Xavier Went Home

Praise the Lord!! Xavier was released from the hospital yesterday and went home. That must mean he is doing really well. We are so very excited for him to be home. Thank you so much for all your prayers for our friends. You can check out the details on their blog: http://buddyandamanda.blogspot.com/.

Almost home?

Just a quick update on my goings on here at Walter Reed. I understand from my Case Manager that my case has been reviewed by the Army Physical Disability Agency and I can only assume that they approved it and it is now moving on to what we call Transportation and Transition. They let my Company here know that I’m going home and then my Platoon Sargeant and I sit down to see how much leave I have and want to use. This is kinda how it works… they are required to give me ten business days to out-process here and then twenty calendar days of transitional leave plus any leave I have accrued. All this begins when orders are published. We have to sit down, decide that the above is pretty much what I want to do, submit it to Transportation and Transition and they will cut the order in a few days. Example: Say my name shows up on the list sometime next week. We’ll go over the paperwork and submit it. They publish an order saying that all this starts on March 10th. I understand that means I’ll have ten business days of out-processing and that my leave begins March 22nd. Right now I have 50 days of leave plus 20 days of transitional leave… that’s 70 days of leave (woah!) So that means I’d be on leave through May 30th. The whole time I will be paid, and also receive my housing allowance. I could even choose to go back to work at my civilian job through that time. But I’ve been away for four years – so I have no idea what I’ll be doing. Maybe a nice vacation with Holly. May 31st would be my first day medically retired. We’ll see how it goes.

Other than just waiting for that, I’m just chillin’. I helped Amanda and Buddy run errands yesterday and we took some portraits of little Xavier for announcements. When Holly was here my portable hard drive took a fall while it was running from a coffee table and now it refuses to run. I think I’m going to send it off to have the data recovered. That really stinks. What else is there?.. Winter has really sucked here. We’ve only gotten two decent snows and a lot of rain. That’s about it for now.

Here’s an update from Holly on her dad:
Harvey is still having digestive issues. The ulcer medication had to be approved by insurance and was taking so long to get approved and prescribed that Dr. Bonds prescribed an over the counter medication instead so it would get into his system since it's the same thing as the prescription medication. His legs started swelling again after activity this week. He had a follow-up appointment with Dr. Bonds Thursday and he's going to start the Warfarin again in a few weeks. He really needs the ulcer medication to start healing him so his digestive issues will calm down.

Baby Bear Is Here!

Amanda's due date was February 16th. Although most of us didn't think she'd make it to that, especially after contractions began last Wednesday, I figured Baby Bear would come while I was here in DC sometime. I was really hoping to meet Baby Bear before I left because if I didn't, I don't know how long it would be before I did since I'm flying home to Texas this afternoon and this may be my last visit to DC. But we got a text message about 7:00 o'clock this morning that after five hours of labor Xavier Allen Staats was born at 4:48 a.m. He's 8 lbs, 4 oz, 20 inches long and had a full head of hair. Not surprised by the full head of hair, if you know Papa Staats. Mama Staats and Baby Bear are both doing great. And we're on our way to meet him before I head to the airport. Check out their blog for updates and pictures soon.

No Hearing, Great Results, Excellent Birthday!

I know that many of you know that I had a hearing scheduled for this morning to appeal my initial disability rating from the Army Physical Evaluation Board (PEB) of 30%. Up to this point I didn't want to reveal too much information because my attorney had a strategy and the last thing I wanted to do was to undermine it. I know that sounds kinda' lame, but I don't know who's reading this blog. I can't remember how much detail I went into after I got my initial rating so I recap just a bit.

After I got that rating, it seemed low to me so I went to talk to a rep from the Disabled American Veterans (DAV). They have someone on-site at Walter Reed (WRAMC) to help us out with these things. When he looked at it and then looked at the regulation, he said it looked like I was supposed to get 100% disability. The DAV has a program where law firms in the DC area will represent soldiers that want to appeal their ratings. I was assigned an awesome lawyer from the firm Jones Day. This guy was awesome. He looked up tons of information regarding my situation, gathered documents and records and spoke to me several times to discuss my case. We finally met face to face last week at their office in DC and we went over all the information they gathered for my case. Then late last week I had to do some running around to gather a few more documents right up to Friday night. I took the weekend off and stayed with my good friends Amanda and Buddy (check out their blog!).

