Justin's Hospitalization

Justin was admitted to the hospital last Thursday for an in patient treatment of PTSD. We are very blessed that there is a Fisher House there and we are able to stay there over the weekends so that we have as much time together as possible.

There was not much done on Friday and nothing over the weekend. He was able to leave both on Saturday and Sunday. We were able to attend church in the ward that the hospital is in. That was interesting for me as I felt like I was in the Wilshire/Adams Wards in Los Angeles. There was so much diversity it was nice to see. Those that I know still in those LA wards need to know that you have competition......hehehe. On Sunday, Justin's ankle was really hurting and that concerned me. Once back at the hospital he started using a wheelchair and used it through part of yesterday.

Monday, they did an EEG. The results were abnormal. He has had unexplained Parkinson's like spasms or twitches in his right arm and leg as well as facial twitches. I have said many times since December that sometimes he appeared to have seizures but of course because I do not have a medical degree I am as stupid as a door nail. The results were sent to a Neurologist for more in depth reading and diagnosis. I am hoping that they will be trying to narrow down the type of Dystonia (you can see more about that at http://www.dystonia-foundation.org/). I would think that due to the symptoms that they would try to see if it is the type that responds to Dopamine. But once again because I do not have a medical degree I am treated as if I were an idiot.

They are supposed to be doing sleep apnea testing as they feel that he suffers from that but it is due to the PTSD. I really think that he has some seizures and that is caused by the PTSD which causes the sleep apnea. When they will do that we are not sure.

We have been told that he will be discharged on May 9th. I am starting to doubt that because of what they are doing. If that is the case I know Justin is going to be very unhappy.

He is not very happy as he was told that he had a flashback that lasted 45 minutes. He was not happy to hear that and asked me if they ever lasted that long. We have never had one last that long but I do not think the Dr tried to bring him out of it, I think that she kept it going as long as possible. I am not pleased about that as the Dr. is middle eastern and her attitude is not the best. Yesterday, I was talking with a friend that is a nurse and she was telling me about a report and statement that the Director of Homeland Security recently said that our returning sailors and soldiers are the biggest terrorist risk because of the fact that if in the hands of the wrong Dr they can be tortured and made worse. That really made me edgy and very worried about this Doctor being on Justin's case.

I am going to be keeping this blog updated with the updates. This would be the quickest and easiest way to get this information out to everyone. I hope that everyone understands.

I am spending the weekends with him and so I am not home usually from Thursday or Friday until Sunday evening. Email is probably the best way to get me a message as well as checking here for updates.

I will be updating this every few days. I do have a computer in the room at the Fisher House with internet access which is a huge help.

Yeah!!!! We heard from Abuelito (Grandpa) Raul!!

Oh my goodness! What a great surprise this evening. We had gone to bed a little early as it had been a day. The best thing is that Justin's Grandpa Raul (from this dad's side) called us! I was so happy and surprised. Justin was able to talk to him and get caught up a little. I spoke to him as well which is just so special.

I know that Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers. I have been working on this for so long. I was first told that Justin's Grandpa Lee (Mother's side) that he would not speak to me or even care. I am so glad that I did not listen and tracked him down. We have had the chance to get to know him better. Like I told him on his answering machine, that this was not to talk about the past or family squabbles but just to be able to have a relationship and know that he is cared about. He called me back and was happy to talk to me. That was so special.

Justin always spoke highly of his Grandpa Raul and said how special he was to him. He said that he missed him and that made me want to find him that much more. I knew in my heart that he needed to find his Grandpa. Justin has been told so much that he was not worth anything or that he was wrong for not giving in to everyone else. Then Chuck calling people and telling them not to give me any information made it hard. I was really disappointed but knew that if I just was patient and put it in the Lord's hands that it would happen. I wanted him to be able to talk with Raul and have the relationship that he missed. I am glad to say that it was sooner than later.

Thanks to Susan and a little digging we found an address and so I convinced Justin to write a short letter to see if we had the right address. The phone rang tonight, it said Raul Leyva and I wanted to scream with happiness.

It is such a special relationship to have with a grandparent. Justin needs that especially with all of the medical issues right now. I am happy to say that we now have Abuelito's email address and phone number as well as I know which address is correct. I am so excited for Justin that I can't sleep. This is such a special event tonight for us. Justin was so excited and had such a smile on his face when he was able to fall asleep. He has had such a bad time the last couple of nights so I hope that this call tonight helps him sleep a little more sound.

Susan....we have some work to do.....Thanks for all of your help. What a great Easter present for us!

Grandpa (Abuelito) we are so glad to have you in our lives. We look forward to talking with you catching up and staying in contact with you. We love you!!!

Now, maybe I can sleep well tonight too..........Sweet Dreams!

Grrrr Now What?!

We have had a rather rough couple of months. We got Smokey which has been a big help to Justin.

About 3 weeks ago I did not shut the door tight enough when I took Smokey out during the night and when I awoke Sylvester & Shadow were gone. I was sick hearted. Later that evening we found Shadow which we were very happy about but Sylvester was missing still. We kept looking everyday. We put up signs around the area in case someone saw him. We kept saying prayers that he would return home but that he would be safe until coming back or we found him. On Friday night, I went into the bedroom to go lay down. I heard a kitty meow at the window and thought it was one of the kitties from the back door. I started talking and saying why are you at the window talking, pulled up the blinds to see who it was and it was Sylvester. I banged on the bathroom door as Justin was getting ready to take a shower and ran out the front door to the window area. I just went really slow to approach him. He just coward by a bush and let me pick him up. I was shaking. I carried him back in the house and finally realized that he was just wasting away. He was really bony. He just meowed for affection. I took him in and held him for a while. We got him some fresh food and water and just let him get settled. Shadow even hissed at his brother for a couple of days and now he is doing pretty good. He is starting to fill out and is just very vocal when he wants attention or food. He is not afraid of Smokey much but puts him in check at his first wrong move. We are so excited and happy to have him back home where he should be.

