Should be here Saturday.

Dan is coming home on Saturday. We don’t have any flight information but there is a flight leaving at Midnight for Washington DC. They are having Dan quit his job for now because they don’t know how long it will take him to recover. He will have to go back through the re-hire procedures once the Doctors release him to go back to work. For now he will be on Workman’s Comp.

I know God has His plan and we can rest in it but it is a struggle not to think of the what-if’s. He’s coming home; will be able to be treated for the pain, yeah!That IS GOOD!

Maybe this will be a time to re-evaluate everything and to see if the Lord is leading us into a new direction. It’s seems when God makes a door then He closes that door, our choices become clear cut. I guess that is a good thing because it assures you won’t take the wrong path. Now we have to just wait for the next door to walk through, maybe it will be returning to the old one, maybe it will be a new one. Must have an adventure mindset!
Ranel

MRI Report - Good News!

Just took a look at the MRI reports, it’s not so bad. It is an easy fix. The protrusions are mild and will resolve on their own. This will be fixed with physical therapy or strengthening exercises. The symptoms in the arm (numbness, tingling and pain in the arm) will resolve. The sooner treated the better. The buldges are not pinching the nerve; however they are irritating to them and cause the symptoms in the arm. A Medrol dose pack will still be beneficial, and an epidural in your neck will also be beneficial to control the symptoms but exercises to strengthen the neck will be the key to preventing this from happening again. Dr. D said that the shoulder pain is coming from your clavical area and is a result of trauma. (Probably the bullet proof vest) No treatment to fix this area, only time. He said when you come in he will inject some medicine in this area to help with pain.

Katie Klekar,LPN
Orthopedic Spine and Pain Clinic

No word this morning on travel, probably not until tomorrow.

He is coming home!

Dan made it to Kuwait two days ago. He had two MRI's done one on his back and one on his neck area which was very painful to get through. They discovered he has adema which is squished disks (I think)in his neck on his vertibrae. Its between disks C4 thru C6 and they are pinching the nerves. They gave him a pain shot, has him on celebrex and a pain relieving lotion for his shoulder. They are sending him home. He will leave from Kuwait as soon as he get's the approval papers and fly directly home from there. He maybe here by the weekend.

My daughter Katie who is a nurse and works at the Orthopedic, Spine and pain clinic in Polaris and has an appointment already to see a Doctor next week.

Here are some photo's He took yesterday. He is two blocks from the Persian Gulf but his room he is staying in is underground.

Dan in a Sand Storm!

Back in Baghdad

Dan's nerve injury is still a problem. Its'been about two weeks now. It took almost a week for KBR to figure out Dan needed some medical attention then due to the sand storms it been a another week for Dan to get a flight out of Al Asad. I just got a message this morning that he is finally in Baghdad. The next big hurdle is to catch a flight from there to Kuwait. There he will be able to have an MRI and what ever he needs. We are hoping they will be able to figure out what is going on and that it will be treatable. If not they will be flying him home for treatment. It's a manna life!

While he is in Baghdad and Kwait he will have a better internet connection and will be able to access his blog and his facebook plus he should have some time to email everyone.

That's all for now....

The Pain of Doing the Right Thing

The Crew and Gunny Sargent Bolton.

Obviously the title is in irony, because right now trying to type this insert is difficult with one arm being nearly too painful to type. My shoulder was injured, actually a pinched nerve that effects the ulna nerve, and now my right index finger is 75% numb, my elbow aches continuously, my shoulder and chest muscles spasms whenever it is decides to and sleeping is a lot of tossing and turning. Had I not taken the time to get the 100# vest and take it to class like I originally was not going to do , I would not have hurt myself. Class is in the Headquarters offices and since they "required" the vest, I took it with trepidation. I knew the vest would just sit in the corners once we start class, and if anything happened we would go immediately to the bunkers, not stop and put on the vest. I should have listened to that little voice.

Building before Dust Storm

I included a few new pictures of things around here, sunsets, dust storms, and a large view of the base. Dust storm season is upon us here in the land of sand and sun. Its quite interesting when the wind starts blowing and the locals are all wrapped up and we Americans look around and stare. "What's going on"? What's with the mask?", of course, anyone who has been here for a year or more knows what is coming. Suddenly the sun starts to dim, the horizon gets to turning brown and almost like smoke. As the light gets dimmer, you start to think the sun is setting at 10 am, but realize the dust is rising up like a great big wave and is about to drop on your head.

Same Building 5 minute later

Then it hits, just like a thunderstorm back home, with fury and anger. The sand completely darkens the day to twilight, 10 feet of visibility and it really does get in everything. One day so bad you couldn't drive. I live in a tent so you can imagine what my space looked like after it was over. I about an hour it is over, and then the air hangs with suspended sand for days. Moon dust would be a better description of the sand that is blown around, when the wind really gets to moving, it can actually take the paint off a truck, so I am told. Haven't experienced that yet. Remember the scene in "The Mummy" with Brandon Fraser,when the mummy stirs up the sand storm, I'm told those really do happen, they have a great picture of one from a couple of years ago. I intend to take a picture for my self if I am here and capable, I know, I'm nuts. (I love thunderstorms and tornadoes too).