Monday morning I was getting ready to do some more info gathering when I saw that I missed a call on my phone. It was my PEBLO Counselor and he said that he had a new DA199 for me. The DA199 is the form that has a disability rating on it. I was a bit confused and when I called him back, I had to leave him a message. I then called my attorney and he said he wouldn't be surprised because they came to WRAMC last week and observed a hearing and then had a chance to speak to the board. Then as I was about to run out the door, my Case Manager called me saying that I needed to speak to my PEBLO ASAP! I headed right over there and as I was walking down the hall, he came out of his office and he called me back immediately. He showed me the new paperwork and apparently, after my attorney met with them, they convened another informal board and changed my rating from 30% to 100% through Aug 2009 on the Temporary Disability Retirement List (TDRL). So, I did not have to go to my hearing after all! I shared this new information with my attorney and he told me it looked like this was the best I was going to get, so I signed it.

Now the paperwork has to go to the Army Physical Disability Agency (PDA) for approval. If they agree, then they will cut order for we to leave WRAMC and I couold be home by the end of March. I know it's all confusing, but there is a very good short summary of the whole process, including what TDRL and other things mean, here: Military Disability (Medical) Separations and Retirements. This has been such a relief for me and my entire family. This entire four year saga of being away from home might soon be over... but lets just keep on praying for now. Thanks for praying for me and sticking in there. We only have a little bit more to go!

So today is my birthday... I'm 33. The staff at the Stripe newspaper office had cake for me - that was nice of them. And this evening I went back over to Amanda & Buddy's for dinner, games and cake. I'm so glad they invited me. It was nice to have a somewhat regular birthday. I wish Holly was here with me, but I'll see her soon enough. BTW - I think Amanda is going to be giving birth either Thu or Fri, the contractions are kicking in, so please pray for a safe delivery!

Updates On Everyone

I'm just giving some quick updates on everyone. First, my brother, Harvey Jr (aka Bubba), his wife Brandy and my nephew Cole found out Thursday they are going to have a little girl. Cole was very excited and he got a picture of his baby sister Chloe Grace to take home with him. Brandy is due in early June. This will be my second niece. Yeah for girls! As for my dad's health, he had his defibrillator checked on Tuesday and found out it engaged three times since it was inserted in him last summer on August 26th, September 8th and September 26th. He told the doctor that he has not felt anything. His doctor said when his heart got out of sync the defibrillator got it back in sync before anything happened. So now he can stop griping about it because it's saved his life three times already. Do you think he will? Ha! Probably not. I finished pressing the wrap dress I made on Super Bowl Sunday and before I went out to eat with girlfriends tonight took some pictures in it and posted them in the Flickr set Sewing Projects. I'm really pleased with how it turned out. If I can't wear my little black dress for graduation, I could wear this. I'll blog about my little black dress situation in a few days.

Graduation talk reminds me that my first test this semester is Tuesday. I started studying today and plan to spend at least an hour every day studying until the test. I want to make an A in this class to bring my GPA up a tad in the event I decide to go to graduate school. So far we've covered the introduction to Biblical Archaeology and the excavations found in the Holy Land during the Neolithic period (8,500-4,300 BC). I'll try to post the significant finds this week sometime. Our friends Amanda & Buddy are about to have their baby any day now. Roger is staying with them this weekend and he said he thinks she's not going to make it to the due date of February 16th. I think he just wants the baby to be born on his birthday, February 13th. We talked about what if she went into labor while he was there this weekend and his response was, "I've got my camera ready."

Speaking of Roger's birthday, it's this coming Wednesday. Which is also the same day as his disability appeal hearing. He has spoke with and met with his lawyers already a couple times. They are working on gathering all the evidence and preparing for testimony from Roger and his old boss who they are calling as a witness. After the lawyers present their evidence and ask Roger and his boss questions, the board will convene privately to make the final decision before presenting it to Roger. I know Roger is a little nervous about "taking the stand" and I can hear it in his voice that he's getting anxious and nervous wondering if all this work is going to pay off. He could appeal the board's decision on Wednesday, but it probably wouldn't be worth the time and effort. It would have to go to a higher level.

