Staff Sgt Jason Ross - Marine

Jason and I went and looked at trucks today, and fortunately Anthony Netto met us at the dealership. Anthony has some experience in purchasing vehicles that need ADA modifications, since he has to get around in a wheelchair he knows what to look for. As it turned out they did have a truck there that Jason liked, and it was a very nice F250- Lariat diesel. The problem was that the price was WAY beyond what we thought Jason was going to be spending. Now, it also needs to be said that the price being shown (I don't think I can actually say, "quoted") was without any kind of reductions or discounts. I'm sure the final price would probably be a bit lower. Anyway, it was fun to go, and at least make a first step in that direction. Actually, we first got up this morning and headed over to Miramar to pick up his Dress Blue uniform. It only took them about 3 months to get the jacket made (and that's all that it was, they didn't have to make any trousers). Jason tried...

Today was a laid back kind of day for the two of us, with not much traveling around all day. At one point Jason thought he might want to go take a look at some trucks (he eventually wants to get a truck for himself and wants to start looking now), so we got into the van and headed over to the dealer. My guess is that the moving around at the stadium yesterday has caused him to be a little more sensitive, by the time we got to the dealership he was ready to just turn around and head back to the house. I suggested that we can go again tomorrow, after Gracie's training, so I am guessing that's what we're doing. I mentioned that Linda wasn't feel all that well, yesterday, and I spoke with her today and by the end of the day she was feeling much better. I was happy to hear it in her voice that she was doing better. Not much else to write about, other than I plan on catching up on some sleep tonight, so don't expect me to be up before 07:00. I'll probably wake up ...

Jason and I just got back from the Forty-Niners/Chargers pre-season game, and at the time we left it looked like the Niners were doing quite well, and from what I can tell with the current score at 34 to 6, I think they will probably win. We left early for a couple of reasons... 1) We didn't want to be caught up in the crowd, as it was a major pain just trying to get into the stadium; and, 2) Jason was ready to leave, and didn't want to have to sit in his chair any longer. As it turned out, we weren't the only ones leaving early, as I said, the Chargers were not scoring very well. McCoy was doing quite well, though he wasn't as good as Kaepernick, and I don't think he was expected to be. Anyway, we were glad we went despite the early challenges we encountered. When we first arrived the parking situation was horrible. Unfortunately we didn't get out of the house until about 15 minutes later than I wanted, so we literally didn't get to the stadium until the ...

Felt kind of strange for Linda to be gone again, but that is the reality of the day again. The girls were dropped off at Day Care and we won't see them again until Monday, so now it is just the two of us again. We had a good day, with a visit to the barber shop and an appointment with PT, and then we both had appointments with the mental health doctors, who have been seeing both of us on a regular basis. By the time all the appointments were done it was getting close to 11:00 and Jason wanted to get back to the house so he could get his shower in. As usual, I did a dressing change, along with the shower and the continued improvement of the wounds was very welcome. I told Jason that I am hopeful that possibly by the end of October, as long as they continue to close up as they are, most of the wounds should be closed. Having said that, I am also aware that in the past I have seen the wounds get better to suddenly make a 180 and start opening up again. That's where I am looking ...

Jason and I had a great visit today with Wound Care, though it wasn't the visit we thought we were going to participate in. The doctors we were supposed to meet with (at least I thought we were supposed to be meeting with) didn't show up. Not sure what happened, or if we simply got the date wrong, but they sure weren't in the room with us. There was, however, another person in the room with us, Van, from Mobility Solutions, and that turned out to make it a very productive visit anyway. Van had not seen Jason's actual wounds before, and he was trying to design a chair and seat based on information that was given to him from others, as well as what he could see while Jason was dressed. He could see much more clearly what Jason was going through and how his seating and posture were affecting the healing of the wounds. He intends to go and suggest a new modification to Jason's chair and that should allow for greater pressure relief and thus help with faster healing. We ...

Today was a rough day for Linda, as she continues to battle with the "bug" that has been bothering her for the past several days. I am hoping that she feels better tomorrow, and that the plane ride home is truly uneventful, so that she can get there with some level of comfort. She will be heading the doctor's office on Wednesday, and what I suspect they will say is something like this: "You have a virus that is going around and bothering some folks. You just happen to be one of them. It just has to run its course, and then you'll feel better... probably in a matter of 7 to 10 days." He might also be able to provide some medicine that will help her feel better. Jason didn't have much going on today, other than PT and that actually lasted a little less than an hour. Once that was done we headed over to the pharmacy and picked up his new medication, along with a couple of refills. He has gotten off of one of the opiates so they now have him on another typ...

