Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Tomorrow is D-Day. After 600 days at the James A. Haley Veterans Administration Hospital in Tampa, Mark is being discharged. It is truly our dream come true. He is healthy, active, cognitive, re-learning to drive, walking, and ready to face the new phase of his life or second life as the case may be.

His household goods arrived in Tampa yesterday from storage, and some new furniture will be delivered on Thursday. Everything went smoothly with the movers who were very nice and very helpful. The new apartment is great and he and Jess are looking forward to being on their own.

There are so many people to thank from the VA Transitional Team who helped Mark during the second phase of his recovery. Jay, Marsha, Lisa, Dr. McCarthy, Lisa P., Cindy, Barb, Norma, Terri, Jim, Bernadette, Dr. Duchnik, Lee Ann, Todd, Barb, Becky, Carrie, Jamie, Tami, Judy, Freddie, Juan, Karen, Amy, Tammy and Robert. Your guidance and expertise helped Mark gain back his independence and confidence. Your professionalism and kindness are unmatched. Thank you for everything.

We leave the Fisher House tomorrow too. Jess and I want to thank Paula and Sheila for their kindness and understanding. And to our Florida family, Ivonne, Anthony, AJ, Meredith, Mike, Veronica, Brad, RyAnne, Scot, Maritza, Jose, and Joel. Although we leave the house, we are just up the road whether we are in Tampa or Cleveland. You will always be family and the bonds we have shared will never be broken. We love you all and wish you God's blessings as your journeys go on.

Mark will continue to go to the VA for outpatient therapy three days a week and signed up today for a photography class at the University of South Florida. He is looking forward to two weeks leave before starting the new regiment. We are all excited about the future.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Hello to everyone. Just a quick update on Mark and Jess. They signed their lease today and got the keys to their new apartment. They were very excited. Mark's household goods should be arriving from storage in Virginia this week (they are actually on the way) and I will be going to Florida on Wednesday to help them set up and get things in order.

Mark has already packed up his belongings at the hospital apartment and he is very anxious to get back to "real" life. His actual discharge date will be the 30th and we should have everything in place by then. We will continue to keep you posted and have changed his address at the left side of the blog for those of you interested in keeping in touch.

Friday, Septmeber 11, 2009

As we are all aware, today marks the eighth anniversary of the terrorist attacks. Many young people were called to serve in the military as a result of these horrific events. Some may not know that Mark was one of those young men. Let us never forget those that gave their lives that day and in the days and years to follow so that it would not be repeated.

We are back home after a wonderful week in Florida with Mark, Jess and her parents, Wayne and Irene. We had such a good time together, that the kids were beginning to get worried we were getting along too well! All joking aside, we enjoyed spending time with each other and the week was productive as well.

We were able to meet with the entire transitional team and got to introduce them to Wayne and Irene who joined us for the meeting. Mark's progress was discussed and we went over what we could expect upon his discharge. He will continue with therapy on an outpatient/day program basis. His walking has improved quite a bit. We were able to see him walk with quad canes, as well as practicing with forearm crutches. He still uses the walker, but he is improving with the other devices as well. He has not been cleared to walk outside yet, since most outside surfaces are very uneven.

We also met with the Army Medical Evaluation Board doctor and started the process to have Mark medically retired from the service. This process will take four to six months and therefore, he and Jess will stay in Tampa until it is completed. Of course, being in Florida for the winter does have its benefits.

They took us to see their new apartment and it is wonderful. The apartment is roomy and bright with lots of windows and a big, open floor plan. Mark can manage to get around every room without any problems per se, but the therapists will go in and add any adaptive equipment he might need for the bathrooms, etc. We parents agreed it was much nicer than any of our first apartments!

Mark looks very well and is very healthy. He has certainly come a very long way over the last 22 months and I affectionately tell him he is on his second life!

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

We had an absolutely wonderful weekend! Spending time with Mark, Jess, and Jess's parents, Wayne and Irene has been great. It started with a work day for Mark on Friday, but we were able to see him walking in therapy with two canes. His shoe with the lift in it was 'out for repairs' (actually to lower the lift for the third time which is good progress) but he did wonderfully. After PT, Mark went on to the rest of his busy day, and we showed Irene and Wayne the Fisher House and a little bit of the area around the hospital. When Mark was done for the day, he and Jess packed up and came up to the hotel to spend the long weekend their with the parental units!

Saturday, which was Wayne's birthday, we were all surprised by Mark who walked down to breakfast. His shoe had been completed and he and Jess thought it would be a great birthday present for Wayne to walk into the breakfast room at the hotel. They were right, it was, for all of us. Then we all headed to St. Petersburg to sightsee and go to the outdoor market. It was definitely fun and Wayne enjoyed the varied architecture of the city. From there we headed back to the hotel and had a late lunch. Jess took Wayne to Barnes and Noble to experience an American bookstore, I did some errands, and Rich, Irene and Mark headed to their respective rooms for a siesta. Then it was on to Ybor City and the historic Columbia Restaurant for dinner. The Columbia was opened in 1905 and is the oldest restaurant that has been continually owned by one family in the state of Florida. It is in a very unique building and we had a wonderful time.

Sunday took us on another adventure to see Tarpon Springs which is a city that was founded a couple of hundred years ago by Greek sponge divers. It still operates as a shrimping and sponge diving center today. There are beautiful old Victorian houses and waterfront areas. Although it was hotter than Hades, we enjoyed our time there poking around the docks and driving through some of the residential areas. Mark suggested we head to Tarpon Lake, which is nearby, for lunch at the Tarpon Turtle. The last time he and I were there about 12 years ago, it was a "rustic" place right on the lakeshore, where the boats pulled up to the dock for lunch. It has been completely rebuilt over the years and is now a very large, beautiful restaurant with docks. We enjoyed showing the others another landmark that Mark and I had been to years ago on a visit here to see my aunt. We got back to the hotel and Jess and Mark took us to see their new apartment which is in a complex right next to the hotel. We all loved it. It's a very nice open floor plan that Mark manages to get around very well. The bedrooms, living and kitchen are spacious and they have a large attached garage for the truck, which, by the way, Jess has taken to like a duck to water! Then we enjoyed a little pool time before heading out to dinner.

Since Sunday had been so hot, and Monday had the same forecast, we headed indoors to the International Mall for a bit of window (and for some of us, real) shopping. Mark and Jess needed to try out mattresses for their new apartment and settled on one, which they were able to order. Of course, the rest of us all had to try it out as well. After lunch we returned back to the hospital and Wayne and Irene got to see Mark's apartment there. He and Rich hung out there while the rest of us headed to the supermarket for the supplies we needed to make a meal at the Fisher House that evening. We had a wonderful dinner with our friends, RyAnne, Veronica, Bradley, Meredith, Mike, Ivonne and AJ, who of course, entertained us through the entire meal. It was a fun evening with FLamily (Florida family) as RyAnne has nicknamed the group.

All in all we had a great weekend, and unfortunately, Mark heads back to work today and we have several meetings today and tomorrow about Mark's future so the remainder of our stay here will be busy as well.