June 2, 2011 - Where's my Emmy??

Today was a pretty good day for Jason, though he didn't get out in his chair (that might not happen until Saturday). He the tube to his gallbladder removed, and that happened early in the day - actually before we got to his room. When he was brought in he was laying on a bunch of stuff that they had used down at the IR, so that when the CT Scan was done he would be a little more comfortable. Now I don't have any issues or problems with them wanting to make Jason comfortable, but I really don't see the logic in sending him back to his room with all of it. One of the first things we had to do was get rid of it, and that took us a few minutes and it ended with a new "chuck" pad for Jason to be on, and he was happy with that.

After getting settled back into his room CBS showed up on the 5th floor and they wanted to interview some of the Wounded Warriors. I guess this is something that was pre-arranged several weeks ago, as there were all kinds of Navy folks around, doing their best to insure that hospital operations didn't get interfered with, and all the people who were to be interviewed, were interviewed. As it turned out, Jason was one of the last, and this is probably a good thing, because they stayed longer with him than with any of the others... about twice as long. Jason looked sharp, since Bridgette was able to shave him prior to the cameras arriving. When the guy doing the interview began asking him questions, Jason's responses were both clear and sharp. When the questions turned to areas Jason knew better than to answer, he simply said you'll need to speak with the Public Relations Officer about that. I was very proud of him, even if they weren't able to give us a date as to when we should be able to watch it on TV. While they were talking to Jason the handler, or coordinator (not sure what she was called) kept coming in saying they needed to wrap it up, but that didn't seem to matter. That's how it ended up taking twice as long.

After lunch we got a special visitor from home, Rev. Bill Nebo. Bill is the retired Pastor from our church in Livermore. He is visiting Washington, D.C. on business and made time to be able to come and visit with Jason. The down side to the visit was that Jason was experiencing some discomfort and took a couple of hits of his pain meds, and they did the trick. Only they also made him very sleepy and in a short time he was asleep, and Bill just visited with us. It was a nice visit and gave us a chance to catch up on a bunch of things, while at the same time catching Bill up on what was going on with us. We parted with the idea that Bill will be able to come by tomorrow, and we might even be able to go out to dinner with Bill tomorrow night.

Jason had a few more visitors, other Wounded Warriors who were from Walter Reed, as well as some of the support folks. I was informed about another Wounded Warrior from Pleasanton, who was now on the 5th floor, a couple of days ago. And now I had an opportunity to go visit with him. I actually made it to his room 3 times, with the first one a chance to talk with him, and the other two attempts were to see if I could meet his parents, and possibly provide some guidance or help. Unfortunately they were not available so I'll see if I can meet with them tomorrow. I know the early days of being on this roller coaster can be very demanding and intimidating.

We (Linda and I, or Mom and Dad for those that don't know) had dinner with Jason, and he asked for... (you guessed it) Taco Bell! The food was just what he wanted, and after we were done we went over to be with the girls, Stacy and Jackie. Bridgette and Jason were getting some "alone-time" together, and I think it was therapeutic for both of them. Just as being with the girls was good for us. All together, today was a good day for Jason and for all of us.

Things are going in a positive direction, and there are signs of good things to continue for Jason. Thank you, all for all your prayers of support, and support for our family.