Staff Sgt Jason Ross - Marine

Yesterday and today were pretty much laid back days for Jason, though we did go to Costco for a little shopping, today. Jason is attempting to get more "down" time to allow for more healing of his open wounds, and from the way they looked today I'd have to say that there is some good from this strategy. We're looking for laser treatment in September, and that should help brings back under control, so we are all looking for a positive out look for this treatment. On another note, and probably why I should have posted yesterday, Jason is now a civilian again. He officially retired as of about noon yesterday. He is now a retired Marine and will be enjoying all the benefits associated with that situation. Fortunately, because he is retired and the situation of his retirement, he is allowed to continue most of his medical needs with the hospital at Balboa. We have begun the process of getting his records being fully tracked by the VA now, and his pay to be coming from th...

Not much to write about today, with regard to Jason's healing and wound care activities. He is doing well and he went to physical therapy this morning, he filled, or I should say refilled some of his prescriptions and then we head on back home. Actually, there was a stop at Navy Fed Credit Union for a personal errand, and then another one at the housing office over here by the house. Because it is so close to the house he asked me to just drop him and Gracie off, and he would walk her home when he was finished. On his way back to the house he stopped by our mail box and picked up the mail, and then he was home. By now is was after 12:00 and all of us were hungry, so I wanted to put something together quickly. I grabbed the bread and peanut butter and started to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich when Jason asked, "Have you ever had peanut butter and honey?" I had to admit that I had not, and thought the idea was interesting. I told Jason we did have some honey, and...

Today was one of those days where Jason did not have any appointments and spent most of the day in bed. I wish he would spend more time in bed, to allow the wounds to heal, but he is that kind of guy who wants to get out and take care of things. He recognizes that he needs to let his body heal, yet he also wants to get out and do things, like most of us. Anyway, he took time to clean some of the equipment he has and to just play a little with Gracie. The rest of the day was in bed. I got up and went for a nice bike ride. It wasn't too long, as I am still trying to build up to that, and Linda wanted to do a few things that required my involvement. I also was able to put some time in on Stand Up and Play, and the Quick Books work that I am doing for them. The fun part is that I am continually learning new things and still finding out QB can be used. This evening Linda and I went over to see our cats, and they are doing great. Glenn, Anne and their son, Nick are doing a great job ...

Today was what you would call a RED Letter day for Jason, as there was a bunch to get done and generally a very busy day for all of us. The girls were up early, and actually Stacy came up and made sure we were awake by 06:30. The past couple of days we've had to go down and get her up, closer to 07:00, so today was particularly nice. Both Jackie and Stacy were up and ready to head out to school, by 07:40, and Linda and Jason were ready to get them there. Linda was doing what I would normally be doing because I had my own appointment with the VA, at 08:00. Right after dropping the girls off Jason was off to his first appointment, and this is where it really gets good. Jason's first appointment was with the DMV, and Linda had to get him over to the Scripts Vehicle Training Center, so that he could take the driving assessment in their vehicle (The DMV wants those who are testing to take the test in their vehicle - and Jason was totally fine with that). Jason took the test and pa...

The girls got off to school this morning, and it was actually quite a nice morning. No delays or scrambling around to find lost items or shoes, and breakfast was easy and quick (they had multi-grain Cheerios). Right after getting back to the house I went and double checked with Jason, on his appointments, as well as other things he might want to do, and I was clear until 11:15, when we needed to be over at the Sharps Institute where Jason was to complete his final driver training. This meant that I had about 2 1/2 hours and time to get out on my bike. More specifically it meant a 15 to 16 mile ride, and that is what I did. I got back from the ride (16 miles) and cooled down and cleaned up, and got ready to go. Jason and I went over to the Sharps and within about 30 minutes he was behind the wheel and ready to head out on his last "training" session, so that tomorrow he can do the DMV version. Once he has that out of the way he will be able to finally get into his OWN truck,...