Just a quick note to let you all know that I am now back on my own computer (Thank you, Sue) and will be doing my best to keep things going with the blog. Jason has had a good couple of days and even a productive procedure, where they were checking out his vascular issues (checking to see if there is enough blood flow in the right areas). Jason thought the procedure was interesting and did his best to stay awake, so he was able to watch some of the procedure via video. I, on the other hand, was sitting with Gracie and occasionally taking her out for a walk and "stretching" both our legs. I was glad they finally got this done so that now they can all talk in the next 10 days or so. I've even contacted Dr. Malone and asked her to get back in the mix, since she knows Jason about as good as anyone, and probably better than most of these doctors. Anyway, I suspect that it will be a very good talk for all of them, and we're hopeful for a good direction to come of it. Th...

Today was a very eventful day for Jason and family.... not the type of event like we had yesterday, with a retirement ceremony (even Jackie was a part of that one - more later); this day was filled with Jason and I visiting Northrup Grumman, with a bunch of other Marines. We got there and were given a tour of the facility, and taken into their lab and then production facilities. One of the thing s that was particularly interesting was the talk that was initiated in the lab and Jason was very actively engaged in that discussion. They are building a unit that can be used by Marines, to help protect them, and because of Jason's experiences he was able to talk with them about some of the possible uses and applications of the unit (Sorry, I can't say more about it - I was just happy to see Jason being engaged in a lively technical discussion. We all finished the tour and had a great talk with a couple of their employees, who happened to also be Marines, and they gave some great g...

Okay, another brief update on what is going on. Jason is doing well, especially considering that he has gotten away from one of the most addictive opiates around. He went through some withdrawal issues and they all seem totally behind him now. The wounds have kind of stalled out a bit, but at least they aren't going backward. Actually, the one on the far right side is still progressing nicely, so there is some progress to report. One of the big plusses of this is that I am back down to a single sheet of the hydrophara-blue, when changing his dressings, and that is a good thing, considering not too long ago I was using two full sheets. We're currently making plans for Jackie's birthday celebration, coming up this weekend, and we are all very hopeful that it will come together nicely. Right now Jackie if fighting off a viral infection and the doctor said it could take up to 10 days to run its course. If it does take the full 10 days that would mean she would be completely...

For all you folk out there who are wondering what is going on... My laptop hard drive has broken. Not really sure exactly what is wrong, but the system will not boot. I have it in the shop for repair, and it is hopped that they can. Worst case would be that I would have to acquire a new system, and that might take a little longer, but in the mean time I will be posting as I get a chance. I do not have access to this system on a regular basis, so please forgive the gaps in updates. As for Jason's status - We met with the doctors and they are still struggling to figure out what the best coarse of action is. Some of what they told us was quite sobering, and Jason has taken what they said very seriously. There is some talk about additional surgeries; while also talk about eliminating some of the surgery that they thought might be needed. The biggest challenge right now is vascular, where any hope of wound healing is based on a need for a good blood supply, and right now that is the p...

Not a great deal to write about today. There were a couple of appointments that took place, and they were after the usual Monday morning formation. The girls were taken over to the CDC (Child Development Center) and had a great day with all their friends, though we were given a notice that Jackie was being moved "up" to the next age group, in couple of weeks. We came home and it was pretty much the norm for a week night, with the girls. I read each of them a story, from the books of their choosing, and then we played for a few minutes before bed. Tomorrow Jason does have a little earlier than usual appointment, though it still isn't so early that we need to hurry about in the morning. Heck, in fact I'm going to be cooking some French toast for everyone, and I haven't done that in awhile. Thank you, for all your continued support and prayers - Take care and stay positive.

Nice easy day today, with about the only thing that happened, out of the ordinary was that Jason and I took the girls to a birthday party. One of the other kids in Stacy's class turned five and the entire class was invited to the park to celebrate. The girls had a great time and Jason and I got worn out. It was a very sunny day and several hours in the sun kind of wears just about anybody down. Fortunately there were plenty of shade trees for Jason, so his time in the sun was limited, though he was still affected. Linda (Grandma) wasn't feeling well this morning, so she stayed back and rested. When we got home we all took a nap, and felt better afterward. Tomorrow Jason has formation so we have an early start, so the girls will be up at a little after 06:00, as will the rest of us. Thank you, for all the continued support and prayers - Take care and stay positive.

Today started with a wonderful event, as Linda flew down to be with us for the next 17 days. What really surprised me was the timing of her arrival, and our arrival at the air port. Typically I need to circle around multiple times before she comes out - this time I only had to go around once, and there she was. We got her all loaded up in the van and then we all went for breakfast (it was an early flight). Right after breakfast we headed north to go up to Oceanside so Jason could take his dog, Gracie, to her training session. The class is held at Buddy Todd park, and has all kinds of things there for the girls to do, and it gave Grandma and the girls some time to reconnect. As usual, Stacy and Jackie headed straight to the swings. Stacy road for awhile and then went on to do other things, but Jackie just couldn't get enough of the swings. I stayed with Jackie while Linda chased Stacy all around the rest of the play area - and quite a bit of the rest of the park. Towards the end o...

