having a seizure while alone always haunts me. I don’t know why I am afraid of it. But sometimes it terrifies me. The two times I was conscious for the start of them, they were agonizing and I remember them well. I think back to how horrible and scary it feels and just don’t want to have it happen to me while I’m alone. It’s nice when Holly is there, as she was every time, to tell me its going to be okay. But eventually it is going to happen when I’m alone or in public around strangers. I just need to keep praying that the Lord will ease my fears. Join me, will you? This is a toughie for me.
Alright, back to today. Since I didn’t get to sleep until late, I woke up later. I finally got to the Pentagon around 10am and went to the medical clinic. I went to the desk and told the nice lady that I was out-processing and needed to retrieve my records. She went to the back and brought them out. If you take a look at item number one on my list from yesterday, you’ll remember that I needed to get my profile paperwork. As soon as the lady handed me my records, I cracked it open to see if the profile was in there. Nada. I then explained to her that I called right before I went on leave about this and that someone changed it in the computer and that the paperwork must be somewhere. She looked in her computer and saw that I did call about it. I found an old temporary profile and handed it to her and told her that I just needed a new updated one that is permanent like in the computer. She took it to the back to a nurse to see if the doctor could fill it out. While she was gone, I stood at the counter, bowed my head, and just prayed that the good Lord would intervene and just get it signed today somehow. She was gone a while and I sat down. After a few minutes, the nurse came back and said that the doctor needed to see me to fill it out and that there were no more appointments today. The lady at the front desk said that I would have to call back at 6am the next morning to make an appointment with my doctor so that she could do it. This didn’t sound acceptable to me. First of all, my doctor knows what’s going on with me and could have the form filled out in five minutes. Second, I already called over a month ago and asked the doctor to take care of this – and someone did because it changed in the computer. I really had a problem with having to do extra legwork to get something signed that should have been signed a month ago.
I expressed these concerns to the lady at the front desk and she was willing to hear me out. I’m trying to get a lot done and can’t get around easily and they wanted me to go the extra mile to get something done that should have already been done. Are you getting me? Finally, I told her that first and foremost, I am a soldier, and I will obey an order; and if the commander of the clinic tells me to go home and come back tomorrow, I will obey that order without another word. But if there was anything that we could do to get the form signed today, I would do it. Silence. She told me to have a seat and she disappeared. When she returned, she said that the nurse of the day would see me shortly.
After another wait, the nurse, an Army Captain, called me into their office. I again explained my dilemma to the CPT and she listened to me. The CPT told me that they would be able to help me out, but it would not be immediately. It was nearing noon. My doctor would have an opening at 1340 that day where the paperwork might be taken care of. I made a quick call to Tamra, who was supposed to drive me around, but wasn’t able to get a hold of her. I decided this was an answer to my prayer so I decided that I better take the CPT up on the offer, even though it meant that I wouldn’t get out of the Pentagon until near 3pm. The CPT made the appointment and I was off to find lunch. It worked out great because I needed to drop off a set of keys anyway at the office I worked at for a while. They were happy to see me again and let me use a workstation to check my email, make a few phone calls and eat my lunch.
I made it back to the clinic by 1330 and was called back to see the doctor. The doctor finally came in at around 1350. I brought the doctor up to speed and in less than five minutes the form was done and in my hands, and I was out the door. Four hours of work to see a doctor for five minutes to get a form filled out. Can you believe it? Now we can cross number one off the list! A big thanks to the nice lady at the desk who was willing to do what she could to get me what I needed today. I was sure to fill out a comment card commending her actions and dropped it in the comment box.
On to number two: I called Tamra and she picked me up at the Pentagon City Metro station. We headed down to Fort Belvoir and found our way to the out-processing building. We checked in and I had to provide copies of all my orders for the whole three years and other paperwork. I was then given a checklist of buildings that I needed to visit to get them to check items off of the list. Things like: Personnel, Finance, Medical, Dental, etc. We went upstairs to the first item on the list: personnel. When we got there, I explained to the Staff Sergeant that I was eventually going to have an MEB. Thank God I told the SSG that, because since that was the case the SSG said that we should skip everything on the list and just go right to medical. Nothing else would matter since I wasn’t really going to get out right now anyway. I just needed to get to medical so that they could see there is an issue and they could refer me to WRAMC. Boy, talk about a life saver! The SSG was very helpful, so I made sure to save their phone number for any future questions I might have. It was just after 1600 and we noticed that the first place in medical was still open, so we went there first.
We found the building after getting slightly lost and I picked up a medical packet. The packet said that pretty much all the other stations were closed, so we decided to call it a day. Tomorrow we’re going to head back down to Ft Belvoir and try to get the medical stuff completed. I also need to sign my NCOER that they couldn’t find on Monday. I’m going to call work in the morning to see if they have it handy. If they still can’t find it, I’m going to go to Belvoir first. If they do have it, I’ll go to work first thing and sign it and then head down to Belvoir.
So, I’d call today a pretty good day. I just hope that tomorrow goes smoother. After work, I made some copies of paperwork that I might need tomorrow and sent a copy of my new profile to my unit in Fort Worth as they needed a copy. Then I went to a community group of my church that meets in Kezia’s building. Kezia and Jumoke picked me up and I had a great time hanging out with everyone. I feel pretty tired today, so I’m hoping that my body gives in and I can get some decent sleep tonight. Thanks to everyone for your prayers!
Okay, so today… what did I get done today? Well, before I even get there, let me tell you that I tossed and turned until about 3am. My mind races through all the things that I need to get done in the next few days, ways to get them done quicker, and the ever present thought of having a seizure while alone always haunts me. I don’t know why I am afraid of it. But sometimes it terrifies me. The two times I was conscious for the start of them, they were agonizing and I remember them well. I think back to how horrible and scary it feels and just don’t want to have it happen to me while I’m alone. It’s nice when Holly is there, as she was every time, to tell me its going to be okay. But eventually it is going to happen when I’m alone or in public around strangers. I just need to keep praying that the Lord will ease my fears. Join me, will you? This is a toughie for me.
Alright, back to today. Since I didn’t get to sleep until late, I woke up later. I finally got to the Pentagon around 10am and went to the medical clinic. I went to the desk and told the nice lady that I was out-processing and needed to retrieve my records. She went to the back and brought them out. If you take a look at item number one on my list from yesterday, you’ll remember that I needed to get my profile paperwork. As soon as the lady handed me my records, I cracked it open to see if the profile was in there. Nada. I then explained to her that I called right before I went on leave about this and that someone changed it in the computer and that the paperwork must be somewhere. She looked in her computer and saw that I did call about it. I found an old temporary profile and handed it to her and told her that I just needed a new updated one that is permanent like in the computer. She took it to the back to a nurse to see if the doctor could fill it out. While she was gone, I stood at the counter, bowed my head, and just prayed that the good Lord would intervene and just get it signed today somehow. She was gone a while and I sat down. After a few minutes, the nurse came back and said that the doctor needed to see me to fill it out and that there were no more appointments today. The lady at the front desk said that I would have to call back at 6am the next morning to make an appointment with my doctor so that she could do it. This didn’t sound acceptable to me. First of all, my doctor knows what’s going on with me and could have the form filled out in five minutes. Second, I already called over a month ago and asked the doctor to take care of this – and someone did because it changed in the computer. I really had a problem with having to do extra legwork to get something signed that should have been signed a month ago.