First day of school for the girls, and it was chaos... Well, maybe not chaos, just very exciting. We got up at a little after 06:00 this morning, and had the girls up a little bit later. Even with the idea that the first day of school was awaiting them, they still didn't want to get up. We finally did get them up and dressed, and both of them looked great, as well as excited to be heading off to a new adventure. We walked to school, as we do live very close, and the number of vehicles attempting to get on to the grounds was higher than usual. We already are familiar with the class room where Jackie is now going, as well as the teacher; the big challenge was finding Stacy's class room. We had to walk all of about 30 feet to find the door. Then, as you enter the door, her name was on the desk where she will be sitting. We got to meet some of the other parents, and Stacy got to meet some of the other students, briefly, then we were out of the room and socializing outside. The st...

Today is Jackie's birthday, and she turned 4 years old! We had the party for her yesterday, and we kept it kind of small, with just family attending. Jason's older brother David, came down with his two boys, Dylan and Ethan, to help with the celebrating. The cousins all get along very well and they played together, both outside and inside. I was able to get some pictures taken this time, so I hope you enjoy them. Nana and Tata also came (that's Linda's parents, so that makes them Jackie's Great Grand Parents). The visitors all stayed for lunch and for a little bit a resting period, before having to take of to get back home. Both Nana and Tata, and David and his sons, live north of here, so they all had to endure some traffic going home. Because it was Saturday, I am hoping it wasn't too bad. Jackie is like most 4-year olds and was pretty excited to see all the people and all the gifts, especially since they were for her. The funny part is that as she opened on...

Today has been an interesting day, and a busy one. Jason decided that he wanted to get his retirement photo ID done today, so we went over to building 26 to get it done. When we arrived there was a line of folks already there, as well as a few others who had made appointments. My guess is that Jason didn't think it was going to take too long, and so we waited. What happened, as a result, was that his PT appointment was missed, and he really doesn't like to miss appointments. He did end up finally getting his ID created, and this time he had all the correct forms, and they were correctly filled out. Last time he went there his copy of his DD214 was incorrect and we had to get back to Pendleton to get it fixed (that was in a blog a few days ago). After receiving his new ID we headed over to the PT area, so he could apologize to Dawn, and reassure the other appointments would be kept. It was also a good time to stop, because we got to meet up with a few people we hadn't seen i...

For the past couple of years, now, we have pretty much been using a loaner van, to help with Jason's transportation needs. There was the other van that was recently given to us, that since then has been donated to Father Joe's Home, and we are now waiting on another van that is being "built" to help Jason, and the rest of us be able to get around like a family. Well, the van that we are borrowing, from Semper Fi and Rollx is a relatively new van, and in this particular case, we have put most of the miles on it. Over the coarse of a couple of years it has needed service and today was one of those days. I got up early and packed my bike into the van, and drove to the dealership, where the service was to be performed. The idea being that I was to ride my bike home, and then turn around and ride it back to pick it back up (total ride would be just over 15 miles, with one very challenging hill). Anyway, I took it in to the service, at Hacienda Chrysler/Dodge and everything...

Not a great deal going on today. Jason had a couple of appointments and that was pretty much it. We did get a chance meeting with Dr. Shumaker, and that was fortunate. He is the doctor who is able to do some of the laser treatment that has really benefited Jason, each time it happens. While talking with the doctor we were able to tentatively establish the next treatment, and we're hoping that it provides that little "push" that is needed for the wounds to finally heal. We'll be speaking with his scheduler on Friday, and set up the specific date/time for the treatment, and it is very likely to happen in early September. The other two appointments were with PT, where Dawn was able to work her magic on Jason's shoulders, and he was feeling much better after; and, then we went on to Wound Care, where they showed me something new, that should help as well. All-in-all it was a good day for a visit to the hospital, despite the pharmacy slow down. Something happened to ...

