Sunday 24 October 2010 @ 2108

Happy Birthday Tate

These last four days have been great. I haven't written a great deal in this blog because I have been extremely busy. Most of you know what it's like to move, you suddenly find all of the things that you accumulated and wonder where it all came from. Well, these you military heroes don't seem to be much different. They go overseas and fight the bad guys and then come home long enough to get situated and more trained and then go again and again and again and again. That ends up being many footlockers and duffel bags full of stuff.

I've been emptying out everything and going through it one piece at a time. With 5 more plastic buckets, 1 duffel bag, and a few large carry bags to go, we have found, washed, and folded 115 T-Shirts. David's feeling pretty good in the fact that he may only need to do laundry three times per year.

On Thursday David went to his first of many driving evaluations. He didn't do any driving but had to go through several exercises to test his reflexes, and his brain functions. Without question, he did better than I could have. The only difficulty he had was on this board that is mounted on the wall - small lights would randomly turn on and David would have to quickly touch the light - the lights were on a large grid with lights about 24" apart and he had to chase them all over the board. They wanted him to get to 80 but he only got to 69 - 69 is above average. Next week, we think, he will be getting behind the wheel and will then be issued a learners permit and they should approve the hand controls for him to drive his new Jeep. I have felt very mixed feelings in putting on the first 500 miles on his Jeep. I'll let you know how things go.

On Friday David met Stanley. Stanley is a service dog that David is interviewing for. These dogs are taught from about 7 weeks old to provide services to these wounded or otherwise handicapped individuals. The training cost is approximately $30,000. The group then interviews individuals to find a perfect companionship, so David is in the interview process. The dog is a Lab and is more on the red side rather than the blond or brown. We'll see how the process goes.

Then we went to PT and David immediately wanted to walk. We took the next 10 to 15 minutes getting him into his liners, his legs, his waist belt, and his harness. David did two laps up and down the room with a walker and I sincerely wish you would have seen the determination on his face. It was quite funny when he was getting seated into his legs. He would push the button on the base of his let and then rock back and forth to get further and further into the sockets. I know this seems light minded but it looked a little like an Oompaloompa in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory doing a gig. David got a kick out of it too - get it? - a kick.

During the walking, Dr Peyo watched him and said that he felt that David is ready to try knees. The "shorties" he is walking on have absolutely no hinges, they are just a titanium rod bolted to a heavy plastic foot that is only about 7 inches long with a rubber sole. It is very hard to walk with it because you have no bend and the tendency is to bring the legs forward by taking them in an outward arch to get them back in position. David works very hard to pull the leg naturally through and the effort is enormous - you try it without using your ankle or your knee ( not counting the extra bone growing throughout your thighs. He did great and was completely tuckered. The tried doing another lap using just short ski poles with rubber tips and his shoulders were just too tired to keep going. But, he may be standing at 6'4 in the next few days. I can't even get through typing that without getting teary - I know I won't be able to get through it when he is actually standing and looking down on my bald spots again. I'll love every second of it and wish you could be here. Lynnette and Christina may see it with me but I guarantee I'll be carrying my camera all week so you can be part of this.

We went that night and saw the movie RED. It is really an entertaining movie and it is really nice that David wants to get out.

On Saturday we went up to Carlsbad and saw David's great friends Deb and Tom. We had a great visit. Great friends like that and like many of you are what keep him pushing forward. These were his next door neighbors before he went to Afghanistan this last deployment. David holds them is very very high regard and absolutely loved the visit.

And now today - David hosted a BBQ at the pool and had 9 guests. Great friends, great stories, and fantastic respect for each other. You would think that, with all of the terrible things they have gone through, seen, felt, smelled, etc., they would be a bit of a somber group but that is totally not the case, they are fun loving and just a great bunch of guys - always teasing and ribbing each other and then hugging each other. I would have enjoyed watching the interaction all night but I knew my mom would be mad at me if I stayed up too late - just kidding mom.

I'll write more as it happens

All My Love

Gordon