Bad News... Great News... A Rollercoaster Day

I finally stopped in to see my alternate case manager this morning and she pulled up the Radiologist’s report from my MRI a week ago. It still is not a final report and she was unable to print it for me. But I leaned in toward her monitor to read it. The first part sounded like the rest of the reports… mentions of scar tissue, dried blood, necrosis, edema… but the last line, which is the overall impression of the scan read, “cannot rule out progression of neoplasm.”

Without any explanation, that freaked me out. I thought the worst. What did it mean? Was the tumor back? I suddenly felt sick to my stomach. I read it again to make sure I caught it the first time. Yep… I read it right. I felt a little queasy and stood up. She said to me, “do you know what that means?” I said, “I guess it means I’m not out of the woods yet.” She didn’t really say anything back, so I was convinced by her reaction that I was right and I dropped my head and walked out of her office. A female Army Captain that I talk to quite a bit here was waiting to see the case manager next and was seated right outside. She saw my expression and asked me if everything was okay. I didn’t answer. I wanted to cry. She asked me if there was anything she could do. I thought of anything, but didn’t come up with an answer, so I responded with, “I don’t know…” and I walked away. Walking down the halls I ended up at my platoon sergeant’s office and plopped down in his chair. He saw the expression on my face and asked me what was up. I couldn’t talk much… I thought I might cry. So I just told him that the MRI might not be a good one. I really don’t remember exactly what we talked about… I just know that eventually I left and knew that I needed to get something in my stomach so I didn’t feel sick all day.

I hadn’t eaten since 8pm the night before and now it was nearing 9am. I knew I was hungry, but I was sick to my stomach. I went to the chow hall and managed to stuff down a breakfast burrito, some yogurt and a banana. Ii figured that would hold me over for a while. I walked out of the mess hall and wandered into the Chapel area of the hospital on the same floor as the dining facility. Walking in, I noticed there were not very many people around. Nobody seemed to notice me and I felt very alone. I think I was about to walk out when a Major… a Chaplain… asked me if he could help me. I could only manage to get out, “I need to talk to someone.” He looked into my face and immediately opened an office for us to talk in. I sat down, he sat and closed the door and I burst into tears. I sat there uncontrollingly sobbing for a few minutes. I finally cleared my throat and explained what happened earlier to me. But I guess the sadness wasn’t from the shock of what might happen to me, I was more upset at the fact that I could not comprehend why this was happening from a religious aspect. I knew that the Lord does not punish us for our sins… but I felt like I was being punished for some reason. He then stated that he believed, as do I, that sometimes God gives us a little nudge or a reminder to take care of certain things in our lives that we might have been struggling with for a long time. This immediately related to me as I’m sure it relates to many people.

He asked me what else I was feeling and I answered fear. Not fear of dying, but fear of suffering. Physical suffering for me and suffering for Holly and my family if we indeed did have to go through what we already went through. I did not want to go through any of that again. My mind was racing at a thousand miles an hour and I was just going through a whole range of emotions and thoughts of everything in my life. He mentioned some verses from Genesis and we had just studied Genesis a few weeks ago at church. Then he mentioned a few things that very closely related to a book study that we just completed that related to me too. It was just odd that so many things correlated to what I was going through right at that moment. We talked for about an hour and I decided I was emotionally stable enough to leave and go back to my room. Before I left, he handed me his card and told me that he was actually the Chaplain for the Brigade that I am in. I was supposed to go to him anyway and he was at our formation this morning. Freaky.

I went back to my room and finally called Holly to tell her what I had found out this morning. Then the Captain and another Sergeant came by to check on me. They invited me to lunch, but I really wasn’t hungry. They left and I then talked to my sister and my father. All of those conversations were a blur. It’s sad to say, but I was just repeating the same thing over and over again. I just felt like I needed people to know and to pray for me. I called up my friend Buddy and we talked for a good while. It was around that time that the Captain came back and I invited her in for a chat. She sat down and the first thing I managed to get out was, “Do you go to church?” She surprised me by answering, “You’re probably not going to believe this, but I used to be a Nun.” Holy Cow!!! We had another very good conversation that encouraged me and she urged me to call my Neurosurgeon’s cell phone. I had already called his office and emailed him, but never got a call back. She convinced me that he would not have given it to me if he didn’t want me to call… so after she left, I did.

