Its been a while.

I thought it might be a good time to update the blog.
James is doing a lot better... in the words of one of our great friends; "He has improved SO MUCH!... He has gone from here to here (imagine her stretching her hands as far apart as possible). Needless to say, he is doing a lot better. I think he feels better most days but he still has a lot of back & neck pain.

Lets see... Me, I'm doing OK. I've started working with people outside of my 8-5 job on graphics, newsletters and getting Government Contracts. I have two clients and am making an extra $50 each month from one and am trading my time for a new computer with the other! Its really kind of cool. Who knows, maybe a new road ahead for me.

James and I are both still waiting for the results of the medical board in Washington DC to decide how disabled he is so we know what kind of package he is going to get for his medical retirement. Its hard to make plans until we know how much we are going to be able to count on each month from the Department of Defense. Once we know though we will look at going to school. Both of us. I want to finish my BA and he would be getting started with an AA at first. I really can't wait to get going with this and to start the next chapter of our lives, we just have to wait for now.

He started making beer lately and has been really enjoying it. We have already been able to sample some of them and they are good. I think they will only get better the more he makes and as he grows some patience and lets them age. :)

The puppies are doing great. They are trouble makers as usual but nothing compared to our new nephew puppy, Gus. (Rachael & Matt's new Lab puppy.) He is too cute but a ball of energy and my three year old's are just not built to keep up with someone with twice the length in legs and easily triple the energy. I'm sure they will all have more fun together once Gus grows up a little.

So all in all we are doing fine. Nothing too exciting yet but there are great things to come. :)

Still Doing Well

I've been gone on a business trip in Florida. It went really well.
While I was gone James stayed with mom and dad. He had his stitches out today and the scar is still swollen but is looking good. He will be following up with the Nero surgeon later this month.
:)

Dog Park Day

We had a good day. Went to the dog park in balboa park and had fun. We met a little frenchie who only had one eye. He was very cute though.
Still doing well.

Still doing great

Today my aunt came down from orange county to see James and my grandma. We had lunch with Rachael and had our toe nails done. It was fun.

James is getting a little cabin fever and I think he is really tired of mom and I reminding him to take it easy. We'll get used to how quickly he recovers soon. :)

First Day Home

James slept and slept. I finally woke him up around noon so that he would sleep tonight. He wasn't really sleeping at the hospital so I think he had some catching up to do. My parents came home today from San Francisco where they celebrated their 29th wedding anniversary. I made chicken tacos (mom helped with the chicken) and Jeff & Dina & Rachael came over. It was nice.

When James and I were in the grocery store there was a kid who was probably eight. He asked James what happened to his head (he is not wearing a bandage over the stitches that start below his color and go most of the way up his head). James told him that he had hurt his head and the doctor had to fix it. The kid then said... that creepy. :b James laughed.

Other than that it was really an uneventful day.

Home Already!

So around 6 tonight the surgeon came in doing rounds with all of his residents. We were just on our way up from the "walk" we went on and he said, "now there's a guy who looks like he shouldn't be in the hospital any more." Then when he came in to see James he asked if he wanted to go home tonight or wait until tomorrow. So he came home. We got here about a half hour ago.
Owen was very happy to see him and I think Leo is very happy to not be working any more. Leo was getting very bored at the hospital, even though there were all kinds of people who were petting and cooing over him.
So, we are at my mom's house and the plan for now is that we will stay here until I get back from the conference I'm going to in Florida. Everyone at the hospital was very surprised. Its really great!

Leo - The high blood pressure cure!

James has had high blood pressure from the pain. I brought Leo (his bulldog/service dog) to the hospital today and ever since he has been here James' blood pressure has been lower, and closer to normal. It's really cool!

We have been really impressed with all the corpsman, they are usually on top of the things they are in charge of. Unfortunately the nursing staff has been difficult. James feels like he has to stay on top of his pain medication because they don't bring it in when it is time. Really, that is the hardest thing.

He is also having a hard time sleeping because the neck muscles are sore and he has a very hard time getting comfortable. It will get better as he heals.

Jim & Margaret (my brother in law's parents) came in to see us today. It was very nice to see them. We also go to see Randy McHaffey (a friend of James from the wounded warrior btn.) and Aqua. (another friend from Italy who now works here at the hospital.

We'll be back tomorrow. James is still receiving morphine so we expect to be here until at least Tuesday. Thank you again for everything!