February 28, 2012

Jason went in to PT and OT today and did pretty well. They try to tailor the activity to Jason's ability to tolerate the discomfort, so he won't be in too much pain. This all went well today, until he had to go pick up his prescription. I think it was a combination of the therapies and then the extended waiting in the pharmacy that caused him to start experiencing some muscle spasms and then ultimately the need to take a few extra meds. The extra meds are medications that he has always had with him, for as long as he has been an out patient. He just doesn't need to take them very often anymore. The main one is Valium, a muscle relaxer, and then helped to keep the spasms in check. The down side is that it also makes him sleepy. He got home from the hospital and within a few moments he said, "I need to get off my feet." (That's what he says when he wants to lay down, and he is really tired.) Within a minute of him getting settled in his bed he was out. The new prescription, the one that caused all this extra fuss, is actually something that the urologist wants Jason taking now, to help with some of the transition he is going through - I hope it does what it is supposed to do.

Jason also had the opportunity to stop and speak with another patient. It was an Air Force sergeant and was relatively close by... AND had a service dog. It was a German Shepard (a big one) and apparently the training program that the Air Force has for their security dogs is such that some of the dogs just don't quite have the right disposition for that kind of work. They have gone through an extensive training program, so they're used to the rigors of training, and actually only need a little "cross" training to get them to become service dogs. They exchanged contact information and I do believe Jason is going to follow up with this, especially since they tend to work with German Shepards, the dog Jason wants.

I will be heading up to Los Angeles tomorrow, to go pick up Jason's truck. This is the truck he owned prior to going off with the 26 MEU, over a year ago. Originally it was going to be shipped to San Diego, but then we initially didn't have a place to have it shipped to, so David (Jason's brother) volunteered to have it sent to his house, until we had a place to store it. That is the case now, and we have been able to get things in order enough that we can now bring it down to Jason's house. We realize that it will have to be sold or traded in, as Jason will not be able to drive it, and to convert it would be cost prohibitive. It is an asset though, and he can use it to help defray the cost of a new vehicle, when that finally comes along. In the mean time I will probably be driving it occasionally.

That's it for now - I was going to be telling the girls another Bible story tonight, but they both fell asleep as we watched Ice Age. I think they were tired since they didn't get much of a nap today. Stay tuned to see what happens tomorrow. Thank you, for all your continued support and prayers.