Today was a pretty big day for Jason, because he finally got his new seats for his wheelchair. He got two of them, and he said they were both comfortable, and felt better than his previous seats. Along with the two new seats he got two new wheelchairs; and they are really cool. The power chair is Giants Orange and is very similar in design to the "old" chair, yet with some new improvements. The manual chair is way different from his previous manual chair in that it does not weigh half what the previous one did, and can be folded up, like a typical manual chair. The previous one had a support bar to give it some rigidity, and also gave it a lot more weight. The really cool thing about the manual chair is that it glows in the dark, so that if all the lights went out you would still be able to spot him easily. Van was here about 40 minutes, making sure the two chairs were what Jason wanted, and that they fit him physically. There were a number of adjustments that he had to do,...

I know I said I wasn't going to be posting every day, unless something special came along... Well, today was a special kind of day. We met with the Ortho doc and had a great conversation with him, mostly about what needed to be done for Jason, to make him more comfortable. There was also a detailed and technical conversation that provided us with a bunch more information, that was had not been presented before. He seemed to take that next step very seriously, and even got hold of the Plastics doctor and they had a brief meeting today, and to us, that was big. Some of the options the doctor presented were not very attractive, yet sobering. One of the things he said was that Jason needed to get to the point of where the wounds were healed up, to help prevent infection from setting in to the wounds themselves. If infection were to set in it could potentially be life threatening, and that just came across all too real, for both Jason and I. There are options that could possibly insur...

Got a few things done today that I have been wondering when we were going to get a chance to begin moving forward, so to see it happen on its own made me feel a bit better. You have to appreciate military medicine, in that some of the doctors are only there as long as they have to be, while others are very dedicated and professional. In Jason's case we have been blessed with mostly the professional ones, and that has been a blessing. Anyway, one of the areas that has been a challenge with Jason has been with urinary, and today the primary doctor who has been following Jason came out to us and stated that they wanted to set up a meeting with a couple of the specialists, to see what was needed to move forward to get the repair work going. To say the least, both of us were pleased with this. Jason also went to visit Wound Care and that was the shortest visit we have had with them since being here. They were happy with how Jason's wounds were doing and there were definite signs o...

Today was another uneventful day, and just the kind I like to have. We went to Miramar to visit the Exchange, as Jason needed another blouse for his Charlie Uniform. We also had lunch with Anthony Netto, and that was a nice change. It gave us a chance to just sit and chat and talk about stuff without worrying about who was cooking what, and there was no clean up. The only reason that ended was because Jason needed to get of his chair and back on to his bed. He also wanted to take a shower, so that was done just a short while after we got home. Otherwise it was a nice relaxed day and evening. I got a chance to talk with Linda a couple of times, and there were no interruptions. The challenge associated with that was with my phone. I think there is something wrong with it as the volume on phone calls isn't very loud, and I have been unable to figure out how to make any adjustments. I'll be taking it in to ask the techs to see if they can figure it out. I suspect tomorrow is goin...

Jason got the lazing done to his wounds today, and both the dermatology docs involved were very pleased with how the wounds have been responding. If the treatment, combined with the collagen treatment, fulfill their potential, then Jason will be much better off than he is right now. It is simply something that we have to continue to be diligent with, and making sure that the wound area remains clean and free from infection. The rest of today was simply spent at the house, and when the new home health aid came (Jocelyn - sp?) I made an attempt to go for a bike ride. As it turned out, Fridays, after 14:00 (2pm), are not very bicycle friendly. I made a quick ride around the "block" and just came right back. I rode just a little under 2 miles, and in that short distance dodged about half a dozen vehicles. People are sometimes oblivious to what is going on around them, and when there are densely packed areas, it becomes even worse. I really do wonder sometimes how some people ge...

This year has been such a fast year for us. I guess that's because it has been such a busy year. We began in Bethesda, MD, and went through a few changes there; then moved back out to San Diego, to endure a few more changes. These changes were medical changes, emotional changes, and personal changes; and, I am happy to say that Jason has gotten through all of them in pretty good shape. Now, we are approaching another set of changes, with one of those being associated with a biopsy that was done today. Jason's day began with a short visit to the folks over at building 26, where there was a formation for the Marines, as Gunny Holmes was being promoted to Master Sergeant, and officially becoming their First Sergeant (he has been the acting First Sergeant for several months) of the Wounded Warrior Battalion. As it turned out, Jason was not able to stay for the ceremony and we had to get over to the good folks at the dermatology clinic, so that the biopsy, mentioned above, could b...