September 29, 2011 - Big Day for Change

Today is a day that we hope saw the final "washout" of Jason's wounds, and going forward we only see some minor dressing change activity after tomorrow. Jason will be going down to the O.R. tomorrow to have the treatment done that we are all hoping will be the way for him to avoid having to get another skin graft. Because it is in the O.R. he will be going down a little earlier than the past few days, so I might miss him when I head over there early in the morning. He has gone as early as 05:15, and I'm just not out of bed and dressed at that time... usually.

One of the other exciting things to happen was that First Sargent Barrett came in to talk to Jason about a number of things, and one of those was let Jason know that he is being promoted to Staff Sargent on Monday, or at least it looks that way. We found out a couple of days ago that Jason had been selected, and that Jason's number is a relatively low number, which means it will be among the first selected for promotion. If they hold true to form, that would mean he would be receiving the new rank the first Monday of October, this next Monday. Jason still has to identify the person who will be pinning his new rank on, and where he would like the ceremony to take place. I talked with him for awhile and he has come up with a short list of folks (3 names) so that in case the first person chosen isn't available he will have an alternative, and a third name as an alternative. I'll be putting in more information as I learn more, so stay tuned. (As a side note... I will not be changing the name of this blog)

Jason also had a doctor's appointment, where they were going to be working on his hand and arm; checking out the ulnar nerve and seeing what they could, to determine what, if anything could be done to help. The initial check up of his hand and arm did show that there was still some nerve connectivity and that is a good thing. They just don't know to what extent there is functionality, and this check up is to help show that. Well, due to some schedule conflicts and errors we are now scheduled to see the doctors on Tuesday next week, and we'll try again. Right after the doctor visit we had to head over to the MATC, where he was told that he had now come to the point in his treatment that he would be shifting to "out patient" care for his PT. He had completed all the therapy that could be done, that was allowed for in-patients.

Jason had a couple of visitors today. Retired Brg. General Tom Jones came by to pay his respects. Actually he has been by a couple of times, and he is a part of the Semper Fi Fund group. He has always been a very positive and upbeat kind of guy, and had demonstrated an honest regard for Jason. There was also a visit from Paul Oostburg Sanz, General Counsel of the Navy, and it wasn't the first time for him to come visit either. It was kind of fun seeing familiar faces and even more so when they recognize us. The only other visitors that came in were the medical staff and we really don't count them as visitors.

One of the last things Jason and I did tonight was watch the movie, 'Limitless', on his laptop. Since we can't play it on the television we use his computer. I was impressed with the movie and story line and was glad that Jason wanted to watch it.

Thank you, all for your continued support and all the prayers that have been coming our way.