Recovery

Still recovering! I just did a 3 mile walk in 49 minutes, and I'm tired. That's pretty sad considering I'm a runner! I know I have to recover, but I really want to start running again, supposedly I can start this Friday, we'll see. I had a major break through this morning, I rolled onto my belly with minimal pain, woohoo. Man do I feel old right now. haha.

As you can see by the new link on the right my wife, Shayna, has started a blog describing what it's like going through training to get to a figure competition. Should be a very interesting blog, since she just went through the leg straightening surgery last year! She's a trooper. I helped her set it up, so hopefully she keeps up with it and has a blast. She said that she is going to write an article about her journey for a fitness magazine, I'm sure that it will get published eventually. So check out the blog at http://makingshayna.blogspot.com/.

Back to work on this coming Friday. I'm looking forward to it. It's been great relaxing here with Shayna for the past week, but I need to get back to normalcy once again, and finish out this last year and a half in the Navy. I've been putting feelers out to see what my income will be once I get out, debating between travel nursing and per diem, both are great pay, and both have ups and downs. Just have to do the ol' pro's and con's list to make my decision. Shayna and I were talking the other day about how strange it's going to be to stay in a place for more than 3-4 years, we wonder if we'll get the "moving bug" once we've been at a place that long. We'll see.

Well that about wraps it up for this week, sorry no pics, I didn't think you'd want to see another of me sitting on the couch with a bag of frozen peas on my crotch! Take care.

Dave

Herrrrrrnia and Brain Injuries!

If you've been reading this blog for a while you'll recall my entry called "Turtle Roll". That entry was about a year ago, well during the roll I injured my left ankle and also obtained my second hernia. I had the right inguinal hernia repaired on the 18th of this month and the above pictures are of what I've been doing since! My cat, Mohinder, has been doing a good job of taking care of me, as you can see above. He lays on my legs and then challenges the camera when it is on, "What are you taking pictures of?", haha. Shayna has been a godsend once again, while her old husband has been out of commission for a while, she's been running around like a chicken with it's head cut off, I guess I can be kinda needy every now and then, okay, I'm a wuss! Once again I realize how lucky I am to have her, it's been great.

Shayna is still working out a lot and getting ready for the upcoming competition in Culver City, CA in May, she can't wait, and she's going to do great. She's also been out of commission for about a week with a bad muscle pull in her lower right back, but coming along nicely. One thing that has been a pain in another part of the body is dealing with the new GI Bill. They have conveniently forgotten to pay her all that is due to her for the last part of 2009, and dealing with them has been next to impossible, probably what it's going to be like once the government gets it's hands on our health care system, brace for shock people! It's going to be a wild ride, hopefully a good one though.

I'm attaching an article that addresses head injuries that our service members have been experiencing since being in Iraq and Afghanistan, pretty interesting stuff. Get the word out about our warriors and the help that they WILL need in the near future, if not now. Here it is:

Traumatic Brain Injuries in the Military

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is becoming a common wound of modern warfare. It has even been coined as the "signature wound" of the War on Terror. While TBI is becoming more prevalent in wartime activity, many service men and women continue to go undiagnosed. Institutions, US Department of Veterans Affairs, are working to make quick and accurate diagnoses in order to prescribe appropriate and effective treatment.

TBI is causes by forced trauma to the head, either by being shaken or hit. The severity of TBI varies from case to case, but symptoms range from mild concussions to a debilitating state. The majority of TBI's acquired by military personnel are classified as Mild Traumatic Brain Injuries, (MTBI's). Initial symptoms of MTBI consist of loss of consciousness, disorientation, loss of memory, headache and temporary loss of hearing and vision. They are often partnered with anxiety, irritability, difficulties processing information, limited concentration amongst other problems experienced down the road. While MTBI is most common amongst the men and women of the armed forces, more severe cases of TBI are happening much more frequently and often require the victim to attend specialty rehabilitative nursing centers, like CareMeridian.

The most common cause of TBI in the military is due to blasts. There are three degrees of blast injuries where a TBI is common; Primary (due to the blast itself), Secondary (due to objects being propelled by a blast), and Tertiary (due to a collision with a third party object). According to the Veterans Health Initiative, active male members of the military from the ages of 18-24 are hospitalized with a TBI at a rate of 231 per 100,000 and females 150 per 100,000. Based on military force projections this would mean that 4,141 military personnel are hospitalized on average each year with a TBI, and these numbers often rise during war times.

The best prevention for veterans to avert the long-term effects of a brain injury is to recognize the symptoms of a TBI. Once the symptoms are identified an individual should take basic precautionary measures in order to begin the healing and recovery process until a more specific diagnosis can be made.

Service men and women give so much to protect this country and they deserve to come home to a happy and healthy life. Creating awareness about TBI will help ensure their long term health. By helping our veterans, their friends and their families to recognize the early warning signs of a TBI, treatment can be sought as early as possible. Check out the link at www.thementornetwork.com/standard/News_Item.aspx? for more information.

Thank you to Chelsea Travers at ctravers@caremeridian.com for the information and please contact with her with questions of your own. Help our guys and gals out now and when they get home to get the care they deserve!

That's about it for this week, a little longer, but a bunch of great info. Take care and keep on reading!

Dave

Visit

Another great week down! Last weekend was spent in Virginia visiting an ill grandmother of my X-wife, long story! She is doing fine and now out of the hospital. The chemo and radiation therapies have started and she's feeling pretty good considering. One problem occurred when they found that she had an allergy to the chemo agent, I'm not up on oncology so I have no idea what they are going to do about that. Needless to say she still needs everyone to think good thoughts for her and to throw some prayers her way.

In the picture is me, no I'm not the one in the middle with the saddle on! Amanda is the girl in the front and Terry is in the background being held. This was taken after Terry had finished with his riding therapy. It's a fantastic idea for children with medical problems. You can really see that his balance has improved as well as core strength. It was a very interesting afternoon watching that!

All is well here at home. We are working on getting a third OR nurse in to cover while my boss is in Afghanistan until approximately November, a third will help out tremendously. I'm still not crying too much about it though, at least I get to go home every night now! Well that's about it for this week. I hope everyone is doing great and changed your time an hour up, like me and Shayna forgot to do last night! Take care.

Dave

1 Year Down

Well our first year of marriage is complete as of yesterday! We just took the pictures above, the date is obviously wrong in the photos! The first is us with the cake, but the cake didn't make it into the picture! The second is us with the top layer of the cake that's been in our freezer for a year, and the last is the picture of us before we get sick from eating year old cake! If all the years to come are as great as this last has been, I've hit the jackpot! woohoo. We went to see Alice in Wonderland 3D today and then had some sushi at my friends restaurant in Hanford, CA. It was our first time eating sushi, it was an experience. Our 1 year anniversary has come which means I left for training about a year ago, hard to believe it's been a year, both for the marriage and the deployment. Glad the deployment is over and glad the marriage is still going strong. Well hopefully everyone is doing as great as we are. Again, say some prayers for Grandma Terril in Hampton, she's putting up one helluva fight! Take care.

Dave