March 30, 2011

Today was a good day with Jason, and for Jason. He is much more comfortable now, though he is still not allowed to eat, other than through a tube in his nose. His spirits are high, and all his vitals are in line where they should be. He will be going in for surgery tomorrow morning, to remove what is hoped will be the last of the "clean up" surgeries, and all the remaining tissue will be what he has to work with, going forward. The doctor came in today and had a very good chat with all of us, in that they are going to begin the closing up of some of the wounds, and especially the work that is going to be going on in getting what is left of his left leg all healed up. She talked of bio-synthetic materials, skin grafts, and most importantly, where they will be able to bring natural skin to natural skin for the best healing. The more they can do this the better for Jason.

Earlier today we had somewhat of a treat, in that the commander of the 38th Marine Battalion's wife, and a couple of other members of high level support teams for the Marines came looking for Linda and myself. She arranged a telephone call with her husband, the Colonel over all the men and women of the 38th, and he took the time out of his day to speak with us. This is truly amazing, considering all that is going on right now, over in that part of the world. He even said to give Jason a hug for him. Of course when I said that to Jason he just gave me a strange look, like I'd either hit my head, or got hold of some of the drugs they were using on him. Anyway, it was a nice surprise and an enjoyable conversation.

Then, at the end of the day came the best thing of all. Dr. Malone, Jason's doctor, came in to see him and talk to him about what was going to be happening tomorrow, during the surgery. She asked him if there were any questions and in true Jason form he looked right at her and asked, "When do I get to eat again?" Since he is no longer experiencing any digestive track problems he wants to chew on something other than ice chips. Linda asked (we were in the room), "Can he have a Popsicle?" She paused for a moment and then said, he could. Within a minute Jason got a cherry Popsicle and he was SOOOOOOO happy. He still has a tube running down in to his stomach that pumps out any fluids that might be there, so as he ate the Popsicle you could see the red liquid going into the collection area. Very shortly after that another team of doctors came in, and saw the red liquid and immediately jumped, as they thought he was bleeding. Dr. Malone was still there so she calmed them down quickly and said they probably shouldn't have gone with cherry. Jason ate about a dozen Popsicles (cherry, grape and orange). Simple pleasures are the best.

Thank you, all for continuing to follow this blog, and for making comments. Once Jason is able to he will be reading all the comments, as well as the blog itself. Please continue to keep Jason in your thoughts and prayers. It is truly appreciated.