I picked up my phone and gave him a call and he answered. I told him about what happened earlier in the morning and said he’d call me back on his land-line. He loaded up the MRI images on his computer and I loaded them up on my laptop. He told me where to look and we went through the images slice by slice together. This MRI, or ‘study’ as they call it, consisted of 5mm slices of my brain. He was comparing last week’s MRI to the one we did in April. We looked at a few things and did notice some differences. First of all, it looked like the edema, or swelling, had withdrawn about 5mm in one area – that was good. Everything else looked slightly different from last time, but the size of the mass was still 1cm. He said the differences in appearance could be due to how my head was oriented this time compared to last time. MRIs of the brain will never look exactly the same twice; there are just too many factors. He said that what is there could be scar tissue, blood from the surgery, necrotic tissue from the radiation (that usually does not appear until 12-18 months after radiation has completed – it has been 12), or it might be neoplasm, or tumor. The latter not being very likely in his opinion. He said that he didn’t think there was anything to worry about and that he was disappointed with the radiologist’s report and the fact that it has taken them so long to finalize it. He had never heard of the radiologist’s name, ever worked with him or knew who he was, so he didn’t even trust the report. Let me tell you, I’ll trust a neurosurgeon’s opinion of a brain MRI before I trust one from a radiologist that has to interpret MRIs from all over the body. My doctor just works on brains all day, every day. He suggested that the next likely step would to do a PET scan or a SPECT scan to try to determine exactly what the components are up there before jumping to conclusions. Those are very detailed 3D scans that can distinguish different types of tissue. What a RELIEF!!!

I have an appointment with my Radiation/Oncologist Monday and my Neurosurgeon wants me and Holly to stop by. Oh yeah… did I tell you that Holly will be coming out here for a few weeks?!? Yay! So, today has been a very emotional day filled with ups and downs. Can you count how many times God tried to get my attention today? I think he’s trying to tell me something. Thanks for your continued prayer.

By the way, you can have this blog emailed directly to you if you scroll all the way to the bottom of the page on the website and sign up. And if you use Yahoo or Google as your homepage, you can subscribe by clicking the buttons to the right on the webpage. Alright, it’s 11:40pm here on the east coast and its still 90 degrees out. Thank God they fixed the AC in our building today!

No update yet - Maybe Tue

Just a quick update… I found out today that my Case Manager is on leave, so I did not get the test results. I’m going to call my Neurologist tomorrow and see if he can read them to me. It is darn hot and humid here. Highs of 98-100 Tue with heat indices up to 110. I’m going to stay out of the heat as much as possible tomorrow. Alright, that’s it for now. I hope to have more news tomorrow.

Dad's Doctor's Appointment

Last Monday I took my dad to a doctor's appointment he has about every two or three weeks for his coumadin levels with his primary care doctor. I found out his name is Dr. James Bonds. Not James Bond, James Bonds. Interesting fellow. He told us some war stories from working at Darnall Army Hospital at Fort Hood. I have so much more respect for him now.

My dad and I compiled a list of questions to ask Dr. Bonds and he graciously answered all of them. I can tell you I feel a lot more comfortable with my dad's health care now. And I'm not as concerned about him leaving this earth anytime soon.

So although my dad has heart damage due to damaged veins from years of smoking and the resulting heart attacks, he does not have heart failure. Which is a good thing. The problem is the damaged veins can not bring fluid back up to his heart. As I posted before, an angiogram showed my dad's heart is only working at 15-20%. So my dad is going to experience the fluid retention and swelling probably for the rest of his life. It has been getting better since he went home on July 19th. The decision to implant the defibrillator was made by my dad's cardiologist as a precaution. Dr. Bonds believes the only thing my dad might experience and it was a big might would be heart arrhythmias (irregular heartbeat). So he will most likely have the defibrillator for a long time. So far it has not gone off, but he will feel it if it does. And it will give him a good startle because it feels like you stuck your hand in an electrical socket except the charge comes from the chest. The batteries usually last around 10 years unless it's used more often. My dad and I both wondered if he needed to keep his nitroglycerin pills on him now that he has the defibrillator. Dr. Bonds said he should because they would help with chest pain during an attack.