Although I thought this Wednesday could possibly be the start of a count down for his return home, I spoke with Roger Friday night and he has heard that it can take up to 30 days for the board's decision to get to everyone it needs to get to including the people that cut orders which would start the process of out processing which could take 30 days. This means that although I thought Roger could be home by mid-March, it looks like he probably won't be home until mid-April. This sucks, but like I've said before, I decided a long time ago I wasn't going to consider him home until he drives into our drive way. He did mention that he has heard of some people going home during that first 30 days, but as usual, this is hearsay and so far most of the hearsay at WRAMC is just that, hot air.

I won't be able to be there for Roger's hearing or birthday, but I may be there the weekend after. We are taking advantage of a service that gives free airfare to families of soldiers at military hospitals. And as usual, anything involved with the military can't be simple. They told Roger if he doesn't hear from them, then it was most likely approved. Don't you just love that. Oh, it gets better. I won't find out the actual flights and times until Thursday, February 14th even though I'll be flying the next day, February 15th. You gotta love the military. So I'm going to pack on Wednesday afternoon since I'm on campus all day on Thursday and don't get home until 9:30 p.m. usually.

Well, that's all I can think of. I'm sure there's more I've forgotten. I won't forget this though. Please pray for Roger this week, especially on Wednesday. Please ask the Lord to give him peace and rest, for the hearing to go smoothly and for the board's hearts to be softened to Roger's needs. Oh, can you throw a little prayer in there for me also? It's not easy being married without a husband. I went through a little situational depression recently and I could sure use the prayers. Thanks so much for caring about our lives and praying for us. You don't know how much we appreciate it and feel your love.

MRI Oct 31 and BUSH!

First off… I have another follow-up MRI on Wed, Oct 31 at 4:15pm ET. Please pray that the cancer/tumor is still gone and that it never comes back. I’ll give you the results in a few days after I hear back from my Radiation/Oncologist.

Speaking of Rad/Onc, I was in the shoppette PX in the main hospital today after Aquatic Therapy and I saw one of the residents that helped treat me during my radiation at Bethesda, Dr. Smart. It was so good to see her again. She was so happy to see the progress I have made since she first met me back in May 2006. She remembers a guy with a bad limp and a cane. We walked and talked back to her office, which I pass almost every day, but I have never seen her even though she’s been here since January! I guess they don’t get out much – she said they don’t.

It’s been a pretty busy few weeks since I got back from leave. Let’s see… this week I met my new case manager. I was handed off to a temp case manager for a few weeks after my old one left. It turns out that my former case manager didn’t do as much as she could have done for me. I met with my temp case manager a few weeks ago and she had a lot of questions regarding why things in my case had not been initiated. Anyway, I’ll explain more later, but my temp took care of me and now I’m moving to a new one. He has ideas of his own. I know it sounds confusing, but I’ll sort it out here in a few days.

I’ve had five photo assignments since I got back and have been staying busy with that. Some weeks are busier than others. This week has been slow. I’ll eventually post pics of my work.

Before I went on leave I took pictures of our church’s softball team in action. We have two teams – one is good, one not so good. I've gotten lots of compliments on them. I'm really trying to learn different types of shooting. Sports is one of my favorites, but it is challenging and can get you dirty since you have to lay on the ground and stuff sometimes to get good shots. U usually end up shooting about 300 pics but only a few turn out to be usable. These are the best from this day. A lot of the pictures were also blurry, but I think blowing dirt and sand fro the infield was messing with the autofocus. Live and learn!


Then when I got back, Amanda took pictures of me when I finally got the clearance to play after my finger fracture was healed! It sure was fun to play a competitive game again. Running at full speed was weird and it was hard to slow down. And we lost big time, but it was fun. I had two at bats and had two singles. I did score once from first and was left at first at the end of an inning. I played second base and was two for two at making outs at second base. It was quite fun! Click the picture to see more. Thanks to Amanda for the pictures.

