Friday, March 14th, 2008

It is so great to have Steve and David home. I realized when they showed me pictures of the staff and friends at Palo Alto, just how much I miss them. They have played an important part of our lives the past few months. What great people, friends and professionals, they are! Thank you to all of you there for your warmth, kindness, friendliness, and medical advice that put David where he is today. Thank you God, for your promises to be there with us through the hard times and give us your healing and peace too. The journey isn't over, I know. But as I showed David off at work to another family of friends there, it was exciting to see the disbelief on peoples' faces of how great he is doing! David helped me at school, testing students' fluency and correcting Math Tests that have been sitting around for a couple of weeks! His cognitive skills seem to be doing great! He continues to be motivated to do things by himself. Continue praying for him to be motivated to work on his therapy homework too! I can tell this will be a challenge. Actually, he did lots of them today. We're going to hike tomorrow at the Santa Rosa Plateau I think. I'm excited to take him bike riding at the beach on the 4-6 person bikes soon too. (I'm not so excited to try to put everything away that we brought home from Palo Alto!) Wow, how can you leave with two overnight bags 5 months ago, and come home with 3 car loads full of stuff! LOL. Patty

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Today was the best day EVER! I got to go to school with my mother and talk to her students, and they asked me a ton of questions. It was soo cool. I answered to the best of my knowledge.... I was surprised at how they had so many questions for me. (Tomorrow I get to get up at the butt crack of dawn and go to school with her again.) Then to finalize the perfect day, I got to go to my old movie theater I used to work at and talk to the managers. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like I'm getting to work there again! That's going to be so awesome! My parents think that during the 30 days I’m away from the hospital I should be relaxing and not exerting too much energy to do anything hard. So I had to tell them that working there again would be more relaxing than anything. Plus, it’s a great way to see all my friends again! What better way to see them than to work with all of them again? So, I’m really excited for this. Not only will I be getting paid by the Air Force but I can make a little extra side money working at the movie theaters. I’m going to be rolling in the dough pretty soon....hopefully there is even more to come on the way! What a great story this is going to be for me to tell my kids.
David

Wednesday, March 5th, 2008

David has spent two 1/2 days visiting the PTRP (polytrama transitional rehab program-or something like that) program here at the Palo Alto VA hospital. He will visit the program again tomorrow morning, and then he will have something to compare the program at Casa Colina (in Pomona) to. PTRP is located down the winding hallways of building 7. The patients live in dorms (some live in their own 'off campus' housing) and have classes and therapy all day. It is a very individualized program, and addresses the specific needs of TBI patients.

David had to sign papers for the 'Med Board' to decide what they are going to do with him. He could be 'permanently' or 'temporarily' medically retired or sent back to active duty. The latter is his choice, and he composed a letter explaining this to the 'board'. We have been very busy with phone calls, paper work, running around and planning. As anxious as we are to get home, there is a lot to do before we leave.

David continues to have a great attitude, even if sometimes the jokes take precedent over the therapy!

Steve

Monday, March 3rd, 2008 (posted late!)

Patty flew up on Saturday AM, and Davd and I picked her up and drove down to Felton, to check out the steam train at 'Roaring Camp and Big Trees'.

David's old youth pastor, Travis, lives there with his wife Annette and their 3 kids. We stopped in to say hi, and it was good to see the whole family. We got to meet Travis' parents (they happened to be up for the weekend) as well. Felton may be the perfect place to live. It is nestled among the redwoods, but only minutes from Santa Cruz and the beaches. I know that my cousins, Doug, Ellen and Greg, will beg to differ with me, as they have their own bit of 'redwood heaven' north of Eureka. I'm also sure that 'normal' people can't afford to live there.

At Roaring Camp, we rode the steam train through the redwoods. It was very pretty, and a step back in time. We experienced what a turn of the century logging train was like.

On Sunday we relaxed and then shopped at the Outlet Mall in Gilroy. It was sad taking Patty back to the airport, but we will be home in just over a week.

Steve