I expressed these concerns to the lady at the front desk and she was willing to hear me out. I’m trying to get a lot done and can’t get around easily and they wanted me to go the extra mile to get something done that should have already been done. Are you getting me? Finally, I told her that first and foremost, I am a soldier, and I will obey an order; and if the commander of the clinic tells me to go home and come back tomorrow, I will obey that order without another word. But if there was anything that we could do to get the form signed today, I would do it. Silence. She told me to have a seat and she disappeared. When she returned, she said that the nurse of the day would see me shortly.
After another wait, the nurse, an Army Captain, called me into their office. I again explained my dilemma to the CPT and she listened to me. The CPT told me that they would be able to help me out, but it would not be immediately. It was nearing noon. My doctor would have an opening at 1340 that day where the paperwork might be taken care of. I made a quick call to Tamra, who was supposed to drive me around, but wasn’t able to get a hold of her. I decided this was an answer to my prayer so I decided that I better take the CPT up on the offer, even though it meant that I wouldn’t get out of the Pentagon until near 3pm. The CPT made the appointment and I was off to find lunch. It worked out great because I needed to drop off a set of keys anyway at the office I worked at for a while. They were happy to see me again and let me use a workstation to check my email, make a few phone calls and eat my lunch.
I made it back to the clinic by 1330 and was called back to see the doctor. The doctor finally came in at around 1350. I brought the doctor up to speed and in less than five minutes the form was done and in my hands, and I was out the door. Four hours of work to see a doctor for five minutes to get a form filled out. Can you believe it? Now we can cross number one off the list! A big thanks to the nice lady at the desk who was willing to do what she could to get me what I needed today. I was sure to fill out a comment card commending her actions and dropped it in the comment box.
On to number two: I called Tamra and she picked me up at the Pentagon City Metro station. We headed down to Fort Belvoir and found our way to the out-processing building. We checked in and I had to provide copies of all my orders for the whole three years and other paperwork. I was then given a checklist of buildings that I needed to visit to get them to check items off of the list. Things like: Personnel, Finance, Medical, Dental, etc. We went upstairs to the first item on the list: personnel. When we got there, I explained to the Staff Sergeant that I was eventually going to have an MEB. Thank God I told the SSG that, because since that was the case the SSG said that we should skip everything on the list and just go right to medical. Nothing else would matter since I wasn’t really going to get out right now anyway. I just needed to get to medical so that they could see there is an issue and they could refer me to WRAMC. Boy, talk about a life saver! The SSG was very helpful, so I made sure to save their phone number for any future questions I might have. It was just after 1600 and we noticed that the first place in medical was still open, so we went there first.
We found the building after getting slightly lost and I picked up a medical packet. The packet said that pretty much all the other stations were closed, so we decided to call it a day. Tomorrow we’re going to head back down to Ft Belvoir and try to get the medical stuff completed. I also need to sign my NCOER that they couldn’t find on Monday. I’m going to call work in the morning to see if they have it handy. If they still can’t find it, I’m going to go to Belvoir first. If they do have it, I’ll go to work first thing and sign it and then head down to Belvoir.
So, I’d call today a pretty good day. I just hope that tomorrow goes smoother. After work, I made some copies of paperwork that I might need tomorrow and sent a copy of my new profile to my unit in Fort Worth as they needed a copy. Then I went to a community group of my church that meets in Kezia’s building. Kezia and Jumoke picked me up and I had a great time hanging out with everyone. I feel pretty tired today, so I’m hoping that my body gives in and I can get some decent sleep tonight. Thanks to everyone for your prayers!
Apr 16, 2007
Can you say confusing?
Today was my first day back at work and boy… was it a doozie! First of all, I’ve been having a hard time getting to sleep here in my new digs. The first night, Saturday, it rained all night. There is some kind of metal skirt that sticks out from the building on my floor, so guess what? I got to hear the pitter patter of drops falling off the building onto the metal skirt. I didn’t get to sleep until nearly 2am and then was woken up by jets making their approach to Reagan National Airport at 6:30am. Yes, I am a light sleeper. Last night, Sunday, the wind was howling like crazy. The northeast has been getting pummeled by this storm and it just won’t die. It sounded like things that were loose on the building were being tossed around outside.
I got to sleep around 2am again and managed to get up around 8am. I grabbed a quick bite in the store downstairs and headed off to work. I got there around 10am and was warmly greeted by everyone. My boss was happy to see me too, but apparently there were some issues with my evaluation not being turned in yet. In the Army, Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs) and Officers are required to be evaluated annually. They are supposed to be done by a certain time of the year, and when things fall behind, the people up the chain get hounded for not having the evals of their people done on time. I knew this before I went on leave and completed my part of my NCO Evaluation Report (NCOER.) Well, I guess we are cutting it too close for comfort since everyone from my unit in Fort Worth to the people at work want to know where it is.
The first thing I did was track down the guy that I knew could tell me where it was. I found him and was told to talk to another person higher up. That person knew that it was missing but didn’t know where it was either. Basically, all the people that needed to sign it had already signed it and they were just waiting for my signature. But now the eval was no where to be found. This person said they would talk to another person and see if they can track it down and that I should check back later. I checked back later and the person was gone. There was some kind of sewer leakage that blocked one of the entrances on and off base today, so they let people that lived far away go home early. I guess that person left? I stayed to get my work done… I won’t be at the office tomorrow, so I hope they find it so that I can sign it on Wednesday. My boss wondered why they just could not print out a new one and have everyone sign it again… I have no idea.
Speaking of work, I made quite a few phone calls regarding the Medical Evaluation Board (MEB) process that I am about to begin. The issue is… I have no idea how I’m supposed to initiate it! I think I know the problem though… normally a soldier doesn’t have to initiate it – it begins when they get hurt and then they get worked through the system. My issue is that because I have been having all my treatments done at the Navy hospital, the Army hospital has no idea what’s up with me. They don’t know I need an MEB! At first I thought I was supposed to begin out-processing from my office, and also take the paperwork that I do have to Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) and that would start the process. But when I ran this by my Reserve Management Office (RMO), they said that I should probably not do that quite yet. Instead, I should call WRAMC and the office that does the out-processing and see what they say.
