November 27, 2006
Well last night we got a call from the front desk saying that my non-medical attendant orders were expired. I knew this because Bryan is assigned here. There is a stupid rule here that you are either assigned or attached. When you are assigned to a military post then your wife simply accompanies you. Being attached is when you are at a school or at a post for a shorter amount of time. We were told that for the Med Board Process being assigned was better. Well this has screwed us because I no longer get the non-medical attendant pay (69 dollars a day) and we can't stay in the Mologne house anymore. Being a non-medical attendant means that I am doing the job of a nurse and if they do not “hire” me as a nurse to care for my husband than someone from the hospital would have to. I am not simply accompanying my husband at his next duty station but caring for his medical needs.
In order for us to stay together and get our room paid for I have to be on Invitational Travel Orders. I was on Invitational Travel Orders until they assigned us to Walter Reed. If Bryan were single than he would be living with another soldier because they don't have room in the Mologne house for all these soldiers therefore I am not able to stay.
There is no way to in process until the Med hold company gets their act together and in-processes Bryan into finance so we can get our housing money (BAH) for Washington, D.C. which is more than double that we get back home. So our options were get a single room here at the Mologne house so they don't send me home, not possible b/c there aren't any available. Option two move into the Fisher house, can't do that because you have to be an amputee and come there directly after inpatient. Option three Delano hall, can't do that because I am female and can't shower with men in a community bathroom. Option four move off base, I called all the apartments within the 15 mile radius of Walter Reed that are furnished and have short term leases, none are handicap accessible.
I love how wounded soldiers and their families are left out to dry. I can hardly understand how this is possible. We are so stressed to begin with and we live in a hotel for God's sake, I would say that is less than desirable. As for right now our Social Worker bought us a few more days and we are going first thing in the morning to talk to the Housing assistant to see what is going on. This is such a shame. Please pray for us (sorry about the rant)
Monday, November 27, 2006
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
We Met an Angel
November 15, 2006
So we had a follow up with the docs today. I feel we finally got a lot accomplished. He said the graft mostly took except where it is bubbled up and leaking puss. Kind of gross, I know. We also got referred to EENT for Bryan's hearing test since I know he has lost some hearing, The sleep clinic because Bryan holds his breath in his sleep, The lab for testing of MRSA and then Infectious Disease to treat the MRSA. Bryan now gets to wear regular shoes, yeah!
Today was a good day as we went to Occupational therpay to sign up Bryan for his free guitar. While there we met this really nice man who does trips for the soldiers and those who would like to do sports with adaptive equipment. Well long story short we are signed up for an all expense paid trip to Vail in March and Aspen in April. It is sponsored by the Wounded Warrior Project. We are soo excited that we can hardly stand it. Bryan is so excited that he gets to snow ski again. Even if we are home by then we will still get to go, they will fly us from there and Bryan and I can go every year even if he is not at Walter Reed. They also do fishing trips, hunting trips, rock climbing, scuba diving (they just took some guys to Aruba), biking, etc. There is also a trip to Miami to bike from there to Key West in January. I think we might go! This was a huge morale booster for Bryan as he was so worried he wouldn't be able to do the things he loves anymore.
Also we are signing up for a therapy dog to assist Bryan. The dogs go through a rigorous training for 2 years. They can get drinks out of the fridge, pull you up the hill in a wheelchair, open doors, turn on and off light switches, etc. These dogs are super smart and we feel fortunate we can get one. There are two available for May but if we move off post then we can probably get one sooner. Bryan was happy about that.
After we left Bryan was talking non-stop about doing adaptive sports. He said he felt like this would get some of his old life back again. It was such a great thing to find out about. I can’t wait to go.
So we had a follow up with the docs today. I feel we finally got a lot accomplished. He said the graft mostly took except where it is bubbled up and leaking puss. Kind of gross, I know. We also got referred to EENT for Bryan's hearing test since I know he has lost some hearing, The sleep clinic because Bryan holds his breath in his sleep, The lab for testing of MRSA and then Infectious Disease to treat the MRSA. Bryan now gets to wear regular shoes, yeah!
Today was a good day as we went to Occupational therpay to sign up Bryan for his free guitar. While there we met this really nice man who does trips for the soldiers and those who would like to do sports with adaptive equipment. Well long story short we are signed up for an all expense paid trip to Vail in March and Aspen in April. It is sponsored by the Wounded Warrior Project. We are soo excited that we can hardly stand it. Bryan is so excited that he gets to snow ski again. Even if we are home by then we will still get to go, they will fly us from there and Bryan and I can go every year even if he is not at Walter Reed. They also do fishing trips, hunting trips, rock climbing, scuba diving (they just took some guys to Aruba), biking, etc. There is also a trip to Miami to bike from there to Key West in January. I think we might go! This was a huge morale booster for Bryan as he was so worried he wouldn't be able to do the things he loves anymore.
