October 25, 2011

The procedure I discussed yesterday was done today, and Jason got through most of it. You have to appreciate the situation to fully understand. There is still a large portion of his wounds that are, for lack of a better word, raw, and sensitive. Jason was able to get to the "new" table and in the prone position without any issues. He was able to deal with the removing the bandages, along with being moved around from time to time. When they got down to staples, you know the metal ones that are used to hold things in place, after surgeries, well they had to remove a bunch of them and IT HURT! They used anesthesia to finish their work and got all the staples removed. The doctors came by Jason's room, later in the day and said they would like to try it again, if Jason was up for it. Jason, being the Marine, said to do it and that he was ready. It should be considerably better tomorrow, and I am confident that Jason will get through the procedure with no difficulties, or unreasonable pain. Then he won't have to even go back down to the PACU again and it will be done in his room.

Lots of visitors today. We had a Lieutenant General come by, with his aid. I got some pictures and they signed the Red Book. The General also gave Jason another coin (me too this time) and he remembered coming in to speak with Jason and I in the past. There was a Lieutenant Commander, Nurse Corps of the U.S. Navy who stopped by. The reason she was so important is because she is going to be seeing Jason again after he arrives at Balboa. She left us with her contact information, so if anything should come up she is a good point person to go to with questions. Along with these visitors, there were a few other Wounded Warriors who came by, just to stop in and see Jason. It was one of those "Brother Marine" moments and I think Jason did his best to make them feel welcome, just as they were doing their best to provide positive feelings. It was good for both of them. Finally, Bridgette came by this evening, with the girls and spent a little time with Jason. They stayed for about 30 minutes and then the girls were showing signs that they were tired, so Bridgette wanted to leave to take the girls back to the house (FH).

Speaking of visits. I had asked a member of congress, Congressman Walter Jones of North Carolina, what I needed to do to get a tour of the White House. It was arranged through his office and we are going to be going there on Thursday. It will be a self guided tour, and we can take as long as we want, and on the other hand we have to be careful not to exceed Jason's limits.

We went down to the MATC today and Jason did a little work on transferring from chair to table and back again; and, then he worked on the hand-crank machine. We were there for a little over an hour and then he was ready to get back to the room. Otherwise, not much else done today. Oh, then I almost forgot - Sgt Linderman came by and dropped off some large sea bags (duffel bags) so that I could begin packing up Jason's things - Looks like I am going to be needing to ship a few things home as well. Right now I don't know how much I can take on the plane, so I need to pack as efficiently as possible, and then ship home what doesn't get packed... sorry Babe, you're going to see a couple more boxes... ;-)

Thank you, again for all the prayers and support that you are providing.