I followed their instructions and called WRAMC. I explained my dilemma to someone there and they told me that they would have to speak to someone above them to see what needed to be done. To my surprise, a few minutes later they paged me and I called back. They had a list of things that needed to be done and paperwork that I needed to gather in order for everything to go smoothly. A plan! It sounded good to me, so I took notes and hung up. One of the items on the list required that I ask the out-processing office a few questions too. I called them up and they had a similar, but slightly different plan. They urged me to call a different person at WRAMC, but to come to them to begin out-processing immediately! I called the person they suggested I call and they were very helpful. They told me basically the same things the first person at WRAMC told me with a few slight changes. I called the first person back and left a message with them explaining that I had spoken to the out-processing people and this other person at WRAMC and that the plans were slightly different – I expect a call back from them tomorrow.
Okay, so all these details, right? Here’s what it comes down to:
I got to sleep around 2am again and managed to get up around 8am. I grabbed a quick bite in the store downstairs and headed off to work. I got there around 10am and was warmly greeted by everyone. My boss was happy to see me too, but apparently there were some issues with my evaluation not being turned in yet. In the Army, Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs) and Officers are required to be evaluated annually. They are supposed to be done by a certain time of the year, and when things fall behind, the people up the chain get hounded for not having the evals of their people done on time. I knew this before I went on leave and completed my part of my NCO Evaluation Report (NCOER.) Well, I guess we are cutting it too close for comfort since everyone from my unit in Fort Worth to the people at work want to know where it is.
The first thing I did was track down the guy that I knew could tell me where it was. I found him and was told to talk to another person higher up. That person knew that it was missing but didn’t know where it was either. Basically, all the people that needed to sign it had already signed it and they were just waiting for my signature. But now the eval was no where to be found. This person said they would talk to another person and see if they can track it down and that I should check back later. I checked back later and the person was gone. There was some kind of sewer leakage that blocked one of the entrances on and off base today, so they let people that lived far away go home early. I guess that person left? I stayed to get my work done… I won’t be at the office tomorrow, so I hope they find it so that I can sign it on Wednesday. My boss wondered why they just could not print out a new one and have everyone sign it again… I have no idea.
Speaking of work, I made quite a few phone calls regarding the Medical Evaluation Board (MEB) process that I am about to begin. The issue is… I have no idea how I’m supposed to initiate it! I think I know the problem though… normally a soldier doesn’t have to initiate it – it begins when they get hurt and then they get worked through the system. My issue is that because I have been having all my treatments done at the Navy hospital, the Army hospital has no idea what’s up with me. They don’t know I need an MEB! At first I thought I was supposed to begin out-processing from my office, and also take the paperwork that I do have to Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) and that would start the process. But when I ran this by my Reserve Management Office (RMO), they said that I should probably not do that quite yet. Instead, I should call WRAMC and the office that does the out-processing and see what they say.
I followed their instructions and called WRAMC. I explained my dilemma to someone there and they told me that they would have to speak to someone above them to see what needed to be done. To my surprise, a few minutes later they paged me and I called back. They had a list of things that needed to be done and paperwork that I needed to gather in order for everything to go smoothly. A plan! It sounded good to me, so I took notes and hung up. One of the items on the list required that I ask the out-processing office a few questions too. I called them up and they had a similar, but slightly different plan. They urged me to call a different person at WRAMC, but to come to them to begin out-processing immediately! I called the person they suggested I call and they were very helpful. They told me basically the same things the first person at WRAMC told me with a few slight changes. I called the first person back and left a message with them explaining that I had spoken to the out-processing people and this other person at WRAMC and that the plans were slightly different – I expect a call back from them tomorrow.
Okay, so all these details, right? Here’s what it comes down to:
- When you can’t physically perform your duties in the military because of an injury or disability, they put you on what is called a profile. They have temporary and permanent profiles. I have been on a temporary profile since the surgery, but my main doctor recently put me on a permanent profile because you have to have one to start the MEB process. First thing tomorrow, I have to make the trek to my medical clinic in the Pentagon to get a copy of that P3 profile. Simple enough, right? We’ll see.
- I need to begin the out-processing process which has to be done at Fort Belvoir, which is about 30 miles south of DC. I can’t drive, so our good friend Tamra, who is also in the Army and happens to work at WRAMC, is going to give me a ride. There, I’ll begin the process, but when I get to medical, they’ll see my past history and things will screech to a halt. They will immediately refer me to WRAMC for an MEB. Then we’ll drive to WRAMC and I’ll meet with some of the people that I spoke with on the phone today. And it all works out perfectly because Tamra needs to take care of some business there tomorrow too! I’m not sure of what all will happen when I get there – I’m kinda flying by the seat of my pants on this one.
- I need a Narrative Summary (NARSUM) from my doctors explaining what happened to me and what conditions I have now. I have appointments with my Neurologist and Oncologist on Friday to knock this one out of the way. BTW, I also have a follow-up MRI Friday afternoon to see how things look up there. Pray that everything is still getting better for me, okay?
- Since this happened to me while I was on Active Duty, it is considered a Line of Duty injury (LOD). Apparently there was supposed to be a form filled out quite some time ago (a DA2173 to be exact,) it was never done, so the folks at WRAMC will take care of that for me.
Wow! So those are the major things at this time that I know of. In addition, I was told that once I go to WRAMC and they begin the process, they will put in a request to the Army to cut a new set of orders assigning me to the Medical Holdover Company at WRAMC. The Army will then have 72 hours to cut the orders. Whatever date the orders say I am assigned to WRAMC is the date that I have to move out of this temporary apartment and into the housing at WRAMC. My current orders expire on April 27 – I’m sure they will be done by then. In fact, if I go there tomorrow, they might be cut by this Friday. I was kind of hoping to spend one more weekend in this apartment close to everyone I know, but I might have to move before then. Or, they might cut the orders by Friday, but the effective date won’t be until sometime next week. That would be preferable since I have medical appointments pretty much all day Friday and it would suck to move over the weekend. So, let’s pray that I am told to move next week too.
Confusing? We’re just getting started. Tomorrow should be a fun filled day of running around and being told different information. I pray that it goes well. I know I’ve probably given you way too much information, but I wanted to tell you everything and it also gives me a way to put it on “paper” to make sure that even I have it right. I’ll update you tomorrow evening. And if you have questions for me, please leave a comment and I’ll answer them. Now it’s close to midnight again and I’m still up. So, I’m posting this and going to bed.
Apr 14, 2007
Back Safe in DC
I made it back safe to DC thanks to JetBlue. My good buddy Matt O picked me up from Dulles and I got checked into the apartment with little trouble. We had a great dinner at Cafe Asia (one of my faves in the area) and then he dropped me off. It has been chilly and raining all evening and night and is apparently supposed to all weekend. Holly and I talked on the phone for over an hour, I unpacked a bit and I'm ready for bed. I'm looking forward to going to Grace in the morning and seeing more people that have been great friends. I'm off to bed... it has been a long day.
Apr 13, 2007
Back to DC Tomorrow
Well, here it is over a month later and I'm already heading back to DC tomorrow. Man, it feels like I just got home! We had a chance to see some of our very good friends while I was here: David, Kate and the kids; Miki, Sean and the kids; Jill N; Jill R; all of our family... but we never got a chance to visit with our very good friends Joy, TJ and all their kiddos! It's been too crazy guys, we'll see you when I get back! We love you and thank you for everything!
