Staff Sgt Jason Ross - Marine

These past few days have been kind of crazy busy, with guests coming in and visiting. Some staying over night. Some were relatives and others family, yet all were great to have around. On Thursday - you remember, Thanksgiving Day, we had 9 dinner guests. I cooked a 25+ lbs bird, so there was enough to go around, just not much left in the way of left overs. Jason was able to come  out and join us, and that was a very good thing. He was only able to stay out for a couple of hours (longer than I thought he would), then had to get back to the bed. The girls were totally enjoying all the new people and getting to show them around the house. Let's see if I can remember everybody - Linda's parents, Joe and Jessie, Loretta, Steve and Tina, Jason and the the girls, Stacy and Jackie, and then Linda and I... I think that's everybody. The rest of the days consisted of family and friends coming over. Our nephew Jeff (Major Jeff Lascurain, USAF) came by with his wife and daughters. Act...

For those that haven't noticed, I have been a little irregular in my blog posts, and I would like to take this time to let everyone know, that the present pattern will be continuing. Jason has been able to heal up a little more and he is now off the wound-vac, and unless something drastic happens, he will remain off the wound-vac. Over the coarse of time I will be making fewer and fewer entries, until I get down to the point of maybe one a week, though honestly I don't see that happening for quite some time. Linda has been working to get things ready for Thanksgiving, and even getting some things ready for the Christmas Holiday. Speaking of the Christmas Holiday, we were contacted by the "Fire Club," from the Palomar Community College and they asked if they could come and put up the Christmas decorations, on the house. They also want to present Jason with a nice REAL tree. Heck, we have the room in the house for a large tree, so we're going to be getting one. Li...

I haven't posted much in the past couple of days, mostly because there wasn't much to post. I wasn't sure if that is a good thing or not, or just a natural development of Jason's overall progress. Then I got to thinking (I try to do this once in a while) and it occurred to me that I hadn't mentioned much about Jason getting away from the Wound-Vac. He hasn't had to use the wound-vac for a few days now, and both he and I are much happier about that. He is much more comfortable and I don't have to deal with the complexity of dressing changes. When he can just use the Hydraphera-Blue and basic pads I can get the dressing change done in a matter of just a few minutes. The wound-vac, when it has to be changed, is much more complicated. Anyway, it is also a reflection of the fact that they wound is doing much better. Today, we had a special visitor, two actually - Joe Mantegna and Dan Ramm stopped by for a visit, on their way to the Wounded Warrior Marine Corps ...

I struggle to write a post that is interesting and tells you, the reader, something new. Jason has been in his bed, for the better part of 3 months, and is still in a very strong and positive mood. His hair and beard are getting pretty long, and he has no intention of cutting either of them - at least not at this time. I have been spending more and more time working, as the job is getting busier and busier, so that means Linda is doing more and more to take care of the girls and take care of Jason's needs, as they come along. The good part is that she has that "Mother" gear already from when she raised all our sons, so this is kind of an extension of those years... the house is just a lot bigger. I did get a chance to walk my garden today, and most of it is doing well. The winter squash seems to be struggling a little right now, so I need to keep an eye on it. Everything else is alive and there is even a bell pepper on the vine - a little one. I would like to get some c...

We came home a little earlier than originally planned, due to a message we received from Jason. Apparently he was experiencing some difficulties with the catheter, again, and this time he was ahead of the discomfort. He wanted to go into Camp Pendleton Hospital and get it corrected. I think he would really rather have gone into Balboa, where they are much more familiar with him, and would have been able to address anything else that might have come up. As it was, nothing else did come up so he just had to deal with the ER staff again. He was at Camp Pendleton when Linda and I pulled into the driveway, and back at the house about an hour, or so, later. He was wanting a shower and dressing change, so we got that knocked out, right away, and then he was much more comfortable, all the way around. As it was, Linda and I were very grateful for the help Jon and his wife Katie provided. The report back from Stacy and Jackie was good, and we were very happy and pleased about that. Loretta cam...