Not much to report on today, as we spent most of the day at home. We had our little errands to do, such as taking the girls to different places and going to the grocery store (needed to pick up a couple of lemons), but otherwise it was a quite day. Jason is doing well, as are the rest of us and we're just moving along in a nice easy way. Tomorrow we hope to hear if they (the folks who take care of the housing we're currently in) are going to be fixing the shower soon. Right now, every time Jason takes a shower there is water all over the floor, and it is due to the fact that he has to drive his wheel chair right up to the shower, and the weight of the chair has broken down the flooring adhesive. It is something they are familiar with and have had to fix in a few other houses, and fortunately for us, they have run into a number of issues with those other houses. We should be able to just get the work done and then Jason will have a good shower again. Tomorrow is another quiet...

Today was very calm and even the weather was pretty nice. Jason only had an appointment with the folks over at Sharps, where they do the driver qualification. His appointment was at 08:30, so we needed to get out of the house early, or at least we thought we did. We got up at 06:30 and were ready to go at about 07:40, and Sharps is about 15 minutes away, on a traffic friendly day. As it turned out, it was a very friendly kind of traffic day, and we got there before 08:00. We actually arrived before his "tester" person showed up, and when she did, she immediately came over to say, "Hello." She was the same tester that Jason worked with last time, so at least there is that level of familiarity. This time I didn't ride along with them. Gracie and I stayed back at the van and just chilled for about an hour. I am still fighting a cold and the idea of just relaxing was kind of appealing. When they did complete the drive and "test" there was no parking left...

Yesterday was a pretty good day for Jason and all the Ross family, here in San Diego. We got up, not too early, but still early enough. We headed out to take Gracie and Jason to their service-dog training, though Linda chose to stay back at the house. I think she was more in the mood to go do some shopping and taking care of a few things on the home front. The training was good - while they trained I stayed back in the van and either read or just relaxed, until Jason came back. Once back in the van we headed over to Anthony Netto's place, where we were to meet up and then go on to some target practice. Jason bought a new scope set up for his rifle, and he wanted to see if he could get it zeroed in. As it turned out, it was a little more of a challenge than he originally thought. It is one of those higher end scopes and as a result it is a little delicate in the tuning. While he was doing that, Anthony and I were basically having a good time with his rifle, and I even managed to h...

This morning started with me going to the gym at about 06:30, do get a little cardio workout going. The reason for the early start was that I knew I wasn't going to be able to get a ride in, this morning, so the gym was the next best thing. Actually, I could have gone for a ride a little later in the day, but due to the fact that it was over 90 again, I didn't want to get out and bake myself on the bike. Heck, even when walking over to the gym, as early as it was, it was very warm already. Anyway, it was a good work out/run-walk, and when I got back to the house I found that Linda wasn't feeling very good. I told her to stay in bed and I'd take care of things down stairs. Jason and I did leave the house as about 09:00, and headed over to physical therapy. This was the only appointment that he had, and then while that was going on I went over to pick up his prescription. The nice thing about being here, as long as we have, is that the folks there know both of us so we ...

Yesterday I wrote about having to get up to Pendleton, to take care of some paperwork. The paperwork was actually quite important, and had a significant bearing on how Jason's retirement was going to be, once he was totally retired from the Marines (something that will happen on the 30th of this month). The drive to Camp Pendleton actually took more time than it did to get the issue corrected. Both Jason and I were totally surprised at how seamless and easy it was to get it done... not to mention how happy we were. The effort was so simple and quick that we decided to get over to the Exchange, on base, and Jason did a little shopping for Jackie's birthday, coming up on the 24th. We looked at a number of different things, also, while we were there, and about the only down part of the entire trip was the drive home. Traffic was pretty bad, and I think it was due to traffic breaks. I only say that because I have seen it happen, more than once, while driving on the I5, between Los ...

Not much of a busy day, just a day for getting some things done. Even when we went into Wound Care it was kind of uneventful, and that's the way we like it. Tomorrow Jason and I will be headed up to Camp Pendleton, to take care of the paperwork mess up, and we hope it really doesn't take too long., otherwise we will end up being up there at commute time and then having to drive home in that traffic. Then that's tomorrow, and I'm not going to worry about that right now. The rest of the day was just putting up some pictures around the house, and a large framed Drew Brees jersey from when he played in the 2007 All Stars NFL Game. It was mounted by Way Up Art and Frame in Livermore, and they did an excellent job. The backyard was also cleaned up and looks much better now, and should still be in good shape for Jackie's birthday party in about 10 days. Linda and I did have our date-night, and watched a video of Willow , which we hadn't seen in quite a while. We di...