We did get to go on that fabulous cruise... and yeah yeah... I know the pics aren't up yet. We have been mega crazy! We had to move back in and then leave, then come back and finish unpacking and we completely redid our home office setup. Then Holly started back up at work again this week while I tried to rest a little bit and take care of other odds and ends around the house. I spent a pretty good amount of time yesterday and today packing and tomorrow I head off at 12:05pm CDT. Thanks to Matt O, in advance, for picking me up at Dulles.
Anywho, my thoughts are all over the place today. I just wanted to let y'all know that we haven't forgotten about you, our loyal readers, and we'll be back on the blog-wagon soon.
We did get to go on that fabulous cruise... and yeah yeah... I know the pics aren't up yet. We have been mega crazy! We had to move back in and then leave, then come back and finish unpacking and we completely redid our home office setup. Then Holly started back up at work again this week while I tried to rest a little bit and take care of other odds and ends around the house. I spent a pretty good amount of time yesterday and today packing and tomorrow I head off at 12:05pm CDT. Thanks to Matt O, in advance, for picking me up at Dulles.
Anywho, my thoughts are all over the place today. I just wanted to let y'all know that we haven't forgotten about you, our loyal readers, and we'll be back on the blog-wagon soon.
Apr 8, 2007
Seizure #3
Happy Easter everyone.
Roger had another seizure about 1:15 a.m. today. It happened almost like the other two, started at his right foot and traveled up to take over his whole body. We were both asleep and he felt his leg convulsing. He exclaimed he was having a seizure which woke me up. I think he said it twice because I think I thought I was dreaming, but he can't remember how many times he said it. I also wasn't expecting him to have another seizure and being completely asleep meant I wasn't ready. Roger is scared and very disappointed. He is concerned about going to DC by himself next Saturday. He's on the highest therapeutic dose of his anti-seizure medication which the doctors rarely see seizures. And we're both confused by why he had another seizure. He also had two more months and he could start driving again. Now he has to wait until October unless he has another seizure.
He bit his tongue which hurts and is tired and weak especially on his right side. He feels like he is limping a little. The same thing happened each seizure before. He was tired and weak for a few days. He said he felt like he ran a marathon which is technically what his brain did. We just got home from trying out that new church. It was good but I'm looking forward to a regular Sunday message since Easter is always a special message and can be different from the pastor's usual style. Now we are on our way to Roger's parents for Easter dinner.
Would you please pray for healing from the seizures for Roger, for peace and safety while he is in DC and guidance with the Army MEB process? Thank you so much for your prayers.
Roger had another seizure about 1:15 a.m. today. It happened almost like the other two, started at his right foot and traveled up to take over his whole body. We were both asleep and he felt his leg convulsing. He exclaimed he was having a seizure which woke me up. I think he said it twice because I think I thought I was dreaming, but he can't remember how many times he said it. I also wasn't expecting him to have another seizure and being completely asleep meant I wasn't ready. Roger is scared and very disappointed. He is concerned about going to DC by himself next Saturday. He's on the highest therapeutic dose of his anti-seizure medication which the doctors rarely see seizures. And we're both confused by why he had another seizure. He also had two more months and he could start driving again. Now he has to wait until October unless he has another seizure.
He bit his tongue which hurts and is tired and weak especially on his right side. He feels like he is limping a little. The same thing happened each seizure before. He was tired and weak for a few days. He said he felt like he ran a marathon which is technically what his brain did. We just got home from trying out that new church. It was good but I'm looking forward to a regular Sunday message since Easter is always a special message and can be different from the pastor's usual style. Now we are on our way to Roger's parents for Easter dinner.
Would you please pray for healing from the seizures for Roger, for peace and safety while he is in DC and guidance with the Army MEB process? Thank you so much for your prayers.
Apr 4, 2007
One Year Ago Today
At 12:15 a.m. this morning, Roger said to me it was one year ago today that he came home from the hospital. I thought no it's tomorrow, but then I realized that it was after midnight and agreed with him. I remember thinking it was awesome he was going to be home for our anniversary, April 5th. We weren't sure when he was going to be released from the rehabilitation hospital. They would not release him until he could escape a burning building on his own so his release depended on his improvement. It was great that he was able to be home for our third anniversary. So tomorrow we will celebrate our fourth anniversary at Christopher's World Grill in Bryan, Texas which is where we celebrated our first anniversary.
Mar 30, 2007
We're Back!
Well, we got back from our cruise on Sunday afternoon. Roger & I had a great time. We had so much fun. We highly recommend cruises for vacations. You'll get to see all the pics very soon. Roger is reconnecting our desktop computer as I type (on the laptop) after "blowing it up" on Tuesday in which he uninstalled the operating system and all applications and reinstalled it all. Don't worry, he backed up all our pictures and music and docs. So we'll have those cruise pictures up soon with more details regarding our cruise adventure to come!
We have been constructing cabinets and tables and shelves and a tv stand all week. We decided to redo our office. Before we left for the cruise we downloaded office planning software from Ikea, designed a new office and drove up to Round Rock to the new Ikea and bought it all. Getting it all to fit smartly in the back of our truck took some thought and patience, but we finally got it all in there, covered with a tarp and tied down. The weather has been typical Texas spring weather. Lots of rain, thunderstorms, tornado watches, all the good stuff. But we don't mind. We need the rain bad! Roger and I were just talking today about how the weather was so much better in the Caribbean. Duh! It did rain on us in Jamaica, but we were soaking wet already from our excursion so we didn't care. And a little Red Stripe on the way back to the ship helped us feel better in the pouring rain on our tour boat. I'm telling you we had a blast! I didn't want the cruise to end. We're already talking about our next cruise.
So...this is my first blog since we moved home and I have to say I love being home. Love, Love LOVE being home in our own house. We have been getting it all back in order. We weren't able to mow our grass yet. Not only has it been raining every day keeping the ground too soggy to mow, but our lawn mower which has been sitting in our garage for two years won't start at all. We think we might have left some gas in it which is bad. So we took it down the road to have it fixed along with every one else in Austin trying to mow their grass this spring. Every place we called is backed up at least three weeks with lawn mower repair. So Roger is going to borrow a neighbors lawn mower until we get ours back which will be after he returns to DC.
I also love being back in Austin. We have tried very hard to visit most of our favorite restaurants (without going out every meal) and we still haven't gotten to them all. It's so green and lush here. And so slow. I miss that the most about the South. I will say that I do not miss the Austin traffic. It has not gotten any better since we left even with the creation of several new toll roads (don't even get me started about the toll roads). I think that Austin's traffic is worse than DC Metro traffic. Roger and I got caught in traffic for the second time today and it sucked. From what I can tell so far, afternoon rush hour in Austin starts at 3:00 p.m. and ends at 8:00 p.m. Add on more time during a thunderstorm. I don't even want to know what morning rush hour is like. But I guess I will find out very soon. I return to work on April 9th in NW Austin although we live in SC Austin. I will have to use one of the worst highways traffic wise. And I don't have many other options other than adjusting my work schedule or working from home as much as possible. We'll see how bad it gets before I ask my boss to let me work from home all the time. I can already tell it's not going to be fun.
