Finally!

It has been 4 years and 8 months since that day in Ramadi,Iraq that changed our lives forever. We have been through 4 med boards,and played the "hurry up and wait" game that military plays.

Now,finally,Rick is heading towards military medical retirement. He will be considered "temporarily" retired on April 23. Hopefully that will be quite temporary and they will be put him full time retirement sooner than later.

This means adjustments as well. We will be making less than we are now. We have been through worse,however.

Rick finally has his sleep apnea machine. The problem is his knees are causing him so much pain,he can't sleep.So he hasn't been using it. He is up till the wee hours,and when I get up he is asleep in his recliner. It is very difficult to wake him up in the morning. Today he said he should just go off the morphine (albeit in stages,because one just does not quit that stuff cold turkey)because it's not doing anything. 120 mg a day,and it doesn't even touch the pain.

His primary physician has been gone the last couple of weeks.Rick called Fee Basis (who OK's major surgeries that might take place outside the VA system)to see if they had received the results from Dartmouth ,but they haven't as of yet. Which means his Primary has not sent them the results. This could actually happen with the VA system,though. The Dr who saw Rick at Dartmouth is also outsourced to the VA in White River Junction,VT. So that could work. We just need to get the ball rolling again.

Rick's memory is still a problem,and he continues to lose blocks of time. The other day he mentioned that he wanted to play some solitaire on the computer ( it helps his brain function to play games like that),but only for a few minutes. He wanted to wash the dishes and get the house situated while I was grocery shopping. He mentioned this because the week before when I went grocery shopping,he lost two hours. I came home and he was shocked that I was home. He lost two hours and it freaked him out.

It happened again.

I came home and he was on the computer. "No! Not again! How long have you been gone?" he asked. I looked at the clock." An hour and a half," I replied. "I thought you just left about 15 minutes ago," he said,shaking his head." I hate this stupid time loss stuff."

Now, we all can lose track of time. However, we tend to lose maybe 15, 20 minutes. Not a couple of hours or a day or two. It really scares him when he will have no recollection of a few days at a time.

The other day he asked me if I was born while my Dad was in the Pacific during WWII. For some reason he was confused about the time line. He knows that I was born in 1967,and I am 5 years younger than he is ( he always jokes that he would never leave me for a younger woman because I am his younger woman!)but for some reason he asked. Not sure what brought that train of thought up.Sometimes he has to say something while it's in his head,otherwise he will forget. It doesn't matter if it's on topic or not. It can be frustrating when trying to discuss something I feel is important,or even important to both of us,and all of a sudden he will switch topics and discuss what's in his head. At first,it was quite disconcerting and it made me feel like what he had to say was more important. However, now I understand that it is how his brain now works. It can still be frustrating at times,I admit. Especially when it's something we have discussed over and over-because he forgets that we have discussed it or he needs affirmation.

Today he and his brother Brian took down the old turkey cage in anticipation of building a bigger one.That will be a good project. Our turkey lurkeys should be arriving in a few weeks.