Also we are signing up for a therapy dog to assist Bryan. The dogs go through a rigorous training for 2 years. They can get drinks out of the fridge, pull you up the hill in a wheelchair, open doors, turn on and off light switches, etc. These dogs are super smart and we feel fortunate we can get one. There are two available for May but if we move off post then we can probably get one sooner. Bryan was happy about that.
After we left Bryan was talking non-stop about doing adaptive sports. He said he felt like this would get some of his old life back again. It was such a great thing to find out about. I can’t wait to go.
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Veterans Day in the Nations Capital
November 11, 2006
Today is Veterans Day and I couldn’t be happier to be with my veteran. We met up with the 101st liaisons and headed downtown for the festivities. We went to the 101st memorial at Arlington Cemetery where Bryan and several other wounded soldiers laid wreaths on the Memorial. Bryan was asked to lay a wreath on the memorial. He said yes, I assumed he would roll his wheelchair up there but he insisted on walking.Bryan is still pretty wobbly at this point so someone walked with him to make sure he didn’t fall. It was great to watch him lay a wreath on that memorial and salute. It sent chills up my spine.
Then we headed over to the Vietnam Wall. Bryan was stopped literally ever minute by vets or other people and they were thanking him for his service. At one point there was a line of people waiting to shake his hand. It was a beautiful sight seeing Bryan in uniform still in his wheelchair and people bending down to hug his neck. They didn’t know him but they appreciated him greatly. Bryan was also interviewed by Channel 2 news station and he did an excellent job explaining his injuries and what Veterans Day meant to him.
We went to the wall for the ceremony and listened to Taps. It made tears come into my eyes because Taps is emotional and to think that Taps could have been played for my soldier had his soldiers not saved his life. I am so blessed that Taps was not played for him. When the national anthem was played Bryan stood up out of his wheelchair. I helped him walk around to the back so he could hang on the handles. He stood there and saluted his flag. I captured this picture later I noticed that in the background there was another older veteran saluting the flag as well. As we were saying the prayer a photographer was snapping pictures of Bryan.
After the ceremony we headed down to the wall to see the 101st wreath. Once again people were stopping him and thanking him. It was such a great thing to witness. Afterwards we headed to the Hilton in Arlington to have dinner with 101st Airborne Veterans. It was a great evening to spend time with them. This was a day that I will never forget. It lifted my spirit and eased my soul.
Today is Veterans Day and I couldn’t be happier to be with my veteran. We met up with the 101st liaisons and headed downtown for the festivities. We went to the 101st memorial at Arlington Cemetery where Bryan and several other wounded soldiers laid wreaths on the Memorial. Bryan was asked to lay a wreath on the memorial. He said yes, I assumed he would roll his wheelchair up there but he insisted on walking.Bryan is still pretty wobbly at this point so someone walked with him to make sure he didn’t fall. It was great to watch him lay a wreath on that memorial and salute. It sent chills up my spine.
Then we headed over to the Vietnam Wall. Bryan was stopped literally ever minute by vets or other people and they were thanking him for his service. At one point there was a line of people waiting to shake his hand. It was a beautiful sight seeing Bryan in uniform still in his wheelchair and people bending down to hug his neck. They didn’t know him but they appreciated him greatly. Bryan was also interviewed by Channel 2 news station and he did an excellent job explaining his injuries and what Veterans Day meant to him.
We went to the wall for the ceremony and listened to Taps. It made tears come into my eyes because Taps is emotional and to think that Taps could have been played for my soldier had his soldiers not saved his life. I am so blessed that Taps was not played for him. When the national anthem was played Bryan stood up out of his wheelchair. I helped him walk around to the back so he could hang on the handles. He stood there and saluted his flag. I captured this picture later I noticed that in the background there was another older veteran saluting the flag as well. As we were saying the prayer a photographer was snapping pictures of Bryan.
After the ceremony we headed down to the wall to see the 101st wreath. Once again people were stopping him and thanking him. It was such a great thing to witness. Afterwards we headed to the Hilton in Arlington to have dinner with 101st Airborne Veterans. It was a great evening to spend time with them. This was a day that I will never forget. It lifted my spirit and eased my soul.
Friday, November 10, 2006
Housekeeping
November 10, 2006
Today I changed the dressing on Bryan’s skin graft and I am not so sure it is healing like it should. It has a split up the middle and it’s black and has blisters. We should see in a few days if everything is ok. I hate being a nurse when I am not educated enough to be one.
The housekeeping at the Mologne house is driving me crazy. They always knock even when there is a sign on the door that says do not disturb. They open the door anyway and sometimes I have been sitting there changing Bryan’s dressings while he is completely naked. He gets so embarrassed and they just stand there and ask if they need to come back later. I am getting frustrated with the lack of privacy here.
Today I changed the dressing on Bryan’s skin graft and I am not so sure it is healing like it should. It has a split up the middle and it’s black and has blisters. We should see in a few days if everything is ok. I hate being a nurse when I am not educated enough to be one.