But I'm still glad to be home. I can't wait for the weather to clear so we can enjoy the outdoors more. Although it's already hot here. Actually it's been hot here since we got back. That's Texas for you.
Okay, I've been rambling enough for now. I'm going to see what else I can get done tonight. We "plan" to be finished with the office by tomorrow. We can't wait so we can enjoy all our hard work. Sunday we're going to try a new church which also meets in a local school. We're excited to see how it is. And our good friend Buddy from DC will be visiting us Sunday afternoon. He's our first visitor from DC and we're super excited about that. Okay, Okay, I know I said enough already. I'm going now. As my South African-American friend says, "Chat to ya later!"
We have been constructing cabinets and tables and shelves and a tv stand all week. We decided to redo our office. Before we left for the cruise we downloaded office planning software from Ikea, designed a new office and drove up to Round Rock to the new Ikea and bought it all. Getting it all to fit smartly in the back of our truck took some thought and patience, but we finally got it all in there, covered with a tarp and tied down. The weather has been typical Texas spring weather. Lots of rain, thunderstorms, tornado watches, all the good stuff. But we don't mind. We need the rain bad! Roger and I were just talking today about how the weather was so much better in the Caribbean. Duh! It did rain on us in Jamaica, but we were soaking wet already from our excursion so we didn't care. And a little Red Stripe on the way back to the ship helped us feel better in the pouring rain on our tour boat. I'm telling you we had a blast! I didn't want the cruise to end. We're already talking about our next cruise.
So...this is my first blog since we moved home and I have to say I love being home. Love, Love LOVE being home in our own house. We have been getting it all back in order. We weren't able to mow our grass yet. Not only has it been raining every day keeping the ground too soggy to mow, but our lawn mower which has been sitting in our garage for two years won't start at all. We think we might have left some gas in it which is bad. So we took it down the road to have it fixed along with every one else in Austin trying to mow their grass this spring. Every place we called is backed up at least three weeks with lawn mower repair. So Roger is going to borrow a neighbors lawn mower until we get ours back which will be after he returns to DC.
I also love being back in Austin. We have tried very hard to visit most of our favorite restaurants (without going out every meal) and we still haven't gotten to them all. It's so green and lush here. And so slow. I miss that the most about the South. I will say that I do not miss the Austin traffic. It has not gotten any better since we left even with the creation of several new toll roads (don't even get me started about the toll roads). I think that Austin's traffic is worse than DC Metro traffic. Roger and I got caught in traffic for the second time today and it sucked. From what I can tell so far, afternoon rush hour in Austin starts at 3:00 p.m. and ends at 8:00 p.m. Add on more time during a thunderstorm. I don't even want to know what morning rush hour is like. But I guess I will find out very soon. I return to work on April 9th in NW Austin although we live in SC Austin. I will have to use one of the worst highways traffic wise. And I don't have many other options other than adjusting my work schedule or working from home as much as possible. We'll see how bad it gets before I ask my boss to let me work from home all the time. I can already tell it's not going to be fun.
But I'm still glad to be home. I can't wait for the weather to clear so we can enjoy the outdoors more. Although it's already hot here. Actually it's been hot here since we got back. That's Texas for you.
Okay, I've been rambling enough for now. I'm going to see what else I can get done tonight. We "plan" to be finished with the office by tomorrow. We can't wait so we can enjoy all our hard work. Sunday we're going to try a new church which also meets in a local school. We're excited to see how it is. And our good friend Buddy from DC will be visiting us Sunday afternoon. He's our first visitor from DC and we're super excited about that. Okay, Okay, I know I said enough already. I'm going now. As my South African-American friend says, "Chat to ya later!"
Mar 17, 2007
Almost done unpacking and starting to relax
We are still getting unpacked here in Austin. Holly and I have pretty much unpacked the entire house except for the office. We've decided to give the office an Ikea makeover in order to make it more functional for two of us to work in. In the process of unpacking our stuff from Virginia back into the house, we've gotten rid of a lot of stuff. Holly says there are ten moving size boxes in the garage now that we'll be selling in a garage sale sometime soon.
The weather has been beautiful, even though we got quite a bit of rain early in the week. But Central Texas is already in a drought, so we really need it. The wild flowers are already starting to bloom, so maybe we'll get some nice pictures here in the next week or so, especially of the bluebonnets. We're getting to a point where we can relax a bit and enjoy our home. I sure have missed our home and am looking forward to spending the next month here.
Holly's dad is doing very well. He said he was going to go hunting with his grandson, William, but it has been so rainy that we haven't heard if that happened or not. Matt's mom, Sandy, is still undergoing chemo and is stable right now. Please keep praying for her cancer to keep dying off. And I am feeling very well. This time last year I was starting to walk again and getting good use of my arm. It is still hard for me to just comprehend what happened to me just one year ago. God is good. Lately though, I have been having weird twitching in my right foot around my big toe – which is where both of my past seizures started. It is just twitching of the tendons and muscles on the side of my foot, and my right toe also will twitch slightly to the left and back again. It is not like constant jerking activity, so I don't think it is seizure-like; but maybe healing in that area of my brain? I'm just not sure and am going to have to call my doctor and ask him about it. It is tolerable during the day, but is most noticeable at night when I'm laying in bed trying to fall asleep. I can just feel the twitching until I finally doze off. Please pray that it is nothing serious. That's all for now!
The weather has been beautiful, even though we got quite a bit of rain early in the week. But Central Texas is already in a drought, so we really need it. The wild flowers are already starting to bloom, so maybe we'll get some nice pictures here in the next week or so, especially of the bluebonnets. We're getting to a point where we can relax a bit and enjoy our home. I sure have missed our home and am looking forward to spending the next month here.
Holly's dad is doing very well. He said he was going to go hunting with his grandson, William, but it has been so rainy that we haven't heard if that happened or not. Matt's mom, Sandy, is still undergoing chemo and is stable right now. Please keep praying for her cancer to keep dying off. And I am feeling very well. This time last year I was starting to walk again and getting good use of my arm. It is still hard for me to just comprehend what happened to me just one year ago. God is good. Lately though, I have been having weird twitching in my right foot around my big toe – which is where both of my past seizures started. It is just twitching of the tendons and muscles on the side of my foot, and my right toe also will twitch slightly to the left and back again. It is not like constant jerking activity, so I don't think it is seizure-like; but maybe healing in that area of my brain? I'm just not sure and am going to have to call my doctor and ask him about it. It is tolerable during the day, but is most noticeable at night when I'm laying in bed trying to fall asleep. I can just feel the twitching until I finally doze off. Please pray that it is nothing serious. That's all for now!