Regarding the blood clot in his right leg, he will stay on coumadin probably until October then a sonogram will be performed to check on any reduction. My dad feels like it must have reduced in size at least a little because his leg doesn't swell as it did previously. Now all my dad needs to do is rest so he can recover and gain weight. With the two polyps removed he has a better chance of not experiencing digestive issues which would prevent him from gaining weight. Dr. Bonds told him he could eat anything he wanted and as often as he wanted. He prescribed two supplements such as Ensure every day plus getting lots of protein. He ate well before but now he's eating even more especially sliced brisket sandwiches from C&J BBQ in Bryan. He's consuming at least 2-4 pounds of sliced brisket a week. He's going to turn into a sliced brisket sandwich. He will gain weight, but it will be slow.

He's doing a lot better, getting around a little better and feeling better. He still gets tired and he's still weak. I kept telling him he needs to take it easy and rest. He pushed it too hard at first, but now he's learned what his limitations are right now. He has been on the tractor to shred the front pasture but I don't know if he's driven a truck yet. He's anxious to go fishing at Sam Rayburn Lake on my sister's family's new pontoon boat. It is a lot of fun. But he's not going to push it too hard, too fast.

So please keep praying for my dad. Dr. Bonds said he most likely will not improve past his current condition which means he will not be able to do the physically demanding work he has done all his life. My dad will have to find a different means of making ends meet other than welding, blacksmithing, masonry, carpentry, etc. And I'm sure not being able to get around easily will affect him emotionally also. Thank you for all your prayers and concern. My family greatly appreciates it.

No Official Results Yet

I stopped in to see my Case Manager today to see if the MRI results were in the computer yet. She looked and part of it was there, but it was not completed or ‘signed’ yet. I’ll check back with her tomorrow afternoon. This morning I had my first assignment with the Stripe, WRAMC’s weekly newspaper. I photographed the dedication of a building here on post to CPL Angelo J. Vaccaro, a soldier and medic who gave his life in the line of duty. This guy is a hero… the kind of guy you want to have in your platoon if you run into action. He did some amazing stuff and saved more than a handful of lives on the battlefield. You can read about some of the amazing things he did in this Stripe article from last week’s edition.

The shoot went very well. I was nervous as hell and it didn’t help that it was just about as hot as hell out there. I knew that the paper was relying on me for their pictures and I didn’t want to let them down, so I think I took too many pictures to make sure I didn’t miss anything. I ended up taking 186 photos in an hour – and I’ll bet they don’t even use some as the reporter there took her camera too. But maybe I’ll make the front page – I’ll let you know. I talked to the reporter later in the day and she was impressed. I’m not one to toot my own horn though, so well see how it turns out. I’m just doing this because I want to be a better photographer and doing this in my spare time will push me to work better as my work will be critiqued. I need that. I’ll post some of the photos next week after the paper comes out – I don’t want to post them before that as a courtesy to the paper. When I got back to my room, my entire uniform was soaked with sweat – yes, it was that hot outside. I had to change into different clothes for Aquatic Physical Therapy, so I had to lay my uniform out to dry. It was a very hot day and tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter and more humid.

Speaking of tomorrow, I am shooting Organization Day on Friday. O-Day, as they call it, is a day where two hours around lunch is set aside for people to have fun. People can bring their kids, there are games, food and fun. I have no idea what to expect… but I know one thing. I’m going casual in some wicking shorts and a t-shirt because I hear everyone else will be casual. I hope I take some decent pictures for them. Oh... and the best part about O-Day? No 0730 formation Friday morning!! I can sleep in.

