New Week

Well, I just got home from swimming at the neighborhood pool. Lap swimming is from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. Monday through Friday. I'm going to try to swim at least three days a week. The neighborhood pool is less than a mile from our house. I drove this morning but plan to ride my bike from now on. I have to fix the flat I got at the triathlon last month which is funny since the cycling portion of the triathlon was canceled. Somehow I got a flat while my bike was in the back of the truck. Anyway, the neighborhood pool isn't great, but it's better than nothing or having to go farther. I was the only person there at 7:00 a.m. and no one else showed up until kid's started to gather around 8:00 a.m. for swim lessons. Hopefully the word doesn't get out since they only have one lap lane. And the lifeguards are really nice. My only experience at the neighborhood pool is during the summer full of kids and it's crazy. So it was really weird to have the pool all to myself. But I'll take it. I didn't do my whole workout, but close and it won't take me long to get back into shape. Now I'm off to shower, work a little and then run some errands. I love grocery shopping during the middle of the day during the week. Stores are empty. It's great. Oh wait, public school ended last week. Well, hopefully it won't be too bad. I bet Roger's commute this morning was really fast. He has a physical therapy consultation this afternoon. I'm very happy about that. Hopefully they give him a bunch of exercises to do. We planned to put regular pedals on his bike this weekend and go for a ride, but we got distracted with house stuff. But we'll get them on soon. And Wednesday he has his first appointments with his new neurologist and radiation-oncologist at Brooks Army Medical Center (BAMC) in San Antonio. Since we are so close to IH-35, it's a very easy drive to BAMC. Roger is going to keep those specialists in the Army so all his records are in the system and when he has his re-evaluation August of 2009 all his records of care are in the system for the board. I'll let you know how his physical therapy consult goes today.

Holly here and news on the Leave Form

A quick update… Holly flew in last night and we’re happy to be together again. I got a call this morning from my squad leader and my leave form was finally signed by the Brigade Commander and was ready to be picked up. I went to Physical Therapy this morning and had my last appointment with them. I also cancelled my Aquatic Physical Therapy appointment for tomorrow so that I have enough time to get everything done. I haven’t really been able to work on anything in PT having to do with my right side because when I fell a month ago on the ice, I strained the AC in my right shoulder and then my back started acting up. So, instead of working on agility and such, they’ve been putting moist heat on my back and then working pressure points to try to get my back to stop hurting so much. It’s been painful, but I’ve been taking 800mg of Ibuprofen every eight hours to relieve the pain and reduce swelling.

On to today… I already turned my leave form in to the Transition Dept and we’re about to have lunch and then we have several meetings with Transition and we’re going to start out-processing today. We’ll let you know how far we get!

Me and Owen

I finally got a hold of the picture with me and my buddy Owen hanging out here at Walter Reed. Man, that sure a fun day! We talked about all kinds of stuff... me, him, LA, Austin, Willie. Ahhhh...the memories. They'll last forever. Call me soon Owen - we'll hang out again... for a few minutes. But this time, don't act like you don't know me, even though you really didn't. (Can you tell I'm in a better mood?)

Holly's back in Texas and I go back to my daily grind of Occupational, Physical and Aquatic Physical Therapy tomorrow. And I also get to toss in a bonus SCUBA lesson. Did I tell you I'm taking SCUBA lessons here for free? Yeah... all I'll have to do to get PADI certified is do my four check dives somewhere back home within one year and I'm certified - for life! Tomorrow is my third day in the pool.

Saturday I'm signed up to go to the Army/Navy Football game up in Baltimore. Walter Reed is taking up about one hundred soldiers for the day. It should be a lot of fun. Apparently we're going to get special treatment - whatever that is at a military function where there are 50,000 other people. And we will have to go in our uniforms to represent. I just don't have a whole lot of cold weather gear to go along with my uniform. But I hear we'll get some soon. Oh... my phone's ringing... I think it's Owen... hang on...


Eh - wrong number. Enjoy the nice fall weather! :-)

Pics from Soccer

Tina sent me a link to the photos from last night. Click the photo at left to go to the album. Tina has a blog too - check it out.

I kicked butt at Physical Therapy today! I got there early and worked my butt of for two hours straight. They also had me do some new stuff requiring precision stepping with my right foot and left foot in coordination. It was hard… by brain was tired afterward. :-) I pushed myself today since it is Friday and now I can rest over the weekend.

I saw the newspaper this morning and they used about 20 images that I shot over the last week. It’s pretty awesome… I’ve never seen so many images in their paper. The online version doesn’t contain very many though. I’m happy about it and looking forward to next week’s assignments.

And of course, Holly will be here tomorrow. I’m so excited! I can’t wait to see her and give her a big hug.

Thanks to all of you who have been sending me encouraging emails. The days are easier to get through thanks to you. God bless you!