Last week, 20 injured soldiers were invited to visit the White House. The President was in CA dealing with the wildfires, and the First Lady was in the Middle East, so we didn’t expect to see them there. The staff at the White House was so very kind to us. They allowed our bus drive into the south lawn and right up to the south entrance where the President comes and goes. After we got off the bus, the First Dogs, Barney and Miss Beazley were scampering about. They were both cute and very friendly. We got the typical tour that most people get: The great room, the blue, green and red rooms, the dining room and the library and sitting rooms. The Secret Service tour guides took their time and allowed us to move gingerly from room to room. They invited us to sit in the furniture and touch the fabrics. We had soldiers in wheelchairs so we couldn’t move at lightning speed anyway. They let us ask all the questions we wanted and then they took us back down into the receiving room while we waited for our bus to return. There was a room off to the left that held many examples of each President’s choices for china over the years – it was very interesting. I didn’t bring my camera since I was tired and didn’t want to lug it around. Boy, I wish I had by the end of the day…

We milled around the room for quite a while and they handed each of us gift bags containing some souvenirs. I made small talk with one of the guides and then another agent announced that we may have been wondering why they were delaying us. At this point I thought we were just waiting for the bus. He continued to say that there was someone here that wanted to meet us all. I couldn’t figure out who it was. He continued to tell us that former President Bush wanted to greet us. At that point we were all a bit frazzled. What?!? Now? The room fell silent and we looked toward the door. I was at the far end of the room and was certain to be left out as I’m sure he couldn’t stay long and would have to move on. We could see him out under the awning shaking hands and talking to every staff member he met. He finally came into the room and said hello to everyone and immediately turned to the first soldier and asked his name, hometown, injury, how he was feeling, and then another question if he felt so inclined. He also allowed the person to take a picture with him. He also greeted every family member that was there. He did this again and again to every single person in the room along the carpet. He moved from his left to his right and back to his left, but he made it a point to meet with each and every one of us, including me. He was taller than I had imagined. He gave me a firm handshake and asked me the same questions. I was a bit distracted by a photographer that had appeared to my left who shot off several pictures in rapid succession. The President asked me what my injury was and I told him I had a brain tumor. I remember that he froze for a second and looked me right in the eye. Then he asked how I was doing. I explained to him all the circumstances that I have battled through and he smiled and shook my hand again and asked if we could take a picture. The person I asked to take a picture of us was out of sight, so I struggled to find someone else while I stood there with my arm around him and his around mine. The White House photographer said he would get me a copy, but I know how they work. A print would be sent to me in the future. I wanted digital gratification! I found someone to take the picture and then I thanked him for his time.

We were all quite awestruck and impressed that he wanted to meet every single one of us. When I got back to my room, I had an email from the Lance Armstrong Foundation that said Former President Bush had the Lance Armstrong Foundation in Urging Texans to Vote for a new Cancer-Fighting Measure two days before. I wish I knew that – I would have liked to thank him personally for doing that. Read the full press release here: LAF Presidential Meeting.

And, I wish I had brought my camera. I’m still waiting for the pic of us to me emailed to me, if ever. I’ll post it as soon as I get it. Well, that’s it for this installment. Remember my MRI Wednesday!

I'm so excited! And I just can't hide it!

I'm not about to lose control, but I think I like it, like it. Okay, I'm the world's biggest dork. That's okay and I'm on my way! Alright, enough silliness. I sound like an ad for anti-depression medication. I do have a few things to be joyful about. Okay, to be honest, I have many things to be joyful about but a few in particular this morning are...