MRI looks good to me... waiting for confirmation

Just want to send out a quick thank you to all of you who have been praying for me. I had my MRI today and I got to see the images for myself. I compared the images to the MRI from April and they look very similar. From the looks of it, there's no new tumor growth, but I am not a professional. I plan to visit my case manager Thursday to get a copy of the Radiologist's report - the final word. I'll let you know what it says when I get it.

Big MRI Tomorrow for Roger

I know; long time, no blog. As you have been reading, thanks to Holly’s posts, I have been quite busy here. I now have formation every Mon, Wed and Fri at 0730, and I have to call in on Tue and Thu before 0800. Right now I am doing regular Physical Therapy (PT) on Mon and Fri at 0930 and Aquatic PT on Tue and Thu at 0930. I leave Wed open to rest. All the running around here in the heat and all the exercise from PT really wears me out. And let me tell you, I’m not just doing the minimum in these PT sessions either. I really push myself way beyond the numbers that they set for me. I want to get better and it feels good to work out. Yesterday, I pushed it a little hard but it didn’t phase me… I was doing this exercise where a therapist and I do a very quick side step while tossing a seven pound ball back and forth… we move at a pretty fast pace. Well, it was pretty crowded and there were lots of canes, people and wheelchairs lining the aisle. We did a couple down and back, but on the third one it looked like more stuff was in the way, and I was so busy looking out for stuff, that I ran into the curtain. Only problem was, there was a chair behind the curtain! So I fell on to the floor.. my right hip hit the ground but my arm hung on to the chair and that helped break my fall a bit. My therapist asked if I was okay and a Navy O-3 helped me up… I announced that I was fine… and we did a few more laps. No pain, no gain; right?

In other news: I recently started attending a group here that meets twice a week called “The Think Tank.” And I am also looking into helping out the newspaper here on post, the Stripe. More on those in another post.

So, here’s the BIG reason for this post: My One Year MRI after the end of my cancer treatment is tomorrow at the Naval Hospital at 1pm. The only problem is.. I can't talk to my doctor about it until Aug 13th! No worries though, after the MRI is done, I'm going to go downstairs and get of a copy of it on CD and pop it into my laptop. After looking at these things for over a year and having my last one to compare to, I think I'll be able to tell if there's anything growing that shouldn't be. And I'll be able to get a copy of the Radiologist's report in a few days to confirm. I know God has been good to me and I feel pretty peaceful about it and that it is going to be a good scan. But I might have trouble sleeping tonight thinking about it. Please pray for me... please pray that I get some rest and that it is clear. I can't tell you how excited I am to have this year behind me since I finished Radiation Therapy. I can't wait to finally declare to the world that I, Roger Mommaerts Jr, am a cancer survivor.

Latest on Roger & Harvey Sr

Well, Roger's MEB process officially started last week. He had a bunch of exams yesterday and has been gathering all the paper work needed for his packet. Now he can watch the progress and hopefully help speed it up.

My dad is doing a lot better. All his swelling is down. He feels a lot better but his legs are still weak and tired. He had been exercising his arms and legs to try to get them strong again. But he over did it on Monday. I keep telling him he needs to rest more than exercise but I can understand him wanting to get better. As far as I know, his defibrillator has not gone off yet. Thank goodness.

Please keep Roger & my dad in your prayers.

Update On My Dad

My dad was released from the hospital on Thursday aftenoon. I took him home and got him all settled in. Friday I spent the day organizing and rearranging my parents' house so he can get around easier with his walker. He is doing better at home. His spirits are up. He hates hospitals and doctors. He was supposed to get physical therapy to walk him around while he was at the hospital but they never showed up. So he laid for eight days in the hospital and he was pretty swollen from no activity. He walked around the house a lot on Friday and that has helped with the swelling a little. It will take a while for it to all go down. He is taking a pill for water retention and he used the restroom quite a bit Friday. So that will help with the swelling also. He was pretty weak when he got home. He is still weak and tired. But he is trying to walk around and rest to build up his strength and endurance again. He was doing pretty good before he went into the hospital two weeks ago so he believes he can get back to where he was.

