She wasn't quite dead when she performed her first miracle.  We were all gathered around the shell of her body, she still breathing by the dull grace of a breathing tube, when the sound of CC's cell phone pierced the death bed scenario.

It was a doctor's office, confirming an… Read full post »

It's been awhile. Blogging here got complicated when CC wanted to be involved in the message. Our desires for this public forum are at cross purposes. He's talking to the VA through it, but what I really want to do is keep a simple journal about life after war and how… Read full post »

There has been a bit of feuding going on for the past few months between CC and the personnel department of the pain and rehab clinic.  Relations began swimmingly well, but deteriorated once CC got his wheelchair.  He needed things to go with the chair.  A cushion to sit on.… Read full post »

I have the commandment to blog our journey to the VA today for a major medical hearing for a new wheelchair for CC.

Background: Since I have not blogged recently and never told you the outcome of CC's quest to have the VA acknowledge and compensate him beyond the original 1969 classification… Read full post »

At six this Saturday morning; I was not real hip in getting up and going anywhere. It was wet and cold and I was still sleepy. I had photos to take and that in itself was probably the most motivating factor propelling me.

I got to be part of… Read full post »

CC's been sitting outside of WalMart in Forsyth, going on his third day. He and other Marine Corps League friends are collecting toys and money for the the Annual Toys for Tots program. All the toys and money being given at this location are distributed within this county.… Read full post »

This weekend CC went off for an overnighter with the boys to revel in the tetosterone ruts of old Marines cooking Boston Butts. Somewhere between ten and fifteen Devil Dogs worked on this project to benefit the local children's hospital. These men are possibly the most crotchety and con… Read full post »

 On the way home from Augusta we saw one of those brown signs that denote a State Park.  CC whipped the car around, shouting gleefully, "I'm cured - I'm doing something impulsively!"  Except I don't think that is the definition of being cured of PTSD. I think having… Read full post »

It's the luck of the draw. You expect the worst and hope for the best. It ain't a deep philosphy. You have to find out what your service earned you and then you go from person to person, and phone call to appointment tracking down the pathway to the benefit.… Read full post »

 

Oh, how I wish I could take photos inside the VA. CC looked like himself on a normal day wandering around in his wheelchair in the Compensation & Pension division of the VA hospital.  He had on his green grunt t-shirt, a green towel around his neck, wheel

… Read full post »

A PTSD Exam

CC is going before the VA compensation and pension board to ask for more compensation because he has PTSD. Ranking disabilities sucks. But that is our mission - Proving CC to be worthy of restitution because: his body is permanently on alert; he has specific mental, physical,and emotional… Read full post »

Boy, do I have something to tell the psychiatrist when CC goes on Wednesday to be judged whether he should be compensated for having PTSD.

You see, CC is now on a mission to visit all the state parks in Georgia. This obsession began this summer shortly after he began… Read full post »

 We'll be leaving in a few minutes to travel to the VA hospital to see Dr. Damn Meanie. CC has a long list of things he wants to accomplish while there.  He is on a roll downstairs complaining about my chaotic messes.  "All I do is clackety, clack on the computer,… Read full post »

Dealing with CC hurts because if I let myself be in the least bit vulnerable; I get torn to shreds. When he gets in PTSD mode, no information is transferred or accepted nicely.

Being aid, assistant and wife for a combat wounded Veteran Marine who has a brittle forty year… Read full post »

CC had gum surgery at the VA Hospital today. We go there almost every week so it hardly seems a big deal anymore. I know we'll be in the land of long straight halls and veterans, every shape, color, size, diabiility and malady. Surgery and CC are not… Read full post »

The Very Bad Pain Clinic, otherwise known as Rehab always smells of urine. And I hate walking back into its depths. I always feel like I am witnessing something too personal. The first back room has people lying on beds with clean white sheets. They are… Read full post »

  Thursday was time for CC to go to Dublin VA Hospital to see his primary care giver on the Blue Team. CC had taken a twenty year break from using the VA services, but about a year ago decided to give it another try. Dublin is about an… Read full post »