Thursday, January 06, 2011 @ 2204

Whomever posted the comment on the last post, Thank You!


I get a little caught up in the every day things that I don't think about making another blog entry until late at night. I'm sorry if I seem to keep you hanging in the air waiting for an update.

I didn't realize it was Monday when I made the last entry. I'll try to catch you up on an eventful period. On Tuesday it was a bit of a routine day except for the fact that we were required to take our swimming trunks to Occupational Therapy. Four of the wounded warriors, Lynn from OT, and I got in the pool and did a bunch of exercises with different floating devices. I have to say that some of the stuff was easier for the men with no legs because it is a relatively shallow pool and the bottom was very rough on my feet. Since I was a young boy, I have tried to turn on my back in the water and just float (I'm successful in the Great Salt Lake) but I just sink. David, on the other hand, just turns on his back and lays there like a Sea Otter - absolutely effortless. The workout was very good for all of us. One of the soldiers had to wear sun glasses in the pool because his eyes were damaged when he was hit in Afghanistan.

We then had lunch but I won't bore you with the ingredients of my lunch. We then went early to PT and tip-toed around the Yoga participants lying on the floor. David likes to go early and just do some serious stretching before walking. We were making our second loop around the hall and David hit the floor. He was walking very fast and just slipped. He didn't tell his therapist at the time, but he felt his shoulder dislocate and then pop back into place. He just laid there on the floor and counted ceiling tiles for a few moments until he determined that he really hadn't hurt anything too much more than his pride. His therapist was very cute with him, she just shrugged her shoulders and said "you're going to fall from time to time, there is not getting around it" and she instructed him how to get himself back up. He rolled on to his stomach and just did a push-up and stuck his rear end in the air and continued to walk his hands backward until his legs were completely under him - he made it look quite easy.

That day ended with a smoothie. Wednesday was much the same as any other day. David did get the schedule for his upcoming operations. Next Tuesday, the 11th, he will be given the shoulder block and then they will manipulate his right arm in an effort to give him more range of motion. We have no idea how hard that is going to be but it sounds like it's going to be extremely painful. Then on the 24th he will have the two holes in his right ear-drum repaired. Some day I really am going to figure out exactly how many operations he has had - I know we're in the 30's,

David did a couple more laps around the hall and pulled his Physical Therapist. He said it was a very hard but good exercise because, without the dragging weight it is very easy to bring the leg forward in an arched fashion and when he is towing someone he is forced to pull his leg straight through. The hard part is when the towee takes the rubber bands off from his leg he has the tendency to forget that he not towing someone and he throws his leg forward and kicks something. He is literally wet with perspiration after he tows his therapist around.

That brings us to today. Today was a bit low key because David had an appointment in Prosthetics to get his full legs with knees. We've learned not to build our excitement too much because things don't always go as planned. He spent his Occupational Therapy time turning a miniature baseball bat on a wood lathe. He hasn't hit me with it just yet but I'm sure he has been tempted a few times.

We went to Prosthetics as planned and, yep, plans needed to change a bit. The did some very close looking at David's leg alignment and decided to order him a different kind of liner for his right leg and then recast him next Monday. I think this will be the fourth time he has been cast and I'm guessing it won't be his last. Pete was really great with David. He actually apologized to David for not being more attentive to the fit on the right leg and spent about 2 hours making sure that he had the leg feeling much better in the current socket. So, as things set right now, David should be on his full legs next Tuesday or Wednesday. Keep your fingers crossed.

We haven't heard any more about John. His wife now has her family around her for support and it's great that they are taking the time together. We're hoping that no news is good news but I've learned that is not always the case.

David and I will be traveling to see Ethen this weekend and David is very much looking forward to the visit. They are really something together - it's an absolute joy to watch them cuddle.

Can't think of much else to say but that I miss my loved ones and hope you all know just how deeply I love you.

Have a peaceful night.

Gordon