Paul was finally released on Wednesday after spending 64 days at BAMC. I thought he'd get 30 days of convalescent leave to relax but every week day is full. I was quickly reminded that I'm not a morning person and could never join the military because I enjoy sleeping. I'm actually being paid by the Army to be Paul's non medical attendant since he can't be left alone and needs me to do a lot for him. I get to flush out his PICC line and give him heparin and antibiotics daily for the next 6 weeks. Once a week he gets a new supply of meds to go into his mini fridge (that's also taking up space in our cramped hotel room) and someone comes in to change the dressing on the wounds. Paul has to wear this bottle thing that's attached to his PICC line so that's getting old for him to carry around all the time.
Last week we did a lot of walking which left him pretty sore after being bedridden for over 2 months. When I mentioned having to go everywhere with him I wasn't kidding. That includes formation and all the inprocessing stuff that he has to go through. I have to do all of his paperwork and go to every appointment and meeting. He's got a list that seems a mile long of doctor's appointments for the next few weeks. There's a whole lot of hurry up and wait for me and for the time being it's me and the kids.
Kaiden came down with a cold again and after this afternoon we almost got a trip to the ER. We were out at the house doing stuff when he climbed up into a folding chair in the kitchen and leaned over too far. He fell flat on his face on the floor, splitting his lip (the 3rd time this week he's split his lip, this time the top and bottom) and banging up his nose, giving him a nosebleed out both sides. Poor kid didn't feel well in the first place and now his face is all banged up. Normally when he gets hurt he cries for less than a minute and is off playing again but this time he cried for over 15 minutes and clung to me. We grabbed our stuff and left and he had fallen asleep as soon as we got out on the main road. I was planning ..ping off Paul and Kyla and taking Kaiden up to BAMC but when I got Kaiden out of the truck he was back to his old self, running around and playing so I'm just keeping a close eye on him. I was worried that his nose was broken but so far no black eyes so we'll see what tomorrow brings. I have a funny feeling that he's going to be my kid who frequents the ER throughout his childhood. He never walks anywhere, he constantly runs and usually away from me if he can. He's really started talking a lot more since Paul's been back. His favorite words are "let go," "ha ha," "thank you," "Kyla!" "uh oh," and "dadda." Those are the ones we can understand but he's babbling a whole lot more.
Kyla is doing really well too and is absolutely thrilled to have her daddy back home. Suddenly mommy is chopped liver lol. She's come so far with her letters and can sing the alphabet song and tell you what sound each letter makes. She's started spelling words with her Hooked on Phonics stuff and is recognizing words when we're out someplace. We've started to notice when she's reading letters on signs that she reads right to left so we need to work on that with her a little more. She's going to be starting part time preschool on post after she gets done with her SNAP testing (special needs something something lol) through CYS. Because Paul is injuried and has a bunch of medical appointments, we qualify for unlimited hourly care at the CDC on post and the preschool program is right there too. I know she'll have a great time with that instead of being stuck with us all day. Kaiden's pretty clingy these days and he'll probably start before Kyla will since he seems to be developing normally so hopefully that goes well.
It's nice to have my husband back, even if he moves a whole lot slower and can't do as much. I know he's frustrated with not being able to do simple, mundane tasks and has a hard time asking for help. I feel guilty saying "do you want a hand?" but since his hand is out of commission that's pretty much just what he needs. He'd kill me for saying this but in some ways it's like taking care of another child because he's so limited on what he can and can't do. It's driving him nuts not to be able to drive, or carry something or even tie his shoes. I know he wants to get his leave and go home for a few weeks but with having to have the nurses come in once a week and all of his appointments he really can't go anywhere for awhile. Hopefully we'll be able to make a trip up north for Christmas.
I added some pictures to the Wounded Warrior album of how his injuries look as of today. I don't know if they're TMI but they aren't pretty. While he went in with one injury, he came out with two and the second one is just as bad as the first with all the infections he had. I learned later on that there were more infections than the two I was aware of. I'll post another update soon but this week looks to be even busier than last week so I don't know when, plus I have to share my network cable with my husband and you know how that goes. I need to get some sleep so I can be up at o'dark thirty.
1 comment:
I was my husbands NMA for two years. I had to do the PICC line flush, and dressing change too. He kept coming down with infections and had to walk around with that stupid bag of fluids every 12 hours. He started to get so frustrated with it because he couldnt go anywhere when he was on them. If he did HAVE to go somewhere he would take the bag and tuck it into the sunroof and close it on the bag so it hung from the roof. haha. It looked goofy but it got the job done. I'm sorry you all are having to go through these things.
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