Mar 13, 2007
Monday, March 13, 2007: Update on My Dad and Reflection on Being Home
My dad had a doctor’s appointment on Friday with Dr. Bond his primary care manager. His blood pressure was 87/55 and his weight was 131. He has gained nine pounds. That’s great. As a result of blood work from this visit, Dr. Bond discovered my dad is anemic and prescribed a multivitamin with iron plus an extra iron supplement. He also told my dad only 75% of people who go through what he did do not survive and 80% usually lose a leg. So my dad said he’d quit griping about his feet, but if you know my dad even a little bit, you know he’ll keep griping. At his appointment today Dr. Kirby, Cardio/Thoracic Surgeon, gave my dad a very thorough exam and told my dad that he looked good. His blood pressure was 98/65. And my dad told him no more cigarettes. My mom said she thinks he means it this time. I hope so! His legs still get tired easily and his feet are still recovering from the gout. He is on antibiotic for that and aspirin for blood thinner, plus the multivitamin and iron supplement now. He’s doing good and planning to go hunting this weekend with his grandson William. I know, he probably shouldn’t, but you can’t keep him cooped up inside too long.
Thanks again for all your prayers. I think my dad will make a slow but complete recovery and has decided to stick around a little longer. Please pray for continued healing, rest, strength, provision and peace for him and my mom.
Well, we’ve been home four days now and it feels so nice to be home. When we arrived we walked through the house by ourselves before everyone showed up to help unload and it was interesting and kind of neat. Our house is a little smaller than we remembered, but just as cute as we left it. And we left a lot of junk here! At first the thought of setting up house again was a little daunting. But that feeling has since left both of us. Thanks to de-cluttering an area before we unpacked and doing the same to what we were unpacking has made the idea of setting up again not so overwhelming. We are getting rid of tons of stuff. Part of our garage is full. Roger wants to have a garage sale, but I’m lazy so I say take it all to Goodwill or Salvation Army. That’s how lazy I am, I don’t care about making money off it. But it’s all coming together. We are almost finished unpacking everything. We really missed our house and are remembering how much we love it.
It is great being home and being in Austin. It’s still the Austin we love, but a lot has changed and we think we can handle all the changes. I was worried about all the development I read about before we moved back and was concerned the Austin I fell in love with years ago would be gone. But I don’t think high rises in downtown or an explosion of retail can take the weird out of Austin. And that’s just what we like.
Keep Austin Weird!
Thanks again for all your prayers. I think my dad will make a slow but complete recovery and has decided to stick around a little longer. Please pray for continued healing, rest, strength, provision and peace for him and my mom.
Well, we’ve been home four days now and it feels so nice to be home. When we arrived we walked through the house by ourselves before everyone showed up to help unload and it was interesting and kind of neat. Our house is a little smaller than we remembered, but just as cute as we left it. And we left a lot of junk here! At first the thought of setting up house again was a little daunting. But that feeling has since left both of us. Thanks to de-cluttering an area before we unpacked and doing the same to what we were unpacking has made the idea of setting up again not so overwhelming. We are getting rid of tons of stuff. Part of our garage is full. Roger wants to have a garage sale, but I’m lazy so I say take it all to Goodwill or Salvation Army. That’s how lazy I am, I don’t care about making money off it. But it’s all coming together. We are almost finished unpacking everything. We really missed our house and are remembering how much we love it.
It is great being home and being in Austin. It’s still the Austin we love, but a lot has changed and we think we can handle all the changes. I was worried about all the development I read about before we moved back and was concerned the Austin I fell in love with years ago would be gone. But I don’t think high rises in downtown or an explosion of retail can take the weird out of Austin. And that’s just what we like.
Keep Austin Weird!
Mar 8, 2007
We are HOME!
Well, we’re home. I can’t tell you how good it feels to be back in my very own home. We pulled into the driveway at about 3:30pm and immediately started unloading the trailer. We had it about half unloaded when my dad and friend Denise showed up and they helped us unload the rest. We just put the boxes in the garage into different piles according to the rooms they belong to. We decided to tackle the kitchen first and to dust and make sure everything mechanically is working, including all the light bulbs. As we started going from room to room, we noticed that we had left many things behind. We both began to wonder… if we were able to live with just the stuff in the trailer over the past two years in VA, why would we need the rest of the stuff left in the house? I think that over the coming days, we’ll take a hard look at what we really do and don’t need and try to get rid of a lot of junk. I see a yard sale in the near future!
Our friend Jill, who was in DC recently, also came by for a short visit to say Hi. She brought me a six pack of Shiner Bock, the best beer in the world. We really only got as far as unpacking the kitchen, so we have a lot of work left this coming week. Holly, my dad, Denise and I had dinner at Texas Roadhouse and I broke down and had a steak. I think I jumped the gun because now my tummy feels a little twisted. I think I’m going to wrap this up and get to sleep. It’ll be nice to sleep in our own bed in our own house.
Tomorrow will be another busy day. We have to return the trailer, pick up our mail, wait for the cable guy to hook up the TV and Internet, and just do more unpacking. Thanks to everyone for your prayers – they got us here safely. Now please pray that we can get resettled without getting frustrated. -Roger
Our friend Jill, who was in DC recently, also came by for a short visit to say Hi. She brought me a six pack of Shiner Bock, the best beer in the world. We really only got as far as unpacking the kitchen, so we have a lot of work left this coming week. Holly, my dad, Denise and I had dinner at Texas Roadhouse and I broke down and had a steak. I think I jumped the gun because now my tummy feels a little twisted. I think I’m going to wrap this up and get to sleep. It’ll be nice to sleep in our own bed in our own house.
Tomorrow will be another busy day. We have to return the trailer, pick up our mail, wait for the cable guy to hook up the TV and Internet, and just do more unpacking. Thanks to everyone for your prayers – they got us here safely. Now please pray that we can get resettled without getting frustrated. -Roger
Almost Home!
We made it safely to Bryan at noon and will be heading out to Austin shortly after 1pm. We should be in Austin around 3pm. Driving has been good as is the weather. I can’t wait to get home!!!
On our way to Austin
I slept well and fell okay this morning. I do have a bit of a headache, probably from being slightly dehydrated and not getting a whole lot of food in my system yesterday. This morning I had two slices of toast, some 7-Up, water and Gatorade to try to get something in my stomach. Since I feel well enough to travel, we're going to head out shortly to Bryan to see Holly's dad and then Austin. We plan to be in Austin NLT 3pm. Those of you that have volunteered to help unload the trailer - we'll post another update later today with a better ETA.