He's not too happy about the defibrillator. They didn't tell him anything about it before it was implanted. And after his surgery was done on Wednesday, a rep from the manufacturer came Thursday morning to go over it with him. The rep told him he would not be able to be near a welding machine nor generator. My dad was pretty pissed about that since that's how he makes his living. The rep told him he needed to stay 20 feet or more from those machines. We know he won't be welding for a while, but he was not happy that they didn't tell him everything up front. Also, he can't lift his left arm above his shoulder for one month nor lift anything heavy for 3 months. He couldn't get the incision wet for 48 hours so my mom is going to help him shower this afternoon. I know he's ready for that. He'll need help mainly because he's so weak and gets tired just walking a short distance. He has an appointment next week with Dr. Bond, his internal medicine/PCM and in two weeks he will have his defibrillator checked. My dad's GI had a CT done Wednesday morning of his stomach and abdomen. He hasn't heard the results of that and as soon as we know, I'll post those. I'm glad they are still trying to figure out what's going on with his digestive system. I did find out the two polyps found during the flex sig were removed and as I posted before they were negative for cancer. So...please keep praying for my dad and his health and my family. Thanks again.

Prayer Works!

Thank you for praying for Roger's lost wallet to be found and for protection. Not only was it found, but it was found by a police officer. Usually lost and found are given to a specific department and it takes weeks to return the object to the owner. The police officer who found it gave it to a detective because he saw Roger's military ID. That detective used every piece of information in Roger's wallet to contact him. He found Roger's medical alert card and looked it up online. Roger's information on that website says to contact his wife and gives my cell phone. So my first call early this morning was from an Alexandria, VA police detective. Roger has already contacted him this morning and his wallet is being mailed to our friend's house since it is hard for Roger to get to the police station during the week and during business hours. Praises and blessings to you who prayed and praises to the Lord for answering our prayers. On that note, I am asking you to prayer for my father and my family. My father's health is not good at all. I haven't expressed that in my previous blogs because my dad was not telling my mom everything and therefore I wasn't aware of everything. My dad was moved into ICU last Friday because all indications were showing his health was getting scary. If he improves from all this, it's going to be very slow if at all. He even mentioned something to my sister about his legs being amputated. My sister and I have decided arrangements need to be made and decisions about how my dad wants things done if he passes need to be made. We don't like thinking about that, but it's got to be done. So please, please pray for my dad's health and my family's peace and rest. I'm on my way to Bryan now and I have a list of questions for the doctor's and my mom & dad. Please pray for me to be able to stay calm and not lose my emotions addressing these issues. And pray for all of us, my siblings, to be able to be there for my mom and each other during this time. Thank you.

Surgery Today

My mom just called me (11:30 a.m. Central) to let me know a defibrillator was going to be implanted in my dad today. My dad told my sister last night that he flat lined nine times while he was in ICU. My mom didn't even know that. My family is not known for good communication. So the defibrillator will monitor his heart rate. It uses batteries to send electric signals to a heart that’s beating too slow, same as a pacemaker. It can also deliver an electric shock to help restore a normal heartbeat to a heart that’s beating chaotically and much too fast.

Last Saturday my dad had a flexible sigmoidoscopy. Two polyps were found and tested for cancer. The results were negative. The doctors said they would go back and probe his stomach also, but I'm not sure how soon this will be done now that he is having the defibrillator implanted today.

My sister and her kids were on their way to the hospital this morning to see my dad. We still don't know what time the surgery will be performed. I am going to Bryan tomorrow morning. I might be able to take my dad home from the hospital. Please keep my dad in your prayers. We knew this would be a long road but I don't think we ever imagined it would be this rough also. I will update early tomorrow morning with the results of his surgery. Thank you so much for praying for my dad and my family.

I'm Home!