Another day, that began, much like many of the others, with a trip to Balboa, to get some things done, only this time we brought both the girls with us. Linda actually stayed back at the house, because we had some of the maintenance guys coming over, and didn't know when they'd be there. Anyway, the big chore today was to get new ID's made for Stacy and Jackie, and a new ID for Jason, who is soon to be retired. Most of the guys do this on their last, or almost last day, but Jason wanted to get it done, and he had some time to do it. We walked into the waiting area and Jason signed in. We sat down and waited for our turn, which looked like it was going to be a while (about 10 people there ahead of us). While waiting Jason shifted into Daddy mode and began playing games with the girls. Funny thing is, the one game they seemed to like the best was the one where the person who sat still the longest was the winner. This went on for nearly 30 minutes, and I was totally impresse...

Today began with a quick breakfast for all of us - we had cereal of our choosing, and the girls even had a couple of bowls each (I guess they were hungry this morning). That's what happens with growing kids... ;-) After breakfast, we soon got ready to head off to the hospital campus, where Jason had his first appointment with Physical Therapy (PT). Jackie went with us to the base, as that is where her Child Development Center (CDC) is also. She is always so excited about going there, and that makes us very happy. The funny thing is that when we come to pick her up she is just as excited to see us. Jason had his first appointment with PT, over at the C5 clinic. On the way over there were a couple of people he knew from Bethesda walking through the halls. Both of them were doing well, and their wounds were completely healed up. They were now out here, where they have retired and occasionally come in to Balboa for specific treatment. As a result of these social encounters, Jason wa...

Yesterday was a good day for all of us, here in San Diego; my back was feeling much better and the weather was excellent. We didn't have anywhere special to go, and we were able to get most of our chores done, play with the girls and even have time to fix a nice dinner. Grandma (Linda) had gotten home late last night and this morning the girls were both up early, and in the room to wake Grandma and Grandpa. My back was feeling much better and we were all at home again. On top of that, Karen Ryan was visiting, as she helped Linda drive back down from Livermore. Yesterday evening was a special treat, as Karen wanted to fix dinner for us. She prepared REAL chicken nuggets. Ones she prepared, rather than the ones you can pick up in the frozen isle of any grocery store. The ones she made, along with a great salad and vegetable side dish, were great. Not surprising was the fact that there were none left at the end of the meal... ;-) We stayed up a little bit, after the girls went to ...

Not much going on today, as Jason only had the one appointment with PT, so from that perspective it was an easier day. We got up relatively early and had a simple breakfast of cereal. Stacy showed up at a little after 07:30, and about 90 minutes later we left for Jason's appointment. While he was in PT I decided to go take care of a few other issues, and Stacy decided she wanted to go with me this time, and for whatever reason she was full of the boundless energy most 5 year olds have, and I had a tough time keeping up with her. Fortunately, the timing of my errands and Jason's therapy turned out to be about the same, and when we walked back into the treatment area Jason was just about ready to leave. Once we left the hospital we headed out to take care of a few more simple errands that Jason wanted to get done, and then we headed back to the house. When I got up this morning, my back was feeling much better than it did yesterday; by the time we got back home it was beginning...

Kind of a regular day for us, though it did have its little surprises for us, along the way. It began with Anthony coming over to the house at about 05:10 this morning - yeah, kinda early. I had told him I would take him to the airport, as he has a business trip to go to. When I got back from the airport I decided to stay up and work on the Quick Books stuff, for Stand UP And Play, and did that until about 08:30. It was almost three hours worth of organizing work, but I am glad I did, as I think it will be a little easier to keep track of what is going on.  Jason had an appointment at 12:30 today, and then at about 08:30 they called and let him know it had been cancelled. He was going to have to reschedule for next week. The reason for the cancellation was not given, just that the doctor was not available. I am assuming it was sort of a family issue or the doctor, himself, was sick. Anyway, it opened a nice little opportunity for me to go for an unplanned bike ride. I didn't want...

