Jason - Month 7

Let me see if I can get this series of events correct.

The week Jason's mom was here, so the week of February 20th, we started noticing extra dry skin on his left shin. That's where he had one of his skin grafts, and that wound took forever to heal completely. The inside of his leg is also numb from the trauma and skin grafts. I always had to bug him to put coacoa butter on the scar to keep it moist, and help the scar lines. (It's not just his annoying wife trying to get rid of his scars, they dole that stuff out at OT daily) He never put it on. The dry skin around the graft would drive me nuts, and then I would worry that it would ruin the graft somehow. Either way, I nagged him to put it on all the time. I decided I wouldn't bother him about it anymore. So, when we noticed this extra dry skin below the graft, we just thought it was that, dry skin. About a week later, it had become dry from his skin graft (which is about half way between his knee and ankle) all the way down to his ankle. It looked really flaky, and quite frankly, gross. His ankle started swelling, and some days it would look really red and angry. By the time his mom left, he was convinced it was spreading. His wonderful wife was trying to talk him down, convinced it was just dry skin in that one area. "You're just being paranoid now" I said when it started spreading to the back of his left leg, and on his arms. It wasn't spreading like it started on his leg. It was turning in to small red bumps all over. He developed little bumps on his fingers too, the same kind of bumps that showed up when his body was still working shrapnel out. So we thought that's what was on his fingers.

Monday he went to Dermatology, they scraped his leg and looked under a microscope. He said they said it looked like a fungus, but gave him Keflex, an antibiotic. By Tuesday, it was evident that it was indeed spreading. I had to apologize for not believing him when he said it was spreading. (This trait of mine makes me think I'm going to be that mom that downplays her childs' illnesses. Ugh.) He went to Infectious Disease and they said it was a bacterial infection. So they gave him Septra and some cream to put on it. The next day it had spread to his arms bad, vesicles were forming on his hands, arms, belly, and back. It was also incredibly itchy. The portion on his left leg was oozing yellow grossness. He went back to the Amputee Clinic to get a different opinion, and they gave him Lamisil, an anti fungal, zantac, and benadryl for itching. Thursday his physical therapist was tired of seeing him so miserable and just sent him back to Infectious Disease. They gave him Atarax for itching, and thought maybe they were flea bits. Or insect bites. Or poison Ivy. Or bed bugs. Yeah. They really thought that. Friday, we went home because Cooper was getting baptized on Sunday.

The rash was now all over his body, spreading to his face also. It looked like Chicken Pox, but was lasting way too long for that to be it. He soaked in Oatmeal baths every night at home, one day I think he took two baths. We don't have bathtubs here in 62. Again with the genius planning. He was oozing from all the bumps. He wouldn't go in to the store with me when I went to get him a nice shirt to wear for the baptism. After a week of this, no one still knew what it was, and they couldn't tell us if it was contagious or not either. He wasn't holding or touching Cooper because he was afraid he would pass it on.

The itching finally got so bad, he started the night on the hard carpeted floor because it felt good on his skin. He finally came to bed, but just itched constantly. If I ever have to hear the sound of fingernails scraping skin flakes everywhere, I will go nuts. It was getting to the point of insanity! He was absolutely miserable, and depressed because of how he looked. He couldn't sleep, and when clothes touched his skin, it hurt. We decided to go to the ER and they gave him a shot of Visteril which was supposed to help with the itching, but I think it just knocked him out for a few hours so he wasn't aware of the itching. He was so over it. So was I. In the midst of all this, his nurse case manager calls him while he's in a Dermatology appointment (he doesn't answer). When he does return the call, the nurse case manager is upset that he didn't answer his phone call earlier, and informs him that if he goes to the ER, he has to follow up at the Warrior Clinic the next day. One more place to go for them to put their two cents in.

Those last two paragraphs are so out of order, I know, he was at the doctors office so many times that week, I can't keep them straight. Bottom line is, he came home every morning with a new brown paper bag full of drugs. Infectious Disease thought they were flea bites or a bacterial infection. Dermatology thought it was a fungus. The ER thought it could be staph. Warrior clinic didn't know jack. None of the drugs seemed to be working, and the itching was just getting worse and worse. Of his entire seven months of being here, this was the hardest two weeks we've had. He was frustrated, I was frustrated, he couldn't help with Cooper, he thought it would keep him from going back to Colorado, he just wanted it to all be over. He came to the realization that it may be years before he's fully recovered from all this, and that sucks.

Finally, I mustered up the energy and went with him to his appointments so I could put my two cents in. We went to dermatology the next week, and they finally decided to put him on Prednisone. They decided it had to be contact dermatitis, and an allergic, or id reaction to something that remains unknown. He's been on the steroids for a week, and the rash on his body is all but cleared up. The rash/dry skin on his leg is still there, but starting to clear up. He's got two more weeks on Prednisone, so hopefully it will completely go away soon.

Phew, that was a scatter brained mess.

I just want people to realize that while he looks like he's almost fully recovered, something like this will never go away. I fear he will never be 100% again. He'll probably get pretty close, but he'll never be the healthy 25 year old he used to be. He hates the attention he gets, and thinks it is all un deserved. I can see where he's coming from; his friends are all still deployed, and living in the suck, while he's here going out having some kind of fun, and with his family. But I usually remind him that while they're all gone for a year, and it sucks terribly, this is something he's going to have to deal with for the rest of his life. Something that we as a family are going to have to deal with for the rest of our lives. There will always be those little annoyances that we have to deal with that most other families don't.

In other news, tomorrow will be seven months since his injury. How time flies. We're hoping to be back in Colorado by the beginning of April. He ran or jogged on his running leg the other day, and should have it in his possession by Wednesday. He is also getting two other legs this week. He's going to try to plead his case to get a leg called the Thrive which is made for carrying heavy weight like on a road march. They're new, and apparently they don't give them out all that often.

We went to the Pentagon last Friday, finally. I'm sure you remember the post where I complained about having to miss it for the second time. The third time's a charm, I guess! We got a Pentagon Police escort there, so no getting stuck in traffic on the beltway! When we got inside, there were thousands of Pentagon employees lining the halls clapping and shaking the hands of all the wounded warriors. It was pretty humbling, and some thanked me for my sacrifice, which was refreshing. The tour was led by some Honor Guard Soldiers. We saw the press room, and the room where they award the Medal of Honor. We ate a catered lunch in the Executive Dining Room. A bunch of high ranking guys came through and talked to everyone. I snuck over in the corner and fed Cooper. Jason sat with me, and some of the generals came over to talk to him. One of them shook my foot since my hands were full and my legs were crossed. I was so glad, because I was afraid of how the Pentagon would embrace breastfeeding :) My mom about crapped her pants when I told her. Ah well, times have changed, Ma. :)

Cooper had his 'meet and greet' party this past weekend, which was a success. I'm glad everyone got to meet him. Jason's friend Kyle came down from New York, and we all went out for a night on the town that night while Mom Mom babysat. It was weird leaving him, and weird knowing I had to go home and be responsible for him again. We went to a bar that I frequented in my college days. Oh, the nostalgia. I was the DD, of course :)

A screaming baby will cut this blog short. Hopefully we'll have more good news within the next week or so, as far as a moving date!