Mar 7, 2007
Really... I mean REALLY sick
Holly’s sister’s kids woke us up this morning as they got ready for school. I decided to get up for a while and Heather was nice enough to make me a small breakfast. The kids left, and I went back to sleep around 8am and woke again around 11:30am. I decided to take a shower but my stomach felt bad. I took some Pepto and showered anyway. An hour later I felt even worse and took more Pepto. Then it hit me… hard. I must have gotten food poisoning from something at breakfast. Heather said her stomach was upset too and we were the only ones that ate eggs. I felt bad and Holly ran some errands with Heather. While they were gone, it got worse. From about 2pm to 7pm I think I threw up three times and had to use the restroom for other duties maybe ten times. Anyway, I haven’t had to visit the restroom for about three hours now, so I had a little bit of 7-Up, Jell-O and saltines. My stomach doesn’t feel 100% better, but I think the worst is over and if I can keep that little bit of food down, tomorrow should be better. So, our leaving tomorrow for Austin hinges on how I feel. I haven’t had much to eat today so I have no idea how I will feel tomorrow. We have another four hours of driving ahead of us and a stop halfway in Bryan to visit Holly’s dad. If we decide to head out, I hope this doesn’t reoccur on the road. Please pray for me and our safe passage to Austin. I’m going to brush my teeth and try to get some sleep.
Mar 6, 2007
We're in Lufkin, TEXAS!
Wow - what a long day... we left Clarksville around 8:45am and just got to Holly's sister's in Lufkin at 11:30pm. We drove 721 miles today which is only six miles more than we drove Saturday... according to the GPS, at least. But it took us much longer - I'm not sure why. Today's drive was a whole lot easier than Saturday's: minimal wind, good weather, good roads, well coordinated stops. Maybe it was the transition from I-40 and I-30 to US59 - who knows. All we know is that we are in Texas and all the long driving is behind us. This puts our total mileage at 1,436 and 26 hours and 19 minutes of driving with an average speed of 56.7 MPH. We're chillin' tomorrow and will be in Austin on Thursday. Thanks to everyone for your prayers thus far! We're going to grab a bite to eat and get to BED.
You know you are in the “real” South when…
You know you are in the “real” South when...
· There’s a sudden appearance of numerous dead animals on the side of the road and dead bugs on your windshield.
· The land becomes completely flat and the highways are lined with crops or swamps.
· State troopers and sheriff’s deputies are hiding behind brush or overpasses waiting to nab the next speeder, aka “revenue”.
· The roads are so bad you don't know if it’s your vehicle with a flat tire or the potholes, "repaired" potholes or gaps in the pavement making all the noise.
· The billboards quote scripture (i.e.: Acts 16:31), ask you eternal questions (“If you died today, where would you spend eternity?”) or just proclaim who is in charge (JESUS), aka “The Bible Belt”.
· Flags, yellow ribbons and red, white and blue bumper stickers appear on every vehicle passing you because the South is more patriotic than any other region in the “Union”.
· You ask for sweet iced tea at a restaurant and you don’t have to add sugar to it and you can actually get “real” southern food.
· teh further south you drive, the trucks get bigger, the temperature rises and the road side stores get more and more interesting.
406 mi to Lufkin, TX
We’re at a Love’s truck stop near Palestine, AR. We’ve driven a total of 1,027 miles from DC and have 406 to go until we get to Holly’s sister’s house. We should be there near 11pm. The weather has been great and the driving easy. It’s finally somewhat flat and it’s not windy so we don’t have to stop for gas so often. And it’s about 70 degrees now – and they’re getting snow in DC on Wednesday… Ha!
Off to Texas!
I wish we were "get up before the sun rises and be on the road before the crack of dawn" people... but we are not. No way. I don't think we ever will be. It's just shy of 8am and we'll probably be on the road through Nashville, Memphis, Little Rock and finally to Lufkin aroound 8:30am. I assume we'll be there around 9pm. The weather looks good - near 70 this afternoon en route... so I'm wearing shorts, but it's only 40 right now. I hate mornings.
Mar 5, 2007
Still in TN
We’re still here in Nashville at my sister’s house. We decided to take an extra day of rest and take a chance to spend more time with Ariana. The weather here is quite nice – over 60 today. We’ll head out to Lufkin tomorrow and we’ll be home Thursday. If you’re in Austin and can help unload the trailer Thu, send me an email.
Our friend Megan sent me some pics from our last night in Virginia. You can see those pics here: Megan’s Pics.
Lastly, I took some very cute pictures of Ariana taking a bath and there are some other misc pictures of all of us. We’re having great fun here in Clarksville, TN!
Our friend Megan sent me some pics from our last night in Virginia. You can see those pics here: Megan’s Pics.
Lastly, I took some very cute pictures of Ariana taking a bath and there are some other misc pictures of all of us. We’re having great fun here in Clarksville, TN!
Mar 4, 2007
Safe in Clarksville, TN
We made it to my sister’s house in Clarksville, TN safe and sound. We pulled in at about 10:15 CST, we moved from Eastern time to Central time when we neared Nashville – so we gained a needed hour. It was kinda funny – we pretty much ate junky road food all day long – when my sister asked us if we were hungry we asked her, “Do you have any salad?” I ate a big salad, her Chinese leftovers and some fruit. We got to see Ariana and we’re headed off to bed. We ended up driving about 713 miles and averaged about 55 MPH – not too bad for driving about ten hours total.
We drove into a great sunset as we entered TN. Check out the pictures – it was quite stunning and seemed to go on for an hour as the colors just changed and changed.
We drove into a great sunset as we entered TN. Check out the pictures – it was quite stunning and seemed to go on for an hour as the colors just changed and changed.
Mar 3, 2007
Saturday Evening, March 3, 2007
Well, we’re still on the road. We have 147 miles left on I-40 then 198 miles after that. The driving is a little tough this time around. We’re pulling a bigger trailer this time and the hills and crazy strong winds are killing our speed and gas mileage. We won’t make it to Roger’s sister Mirna’s house until after 10:00 p.m. As I was driving I literally watched the gas gauge wind down. So far we have filled up two and a half times. Thank the Lord we saved some money on the trailer because we’ll be using it all for gas.
Roger’s driving now. I was a little nervous about letting him drive. It’s not that I think anything will happen, but I’m more concerned about what to do and what the end result would be if something did happen. So after three attempts to get some lunch (Sonic-power was out in town, Chick-fil-A sign led us to a mall, finally a Sonic that was open), I was frustrated and agitated, so I let Roger drive. Shortly after he began driving my eyelids started getting heavy and I felt myself get tired. Then I realized that I couldn’t sleep with him driving so I was only getting a little rest letting him drive. I’m going to be tired when we get to Mirna’s. I hope we can sleep in late. Roger slept for a bit maybe 30 minutes total while I was driving.
Starting out this morning was challenging. We left later than we wanted to due to all the things we had to get done. Then we noticed the back tires seemed lower than the day before. So we drove down the street to a convenience store with free air and filled them up. Thank goodness we did because when we got there the rear passenger tire looked scary low. After we got started on Hwy 66, we noticed that we now only had about half a tank of gas. All the running around we did on Thursday took more gas than we thought. So that meant we were going to have to stop sooner than we wanted. Then of course, our own selfishness got the best of us at times, so we weren’t having a ton of fun at first. But of course, we laughed at each other enough to get ourselves right. This doesn’t mean we haven’t had a challenge or two since, but adventure can’t be perfectly smooth.
Okay, more later. This is too long as it is for a moblog.