Today was another day of appointments and getting a few things done, and then at the end of the day we went to a movie. We were all up at 06:30, and I had my appointment at 08:00, with audiology. As it turned out I have a small infection in my right ear and it needs to be seen by my primary before they can do the hearing test. I should hear back from them tomorrow, as to when I will be going in to see my primary. In the mean time I have a bit of a loss of hearing on the right side, with a constant ringing going on. Once I got back to the house, I had to get things together so that Jason could get to his first appointment, at 09:30, with PT. Stacy was with us during the day, today, and she was having a great time with us. Most of the people we have to interface with know her pretty well now, so it was very enjoyable for her. The last appointment of the day was totally administrative, and basically just picking up some information about what is going on with the on going treatments and...

This morning I fully intended to get up early and go out for a bike ride, but then about 10 minutes after I was up, my lower back started to "talk" to me. It was telling me that maybe a bike ride wasn't such a good idea right now, and that perhaps a better choice was to just try to take it easy the rest of the day. I decided that I should listen to my back and didn't go for the ride. However, taking it easy wasn't necessarily in the cards. We have the girls right now and they require a bit of attention, along with the appointments we normally have. Actually there were only two appointments today, and one of them was a time that wasn't going to let us miss out on all the traffic that happens when most people are getting off work. Sitting in traffic for over an hour is just no fun when your back is bothering you. I know most of you already know that, but it feels good being able to say it. When we finally got pretty close to home Jason remembered that we still...

Stacy was dropped off at the house this morning, at about 07:20, and then I fixed some breakfast. We had Cream of Wheat, and it was pretty good. We hadn't had any for several weeks, and I was just in the mood for it today (so was Jason). After that we did some catching up of our emails while Stacy played and then we all got ready for Jason's first appointment, over at the hospital. It was with physical therapy (PT) and was supposed to start at 10:30. All was fine, except as we pulled into the base I became aware that I had left my wallet on the coffee table... OOPS! As it turned out the guard recognized me and Jason, and Jason had his ID with him, so he still let us on. The appointment with PT was pretty normal and Stacy stayed with Jason as I went over to get a hair cut. We had given her the option of going with me or Daddy, and she chose Daddy - this made me feel good, as I like it when they want to spend more time with him. The timing was excellent because when I was done ...

Today was a fun and exciting day for Jason and I, as I was able to start the day off with a nice 15 mile ride, sort of a combination of a couple of my regular routes (I have about a half dozen or so). MoThist of the rides begin with my heading up Rosecrans and then depending on where I feel like going I might go left, right or simply straight ahead. Today I went straight ahead, then turned around at about the 2.5 mile mark and rode back to the point of deciding which way to go. This time I went to the left (which would have been right from the other direction) and rode out to the harbor and rode the rest of that ride. It was nice, though it was far more crowded than I usually see, so I had to take a little more time than I typically do in that area. I still made the trip in about an hour, so I was happy about that. Once I was home I had to cool down and then get dressed, so I could get Jason and Gracie up to their dog training, up in Oceanside. This was also the place where Anthony N...

Today was pretty much the normal Friday for us, except that Linda isn't here and this is a Friday that "normally" would have Stacy with her mom - she's with us during most of the day and Jackie is at her day care. Anyway, Jason had a couple of appointments, and on top of that we needed to get Mr. Jingles out of the house, and over to Gunny Parker, who will be taking care of him over the weekend. What happened was that we found some insect invaders in the house, and requested that it get sprayed, and they said ALL animals had to be removed from the house for about four hours. The house was sprayed and we hope that all is well now. His appointments were with PT and with Urology, as well as picking up some med from the pharmacy, and then I wanted to get down to the ASYMCA. Cherri, of the Y, offered to purchase some needed items for Jason, and I wanted to get the correct information to her. Unfortunately, it took me a few days to get this to her, and when we did finally...