Well I got home late tonight after a crazy journey today. My flight from DC to Raleigh was delayed over an hour and I almost missed my connecting flight. The worst part was we were informed after we boarded the plane and taxied out to take off that we would not be able to fly due to bad weather and wouldn't find out for an hour when we could take off. I couldn't believe they were going to make us sit out on the tarmac for an hour. But we did. Thank goodness all other flights on the East coast were delayed. My plane landed in Raleigh and I ran, flip flops and all, to the next gate to hear "We are now boarding." I was so happy. I did not want to have to stay in Raleigh for the night. But I didn't have time to get food or go to the bathroom. So I had to wait until I got home after checking in with Super Shuttle and waiting about ten minutes to be the last person dropped off before I could get dinner. I walked into my house at 10:30 p.m. My last meal was lunch with Roger at the Mologne House at 1:00 p.m. If you know me even a little, you know I was about to die going nine and a half hours between meals. Thank goodness I forgot I had a SoyJoy bar and a Kashi TLC bar in my purse and security didn't find it. I was not about to pay $3 for a bag of potato chips or a snack pack on the plane.

I am so glad to be home. I wish Roger was here with me, but we can't always have it our way. Roger and I are already talking about when I will go back. It's easier for me to go visit him than for him to visit me. He actually has to use leave which he doesn't have much. And now that it looks like he's going to be there longer than we originially thought he wants to save up as much leave as possible for Christmas. He meets with his Physical Evaluation Board Liason Office (PEBLO) Wednesday. So that means his process should be starting soon. And hopefully he can make it go faster.

I heard that my grandfather might have been able to be buried on Sunday morning. The funeral happened as scheduled on Saturday afternoon although no one was able to get to the cemetery because of the condition of the roads due to all the flooding. I will make a special trip to the cemetery as soon as possible. I heard lots of pictures were taken of all the family at the funeral and dinner following. So hopefully I will be able to see those soon. I wish I could have been there. It's really sad that the only time we can all get together is at a funeral. Maybe we'll have to change that.

So my dad is doing a lot better. He is still in ICU but he does not have a parasite or bacteria. He is still going to see an infectious disease specialist this Thursday. But I'm glad he's still there getting one on one care. I plan to go to Bryan Thursday and Friday to spend the day with him. Hopefully I don't drive him crazy and make his blood pressure rise too much. I have to give him his birthday present since I missed it on July 14th.

I'm finally off to bed. I need to get some sleep. I'm off to Sea World San Antonio tomorrow with my sister Heather, brother-in-law Jeff, my niece Elizabeth and nephews William and Phillip. Man, I'm going to need Wednesday to recover.

Weekend Update

Well, my dad was moved into ICU on Friday evening. My mom was at my grandfather's visitation way out in Cameron, Texas and I guess didn't get a good cellular signal so she did not receive any of the calls from the hospital or my brother. When she returned home and got the news at home, she was very worried and called me. I told her that even though visiting hours were over she should go up to ICU anyway. So she did and found out he was moved into ICU because he was having chest pains and the doctors were worried about his stitches from his heart surgery in February. So they decided to move him into ICU for closer observation and for one on one care. They did perform a sonogram and ruled out their concerns. My mom said my dad looked and sounded so much better than when she saw him at 2:30 p.m. that afternoon and his blood pressure was up. I am glad they moved him into ICU. I might be a little bias, but I think my dad needs special care right now. An infectious disease doctor has been added to his case. Thank the Lord. Last I heard they were still waiting for the culture to grow to rule out a parasite, but he does not have bacteria.

Due to the flooding most of Texas has experienced my grandfather was not able to be buried Saturday. The funeral home said four by four vehicles can't even get to the cemetery which is way out in the country off dirt roads. I've never heard of this happening before so I guess they'll let us know when he can be buried. Maybe I'll be able to attend the funeral after all. I fly home this afternoon.

To add to it, Roger lost his wallet late Saturday night. Although all accounts have been closed, frozen or put on hold, so far, we haven't seen any activity. We are hoping someone is trying to figure out how to contact him. There is emergency contact information in his wallet if it is searched completely. It was very frustrating for Roger. He was so hard on himself for losing it. He expects so much from himself and can't believe he lost his wallet. Thank the Lord Roger cleaned out his wallet recently and removed a lot of unnecessary stuff. We made a list of the contents of his wallet and there wasn't much in there. There will be some cards he will not attempt to replace until he returns to Texas. And he was able to get on post yesterday even without an ID and we were able to have dinner last night without his meal card. There are some really nice people working here at Walter Reed. He has already replaced a few of his military items and will probably have a new military ID in a few days. All the police, credit bureau and such reports will wait a couple days to see if his wallet is returned.