Then Saturday morning Justin got a call from the VA and the woman said that he was never formally diagnosed with PTSD and that his deafness is secondary and so he will have to go to more appointments. She also said that they do not believe the PTSD is service connected but they would have to check the records of the base and maybe they can link it. Justin was just beside himself as he feels like they do not believe him when we have been told numerous times that as long as the claim is filed within a year that they given benefit of the doubt it is related. He was out of some medication and so it really pushed the wrong buttons. The one supervisor that he really connected with at the Medical Center called today and was really upset that this person was doing this. They have been through numerous problems with this person. So now two doctors from the VA are going to file complaints because this person is not doing this properly. The senior doctor is livid at the actions of this person and that they would do this when they do not realize that Justin is on medications and so now we are awaiting medication adjustments.

We did hear from the Social Security Administration and they processed Justin's Disabilty claim within 90 days and he will start getting paid for that. He gets additional money as I am the caregiver and we have Michael. That is a big relief.

Glenworth is wanting to give up his parental rights but I was advised that I need him to agree to a change of venue so that we can get things moving. I am anxiously awaiting that so that Justin can adopt him or we can just sever his parental rights so we can move on and be sealed. His bottom line is that he does not want to pay child support. I would prefer to only sever the parental right for a while so that he has to be responsible for Michael but we will see what the court says. Keep the fingers crossed that this moves along with much of a snag.

Maybe now we can get a rating

Well, finally today was the last appointment for Justin so that he can finally be rated by the VA. We have discovered in the last couple of days that not only does he have the neurological problems, but we now know that he has lost his peripheral vision in both eyes and is legally deaf in his right ear.
We have been so frustrated as the VA wanted this completed by the end of December but due to errors by the contractor today was the last appointment. This could have all been done in January. I really went off the deep end at the contractor at the end of January as they called to say that he had to see more doctors.
They called this afternoon to say that all reports should be in the hands of the VA by next Friday at the very latest. We sure hope so. This has gone on long enough.
This morning we started very early and went to pick up the brace that was made to keep Justin's right foot in a stable position. It is rather hard right now for him to wear but he he will take it slow and wear it around the house to get used to it. It hurts but considering that his foot has been in a constant drawn up position for over 6 months it is going to hurt being in the proper position.
He does have a good time with Smokey at his side. Smokey helps to relieve his P.T.S.D. symptoms and is good as he has stopped Justin from falling a couple of times. Smokey is about 16 months old and is a very pretty black Labrador. We had to laugh yesterday when we went into Wal-Mart to get something. There was a cardboard cutout of Kyle Petty on an advertisement for Verizon Wireless. Smokey did not like it for some reason. He barked and barked as well as he growled at that cutout. He was really upset about it. We did not scold him but when we got to the car we laughed and laughed. He really is a good guard dog too. We were sitting at home and he did not like something he heard and barked at the door. Justin went out to check and all was fine but he is very protective of all 3 of us. He his slowly making friends with Sylvester and Shadow. They keep him in line and take no guff from him. It is rather funny.
The last 24 hours my lungs have hurt and are causing me to cough. I think due to the rapid change in temperature. I notice it a lot when I go from cold to hot and then back to cold. Wal-Mart keeps it very warm in the store and I really have a problem when it is cold out and then I go inside and then back out again. I hope that this stops in a day or so.
We are keeping our fingers crossed now that Justin has had to see more doctors that this is it and that we will have the VA's decision on his rating within the next two weeks. It will be nice once this is done. We can finally relax we hope. Keep the fingers crossed.

Navajo Fry Bread

My friend Susan had made a comment yesterday that she made Navajo Fry Bread. I sent her a message and asked if she would be kind enough to share the recipe. She kindly agreed. The thought of that brought back memories of going to the reservation while on vacation in Taos, New Mexico and visiting my great aunt Lydia.

Today, I thought it would be a fun thing to make to accompany dinner. I did and served some turkey shepperd's pie. Oh my goodness, you would have thought that I served Justin and Michael gold. They loved it! Justin asked why I never made it before. Hard to do when you do not have a recipe. I now have to make another batch and serve it with honey butter. That is how I remember it as a kid. Thanks Susan for sharing the recipe. I have found a new favorite for my family. Yummy! Once I get a rolling pin I will try to make them so that we can have tacos made of them and maybe I can modify the recipe to use corn/potato flour so my cousin can make them for her family.

Michael's School Pictures

Here are Michael's current year school picture and his football picture from playing left defensive back. Hope that you enjoy!

Christmas 2008

Merry Christmas!

We have had such a great holiday. We have been blessed with about 12 " of snow. We were not really able to get out from last Thursday (12/18) until Tuesday (12/22) because we have had so much snow and cold temperatures. We only yesterday were above 32 degrees in over a week.

This is out our back door and we had a good amount of snow. There is a creek that runs right behind us and we have had to chase off 3 racoons. See for yourself....

We can leave no food out for our strays that have adopted us. We have three kitties that come to visit us and sleep outside and we have named them Pirate, Calico and Smokey. Pirate always has it's tongue stuck out. We have Sylvester and Shadow looking out at them and they watch Sylvester and Shadow inside.....Kitty TV.

Here is Calico (above)

We are so grateful that we are happy and healthy this year. We look forward to hearing from everyone more often this next year.

We hope that everyone has a very enjoyable Christmas day. Let us hear from you.