Fall is here! Okay, at least for a week. Texas weather is so unpredictable. This is probably short lived and it'll be back in the 90's next week, but I'm going to enjoy the change of weather while it's here. And I love this kind of weather. Okay, after 44 straight days of it, it would get old, but for us Texans who are used to heat and humidity for 10 months of the year, we'll take any change sometimes. A storm came in this morning around 3:00 a.m. I know, I was awake. First came the pouring rain and then the wind brought in the cool temperatures. I woke up this morning about 6:30-ish listening to the rain soaked streets and the wind gusts. After I laid there a while enjoying the sounds, it's hard to get out of bed when it's like that, I had to know what the temperature was, 51 degrees. So nice. It's invigorating. Sustained winds of 25 to 35 mph with gusts to near 40 mph help too. That my dear friends is called a wind advisory. Please be careful on the roads in all your SUVs and trucks, aka high profile vehicles. Glad I'm not driving to B-CS until Tuesday when it'll be back up to the 70s with lows in the high 40s and 50s. Fall or autumn here in Texas means we have to wear a small jacket or sweatshirt in the morning, maybe jeans for us wimps, take it all off during the day when it gets back up in the 80s and 90s and put it all back on as the sun goes down. It'll probably be this way until late December, maybe mid-January. Then winter! Two whole days of it. :)

I'm glad I'm up to enjoy all of this. It also means I'm on the road to getting my sleeping schedule back to normal. Once Roger left it got all out of whack. I'm tired all the time, but I can't seem to get sleepy enough to go to bed. I'm busy reading and studying last week and trying to get everything done. I've been trying to get up early the past few days so I can stay up all day and be really tired at night to get back to a normal schedule. But it's hard. Now I'm on the road to recovery.

I'm also excited because I received my first Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure donation this morning! Yeah!! That made me dance inside (visions of Amanda freakishly signing jump-for-joy-inside come to my head). And it brought a bigger smile to my face to read the message with the donation, "Because I love you." Oh, my aunt Amy, aka my fairy godmother, is so sweet. I'm sure she'd prefer I not mention it here, but I have to give a shout out to my peeps.

This brings me halfway to my fundraising goal. And you know what that means, I need to increase my goal! This was also the first donation so far for the River 102.3FM Pink Patrol. So keep those donations coming. I have to represent. Thank you!!!

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.

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!

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.

Off to bed - long day Saturday

A big thanks to Buddy, Amanda, Ryan, Derek, Jumoke, Pili, Charles, Megan, Ruben, Esther, Ashley, Matt, Julie, John, Tamra, Jana, Kezia, Naomi... your help providing materials, ideas, muscle while we packed everything up and loaded the trailer has been such a blessing to us. All we have to do now is wake up, take our last few items down to the truck and drive off. We had a nice meal at El Pollo Rico (which we're going to miss so much since it's so close and sooo yummy) and then we watched just a little TV and talked. Then our great friends presented us with a scrap book full of pictures from our two years here, and goodbyes from many different people from church. We looked at the pictures, but didn't really get a chance to dive into it. We'll enjoy reading it when we get home to Texas. Thanks again to everyone that had a hand in this wonderful gift.

Our time here has been awesome. I can't believe that we're leaving and that one year has passed since my brain surgery! Time has absolutely flown by. It just ticked past midnight and now it is March 3, 2007. One year ago right now my parents and Holly's mom were here and I was trying to get to sleep knowing that I would undergo brain surgery the following morning to remove my tumor. I didn't know it at the time, but the months following the surgery would be the most trying of my life. But here I am, one year later, driving off on one year to the day of that life changing day. Sometimes, it never seems like it happened. But every day I look in the mirror and I see the scar and my thin patch of hair from the radiation. It reminds me of what happened, and how far I have come. But I didn't do it alone. My wonderful wife, Holly, was there by my side every single day. She is my rock. And our family from Grace lifted us up during that time too. God gave you to us so that we could get through that time. In turn, we gave something back to others that are able to take our experience and somehow get through something in their lives just a little bit easier. I'm happy that God used me for that purpose. I will go through it again if I need to, because I feel I have helped more people having experienced this than anything else in my life. And it has made me a better person in the end.

The next few months will be a challenge for us, but it's nothing we won't be able to handle. But for the next 40 days, I'm on vacation... my first in two years. Man, am I looking forward to it! Lastly, Holly shared with you that I am on the selection list for a promotion to E-7/SFC in the Army. This is great news since it means more dinero and it just feels good to know that I made the cut. I had to take what the Army calls a DA Photo (Department of the Army Photo) and submit it with my promotion packet. I thought I'd share it with you. Good night.