These last few days have been particularly busy at the Ross household. First there was the visit from Team Depot, and they built a new play area and garden area, and it literally took 12 hours to accomplish. They all stayed and got it all done, including the leveling of the play area with rubber material, so that if the kids were to fall, it wouldn't feel too bad. They brought new patio furniture and even an nice gas grill, that I might start using before this year is out. Yesterday was Veteran's Day, and it was an amazingly relaxed day for us. We all (Jason, too) went downtown Fallbrook, and watched their Veteran's Day Parade, and it reminded us of some of the parades we used to see in Livermore. Very simple and a lot of support from the city residence. Linda and I were able to just totally relax and enjoy each other's company, and Jason was able to enjoy his new video game. I also planted my winter garden, though "winter" may be a bit misleading. I underst...

Jason's wounds are continuing to improve and because of Veteran's Day, on Wednesday, he will be going in to Wound Care, at Balboa, tomorrow. I suspect that they won't be making many changes, and that the wound-vac will continue, at least for another couple of weeks, and then possibly get back to the previous wound care, and not have to deal with the vac anymore. On Thursday we will be having a conference call (Skype) with the team at Cal Poly, and be discussing some of their ideas, and seeing just what they think they can accomplish. My concern is the technology side of the call, as the network and signal strengths around here are sometimes pretty poor (thanks, AT&T). We really don't have any other options, at this point, so we're effectively stuck with them as a provider. We've been busy with a number of things, and look forward to a little bit of a rest this coming weekend. We will be heading up to Julian for our 40th anniversary, and doing our best to...

Just a quick update on Jason and the family, so that you'll all  know that he is doing well and that we're all continuing to have faith that things are going in the right direction. Jason is doing well, and even getting out of bed every now and again. He usually isn't up for more than a few minutes; its just nice to see him moving around, and he doesn't have an appointment to go to. I think that I might get out on the bike tomorrow morning, early, and see if I can get in a few miles of easier riding. The main highway, that is close to the house has been under construction for expansion, since we have been here, and about a year or more, before we arrived. They made a major "lane change" yesterday, and effectively closed off the old road. I saw this today and said, I need to get out on my bike and ride that road; especially since I shouldn't encounter any traffic, other than maybe another bicycle. The road work is to help straighten the highway, and to wi...

Yesterday was a busy day, and ended up being a bit of a stressful day. Yesterday actually ended early this morning, but like I often do, I'm getting ahead of myself. For the most part, yesterday was a nice comfortable day that saw rain and me scrambling to make sure nothing left outside would be damaged by the rain. We had pulled a bunch of stuff out of the  garage, to reorganize and identify exactly what it was (Holiday items, donation items, things we would like to keep, etc.). We had the help of a couple of Marines, in getting it out of the garage, but now it was looking like rain, so I wanted to get it back into the garage, and still leave room for Jason's truck. I managed to do it, though I had to leave some things out side. Those things were primarily plastic boxes, that sealed up, so the contents should remain dry. Jason's truck in in the garage, and he can easily and safely get into his truck, and that was the goal. Even though the things were in plastic container...

Wow! Where do I begin? - - We have been busy with personal, family things keeping us busy, and on top of that we decided to attack the garage, and see if we could get some room cleared. We even had three Marines come over to help with some of the heavy lifting, on Saturday, and Linda did her best to keep them busy. It actually all began on Friday, while I was working, so I came to the party late, on Friday. I think that coming late was okay, though, because there was plenty to do. Jason was even out on Saturday to look over some of the stuff that was pulled from containers and boxes, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Friday, we had a few visitors over, to discuss some things around the house, such as a patio cover that Jason is having installed. There was also a new health aid starting, and so Linda was busy with getting her "trained" and familiar with what she will be needing to do. There was also the challenge of trying to balance all the other activities, and being ab...