The housekeeping at the Mologne house is driving me crazy. They always knock even when there is a sign on the door that says do not disturb. They open the door anyway and sometimes I have been sitting there changing Bryan’s dressings while he is completely naked. He gets so embarrassed and they just stand there and ask if they need to come back later. I am getting frustrated with the lack of privacy here.
Monday, November 6, 2006
MRSA
November 6th, 2006
Bryan was discharged yesterday afternoon. The doc came in at 6:30 flipping on all the lights saying you want to get discharged then lets take this dressing down. We took it down and he taught me how to dress it. It looks good and it took 95% so that is good.
We found out on Saturday night from the nurse that Bryan has MSRA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) in his wound. We had no idea. It is a form of staph infection. I looked it up online and it really can't be treated because the strain is so strong that it is immune to medications, but most of the time it doesn't cause problems. If one has a weak immune system that it will also cause some problems.
Also we found out last Monday in his PT evaluation that Bryan has brittle bones sort of like osteoporosis but it was called osteopenia. He also has atrophy in his muscles but they are firing so that is a really good sign. We really have to work on stretching his knee out and doing different exercises at home to make his muscles fire.
Other than that Bryan has to take the week off of PT. He will go back on the 15th to have the docs look at it. He is feeling really miserable today with cold symptoms so please pray for him.
Bryan was discharged yesterday afternoon. The doc came in at 6:30 flipping on all the lights saying you want to get discharged then lets take this dressing down. We took it down and he taught me how to dress it. It looks good and it took 95% so that is good.
We found out on Saturday night from the nurse that Bryan has MSRA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) in his wound. We had no idea. It is a form of staph infection. I looked it up online and it really can't be treated because the strain is so strong that it is immune to medications, but most of the time it doesn't cause problems. If one has a weak immune system that it will also cause some problems.
Also we found out last Monday in his PT evaluation that Bryan has brittle bones sort of like osteoporosis but it was called osteopenia. He also has atrophy in his muscles but they are firing so that is a really good sign. We really have to work on stretching his knee out and doing different exercises at home to make his muscles fire.
Other than that Bryan has to take the week off of PT. He will go back on the 15th to have the docs look at it. He is feeling really miserable today with cold symptoms so please pray for him.
Sunday, November 5, 2006
Gratitude
Bryan was discharged from the hospital today. Bryan felt that this trip into the hospital seemed long and grueling because he wasn't heavily medicated. He began to realize what all I did for him and understood how long and miserable it was for me. He thanked me probably 100 times that day. He thanked me for dressing his wounds, for staying in that tiny hospital room with him, for dressing him and bathing him. He made me feel he really appreciated what I had done. I always knew that he appreciated me but he somewhat grasped what it was like to stay there with him. We took some pictures back at the Mologne house, I wanted to capture the look on his face. When I posted it on my various websites people wanted to know who did the photographry. We just held up the point and shoot camera and it captured it all.
I call it "Love"
I call it "Love"
Thursday, November 2, 2006
Surgery again
November 2nd, 2006
Today was a hellaciously long day. Our morning started at a quarter till six only to wait in the waiting room for a mere 5 hours before taken downstairs to the PACU(recovery) room. There we waited another hour. Bryan and I ended up choosing a different method of anesthesia than before. We chose a block on the lower legs by injecting a shot into the spinal cord fluid. They had him on a drip with mild anesthesia...therefore Bryan did not have to be intubated or have a Foley put in. We felt this was our best option.
He left for surgery around 1:30. Dr. P came in about 3 to tell me that Bryan was in recovery. He is not able to get out of bed until Monday and then they will remove the wound vac and hemovac and change dressings then. They managed to find the only part of his thigh that is not damaged to be the donor sight. He got back into his old room at 5:30. Also I guess I was not clear before about the shrapnel in his thigh....they did not remove it...the internal medicine was right about the size but wrong about removing it because it was not even close to the unhealing wound and it was so deep it was close to the bone. It would cause way more damage to remove it than it would for it to sit in his body. Well that is all for now, we are exhausted.
Today was a hellaciously long day. Our morning started at a quarter till six only to wait in the waiting room for a mere 5 hours before taken downstairs to the PACU(recovery) room. There we waited another hour. Bryan and I ended up choosing a different method of anesthesia than before. We chose a block on the lower legs by injecting a shot into the spinal cord fluid. They had him on a drip with mild anesthesia...therefore Bryan did not have to be intubated or have a Foley put in. We felt this was our best option.
He left for surgery around 1:30. Dr. P came in about 3 to tell me that Bryan was in recovery. He is not able to get out of bed until Monday and then they will remove the wound vac and hemovac and change dressings then. They managed to find the only part of his thigh that is not damaged to be the donor sight. He got back into his old room at 5:30. Also I guess I was not clear before about the shrapnel in his thigh....they did not remove it...the internal medicine was right about the size but wrong about removing it because it was not even close to the unhealing wound and it was so deep it was close to the bone. It would cause way more damage to remove it than it would for it to sit in his body. Well that is all for now, we are exhausted.
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