Hey, just checking in real quick here. Paul made it to Germany and he's been there for a couple days now. He was given a few calling cards that were donated so he's been able to call me and the rest of the family. The military also allows me to call him twice a day on their time so it's nice to hear his voice on a decent connection for a change.
He seems to be doing alright and has kept a pretty positive attitude throughout this whole ordeal. He's on nerve blockers for the pain and says it's the worst in his hand because he lost a big chunk out of his palm (sorry for TMI) and pieces in his thumb, plus the top of his thumb. He's had two surgeries to remove all the shrapnel out of his arm so far. The doctor said he will probably never regain much grip strength back and also won't regain full use of his arm. This means he will probably have to learn to write with his right hand and need help with little things that he was used to doing without a second thought. He was happy that he didn't lose his wedding ring but ended up with a large chip in it. I told he him that his marriage was a whole lot more than a ring and we could have it fixed but he said no it was a souvenir. And twice now he's said he wished he had his laptop or his PSP because he's kind of bored lol.
Rear d kind of screwed up and didn't officially notify me so all the info was going to his parents. Well they didn't kind of screw up they did screw up and then tried to say that my husband must've had his info down incorrectly. I told them to pull his paperwork on that and that he did it exactly right and they were wrong and needed to fix the situation ASAP. Sure enough, they were wrong and then tried to backtrack and say they had been trying to contact me. I said that I would've known if they had tried to contact me since my home phone forwards to my cell. I got a pretty lame apology if you want to call it that but at least things got straightened out and it's okay now.
I get medical updates on his condition every 24 hours, sometimes more often than that. I still don't know where he'll be coming back to but it sounds like he'll be there for a few more days. Since I'm in my hometown right now my SIL will be taking care of the kids and the military will fly me to wherever he is and pay for meals and lodging and then fly me back so I can drive home. If he's there over 30 days they will make arrangements for us to move there. So even if they send him to TX to recover I'll still fly down there for the time being.
His battalion commander called me on my cell phone from overseas to tell me how impressed he was with him. He said he expected Paul to be in alot of pain and complaining but instead he wanted to make sure the rest of the guys had made it back safely. Some of the guys panicked when they were hit (pretty traumatic for all) so it was actually Paul who got on the radio to report the attack and tell them he was hit. Had he been in something different more than likely he wouldn't have made it. As it was the medic was awesome and saved him from bleeding to death. The BC told me that he thought Paul was a wonderful soldier, a fine young man and he was damn proud to have him in the unit. He said he was very deserving of the purple heart and the combat action ribbon so hearing all that was really nice. Then he asked me for my email address so he could send me the pictures of it so we'd have them lol. Gross! I know he lost alot of blood and I don't need to see that!
I'm really glad he's alright because I know it could've easily been so much worse. I had thought many times of the scenario of getting the knock on the door but not so much if he were injured. Ironically I was watching Army Wives last week and when it showed the part where Roxy got the call that Trevor was injured I turned to my stepmom and said that's the call that I dread. Little did I know that just two days later I would be getting that call and it wouldn't be made for tv. It's been a lot to take in and I've been dealing with things okay. The kids know that their dad's coming back and that his arm is hurt but that's pretty much it. All I know is that someone was definitely watching over him and hundred's of prayers all over the world have gone up for him since this happened and that's just awesome. A lot of things are going to be changing for us and it's not going to be easy, especially for him but we're just going to make the best of things. I'm so excited to see him again even though it's not under the best circumstances. I watched the fireworks tonight throught teary eyes because I'm so grateful to be married to a hero.
I will try and keep y'all updated especially when I know where he's going to be sent to. Thanks again for your support and all those prayers, let me tell you they've really kept me going this past week!
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