This has been a whirlwind weekend for us full of stresses and struggles. Please pray for healing for my dad's health, peace and joy for my family, safety for my flight today, protection for Roger's identity and the return of his wallet and for God's grace and mercy for our separation. Please pray for me to be able to love, encourage and support Roger from Texas while he's still here in DC. I don't know when I'll be able to return to see him or when he'll be able to come home. Thank you for your prayers and love. Until next time...

Update on My Dad

My dad is still in the hospital. I'm so glad. He will be seeing an infectious disease specialist today. Now the doctor's don't think he has a parasite, but some type of bacteria. He is still very weak and is not keeping any food down. He is receiving nutrition directly into his blood system. They are waiting for some test results and more tests are going to be done today. I don't see him going home in time for my grandfather's funeral. The visitation is tonight from 6:00-8:00 p.m. and the funeral is tomorrow at 3:00 p.m.

Wise Men

My dad, Harvey Wise, is back in the hospital. His stomach was swelling and my mom called Dr. Bond Wednesday to ask what should be done. Dr. Bond made an appointment for that morning and asked my dad to come in. I don't have all the specifics but some how they discovered my dad has some kind of parasite possibly from fruit. Dr. Bond's first suggestion was going to take too long for my dad so he was admitted into the hospital, given an IV and medication for the parasite. My dad has been very weak because he hasn't been consuming any of the food he eats I guess because this parasite is consuming it all. His blood pressure was very low. My dad was hoping an IV would give him some energy and he could get some nutrition in the hospital. I'm quite surprised that he would do that but I'm glad my dad is getting better about doctors and hospitals. Last night he threw up all the dinner he ate at the hospital. I'm trying to find out from my mom what caused him to throw up and what it means. I'm sure this will help him be able to get the nutrients he needs and help him feel and heal better and faster. Please keep him and his health in your prayers. As soon as I have more information on this I will update the blog.

Tuesday my grandfather, William "Buster" Jasper Wise Jr, passed away about 2:30 p.m. My grandfather's health has not been well for quite some time. His diabetes has been worse due to not eating properly nor getting insulin as needed. He had fallen a few times and a couple weeks ago his doctors finally demanded he move into a nursing home. My aunts were starting the process of finding a nursing home for him when his health turned for the worse. He was in ICU at Scott and White Hospital in Temple, Texas when he died. I'm still here in DC and will not be able to attend the funeral this Saturday. My mom is not sure if my dad's health will be improved enough for him to attend either. I know we both wish we could be there. Please pray for our family to stay strong and supportive through all these tough times.

Here's the obituary that will be in the Cameron Herald (weekly newspaper) next week: William J. "Buster" Wise Jr., 84, of Cameron died July 10 in a Temple hospital. Funeral services were held July 14 at Marek-Burns-Laywell Funeral Home in Cameron with the Rev. Jim Lafferty officiating. Burial followed in the Rice Cemetery. Wise was born May 8, 1923 in the Hanover Community of Milam County to William and Bernice (Dodson) Wise. He married Ruby Elizabeth Wise and she preceded him in death in 1995. He was a U.S. Army veteran of World War II and was a member of the Third Street Church of Christ. A sister, Helen McLane, also preceded him in death.Survivors include sons, Charlie Wise of Cameron; Russell Wise of Rosebud; and Harvey Wise and Clell Wise, both of Bryan; daughters, Sharon Harber of Bryan; Margie Horton of Humble and Theresa Klecka of Buckholts; sisters, Edna Lee Riley of Kansas City, Mo.; Esher Addington of Cedar Springs and Lora Lee Mortimer of Waco; 16 grandchildren; 16 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.

Mr President & Ms United States

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!!

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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!!

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.

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.

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!

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!

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!

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!

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.

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!!

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.

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.

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.

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:

• -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.

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.

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!