Roger’s driving now. I was a little nervous about letting him drive. It’s not that I think anything will happen, but I’m more concerned about what to do and what the end result would be if something did happen. So after three attempts to get some lunch (Sonic-power was out in town, Chick-fil-A sign led us to a mall, finally a Sonic that was open), I was frustrated and agitated, so I let Roger drive. Shortly after he began driving my eyelids started getting heavy and I felt myself get tired. Then I realized that I couldn’t sleep with him driving so I was only getting a little rest letting him drive. I’m going to be tired when we get to Mirna’s. I hope we can sleep in late. Roger slept for a bit maybe 30 minutes total while I was driving.
Starting out this morning was challenging. We left later than we wanted to due to all the things we had to get done. Then we noticed the back tires seemed lower than the day before. So we drove down the street to a convenience store with free air and filled them up. Thank goodness we did because when we got there the rear passenger tire looked scary low. After we got started on Hwy 66, we noticed that we now only had about half a tank of gas. All the running around we did on Thursday took more gas than we thought. So that meant we were going to have to stop sooner than we wanted. Then of course, our own selfishness got the best of us at times, so we weren’t having a ton of fun at first. But of course, we laughed at each other enough to get ourselves right. This doesn’t mean we haven’t had a challenge or two since, but adventure can’t be perfectly smooth.
Okay, more later. This is too long as it is for a moblog.
390 mi to TN
Just before 3pm and we’re still on I-81 just south of I-77. It has been very windy and we are pretty much heading into the wind. We’re going through the gas like it’s going out of style. I think we’re getting about 250 miles a tank, which is just over 16 MPG. 319 miles behind us and 390 to go, so we’re almost half way. We’re averaging 57.8 MPH. More than you need to know, eh?
551 mi to TN
We’re on I-81 where it meets I-64 and it’s just after noon. The good ole GPS says we’ve traveled a grand total of 156 miles and we have 551 to go. It says we’ll be in TN around 8:30 pm, but that doesn’t include stops. The trip has been good so far. We had to fill up the tank on the way out of town and we also had to air up the tires since I totally forgot and one of the rear tires was looking pretty low. It was too – it was supposed to be 35 PSI and it was just over 25. I took some pictures and uploaded them. Check them out on Flickr (link on the right.) By the way – this is totally cool being on the Internet in a moving vehicle!
Off to TN!
Good morning. We're up and heading out the door to my sister's in TN. Yeah yeah... it's almost 8 - whatever. The drive should take about 10-12 hours. It'll be a long drive and since I can get Internet access on my laptop through my phone, I thought I might try some Mobile Blogging, or MoBlogging, as they call it. Check back on the blog throughout the day. If I can't get a post up, I will add pictures from my phone to our trip's Flickr set - look there instead. I'll let you know when we get to TN safe and sound.
Mar 2, 2007
Off to bed - long day Saturday
A big thanks to Buddy, Amanda, Ryan, Derek, Jumoke, Pili, Charles, Megan, Ruben, Esther, Ashley, Matt, Julie, John, Tamra, Jana, Kezia, Naomi... your help providing materials, ideas, muscle while we packed everything up and loaded the trailer has been such a blessing to us. All we have to do now is wake up, take our last few items down to the truck and drive off. We had a nice meal at El Pollo Rico (which we're going to miss so much since it's so close and sooo yummy) and then we watched just a little TV and talked. Then our great friends presented us with a scrap book full of pictures from our two years here, and goodbyes from many different people from church. We looked at the pictures, but didn't really get a chance to dive into it. We'll enjoy reading it when we get home to Texas. Thanks again to everyone that had a hand in this wonderful gift.
Our time here has been awesome. I can't believe that we're leaving and that one year has passed since my brain surgery! Time has absolutely flown by. It just ticked past midnight and now it is March 3, 2007. One year ago right now my parents and Holly's mom were here and I was trying to get to sleep knowing that I would undergo brain surgery the following morning to remove my tumor. I didn't know it at the time, but the months following the surgery would be the most trying of my life. But here I am, one year later, driving off on one year to the day of that life changing day. Sometimes, it never seems like it happened. But every day I look in the mirror and I see the scar and my thin patch of hair from the radiation. It reminds me of what happened, and how far I have come. But I didn't do it alone. My wonderful wife, Holly, was there by my side every single day. She is my rock. And our family from Grace lifted us up during that time too. God gave you to us so that we could get through that time. In turn, we gave something back to others that are able to take our experience and somehow get through something in their lives just a little bit easier. I'm happy that God used me for that purpose. I will go through it again if I need to, because I feel I have helped more people having experienced this than anything else in my life. And it has made me a better person in the end.
The next few months will be a challenge for us, but it's nothing we won't be able to handle. But for the next 40 days, I'm on vacation... my first in two years. Man, am I looking forward to it! Lastly, Holly shared with you that I am on the selection list for a promotion to E-7/SFC in the Army. This is great news since it means more dinero and it just feels good to know that I made the cut. I had to take what the Army calls a DA Photo (Department of the Army Photo) and submit it with my promotion packet. I thought I'd share it with you. Good night.
Our time here has been awesome. I can't believe that we're leaving and that one year has passed since my brain surgery! Time has absolutely flown by. It just ticked past midnight and now it is March 3, 2007. One year ago right now my parents and Holly's mom were here and I was trying to get to sleep knowing that I would undergo brain surgery the following morning to remove my tumor. I didn't know it at the time, but the months following the surgery would be the most trying of my life. But here I am, one year later, driving off on one year to the day of that life changing day. Sometimes, it never seems like it happened. But every day I look in the mirror and I see the scar and my thin patch of hair from the radiation. It reminds me of what happened, and how far I have come. But I didn't do it alone. My wonderful wife, Holly, was there by my side every single day. She is my rock. And our family from Grace lifted us up during that time too. God gave you to us so that we could get through that time. In turn, we gave something back to others that are able to take our experience and somehow get through something in their lives just a little bit easier. I'm happy that God used me for that purpose. I will go through it again if I need to, because I feel I have helped more people having experienced this than anything else in my life. And it has made me a better person in the end.
The next few months will be a challenge for us, but it's nothing we won't be able to handle. But for the next 40 days, I'm on vacation... my first in two years. Man, am I looking forward to it! Lastly, Holly shared with you that I am on the selection list for a promotion to E-7/SFC in the Army. This is great news since it means more dinero and it just feels good to know that I made the cut. I had to take what the Army calls a DA Photo (Department of the Army Photo) and submit it with my promotion packet. I thought I'd share it with you. Good night.
We're Done Packing and Loading!!
Believe it or not, we've completed packing and the trailer is loaded and ready for us to leave tomorrow morning. The U-Haul place did not have a 5x10 trailer so we got a 6x12 trailer for a lower price! It was amazing and an answered prayer since it was going to be a tight fit. We're cleaning out the fridge and then going to get a bite to eat before going to bed at a decent hour. We plant to be on the road by 7am. What a relief that we're done!!
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