Things around here are really stressful and complicated. Politics and chaos are the daily norm, never knowing what is the change for the day, even the hour. Large corporations tend to be this way, you just have to learn patience and flexibility. Nothing is ever the same, even now, all the work I have done for the past 60 days is now being sent to the shredder because the government and KBR has changed the requirements to fit the situation and now we are starting over. Really the procedures have been completely changed and we start over. Check KBR out in Google and read up on what is going on. Me and my buddy's here are trying to change the way things are done, and now we get to change the whole new way things are done. Frustrating is not the word to best describe the last couple of weeks, on top of being in pain. Even our supervision is doing things that are causing serious acts that are making the three of us consider our options. But, we know things will change tomorrow and I, for one, will have to be dragged out of here kicking and screaming, there is nothing at home for work. So, each day is a challenge in it self just to get through the constant task of trying to do what the job requires, and not think about the fact that tomorrow it may be for naught. My current life in a nut shell.

Dan's shoulder is still bothering him a lot. There is no Doctors at the Al Asad base. There are medic's but they are not allowed to disburse any medications except over the counter dose of motrin. The nearest medical facilities is in Kuwait. KBR would fly him there but he would have to take medical days and we don't know how many days it would take to be seen by a Doctor, etc. Please be praying that God would restore his shoulder. He will be home in 51 days and I will get him in to the Dr. while he is home for his two weeks. Hopefully we can get him fixed up.

This is kind of funny at fist but then the second part, you may NOT want to read it... Just warning you. This is our text messages today.

D: I for got to mention the bus ride was bummy as a bad movie and thats when I hurt myself.
R: You mean it was bumpy?
D: Yep, some of the roads aren't paved
R: Oh, reminds you of the Lucy movie with Ricky in the trailer going over the mountian or "Fools Rush In" where the guy goes to Mexico in the trombia and he is stuffed in with the chickens?
D: Yes that would be a good representation no chickens though.
D: Did I tell you about the Iraqi who pooped in the bushes along the road?
R: Pooped in the bushes. You saw him do it?
D: Yep right out the window of the bus that brought us in from the airport. He walked out from the check point into the tall weeds. Dropped his pants in plain sight had water to wash his butt.
R: Ok? is this a normal thing? Was everyone shocked?. I can't believe that. He must have had to really had to go!
D: Did his thing and got up and shook off his hands. That's how they do it here, muslims dont use toilet paper.
D: This where the dube comes from!
R: (not sure what that means)ewyeeeuk!
D: Truck here time for breakfast got to go!
D: LOVE YOU, BYE

Thought I would share....doesn't sound healthy?

Video Chat

Dan flew over to Bahgdad last week for a week of training. There he was able to finlly get on his own computer onto the internet. Here is is playing with the video chat. This isn't the greatest video but its a start. I'm not sure but he may be flying back to Al Asad today or tomorrow. Notice the hair cut. Yeah! much better.

Yesterday Dan had to wear a 100lb. bullet proof vest from his sleeping trailer to the class room. This was being required by the army base for safty due to the elections. However the elections over there were peacefull so we don't really get it. The weight of the vest caused Dan's shoulder muscles to go in to spasams. Here is his message to me.

"Hey I had to go to medical for my shoulder pain at 6 am this morning. It was so bad it woke me up at 2 or 3 in the am and I couldn't sleep. It is an irritated mucle at the top of the shoulder, so irritated that it is cutting off the nerves and the whole right side of my chest and back and arms are twitching non stop. The medic massaged me twice (I think he is gay, but good massuse) and iced it down twice. They also gave me some anti twitch pills and a pain injection. Hopefully when you get up I will be in much better shape. The cause is carrying around the bullet proof vest I m sure."

A Day at the Office

We usually get up a 4:00 am and go to the gym for our morning workout. At 5:30 am we try and get to the office so we can open our email, which usually has 20 emails in the in box. Most of the mail is from corporate and some is for us individuals. At 6:00 am is the morning meeting here with the electrical department. We go over the plan of the day which has always changed from the night before. This, of course, is frustrating because our paperwork is prepared ahead of time to be ready for the days inspections. Management cannot seem to stick to a plan nor can they organize very well. Our teams do really an excellent job when left to our own, but too many supervisors get excited by changing circumstances and what the Marine Commanders think should happen, plus the added pressure from the super management in Baghdad. Anyway, we have come to the conclusion in the last couple of weeks to wait until we are leaving and then I, the document coordinator, make up the needed forms and off we go. Then the real fun begins. We show up to the site and wait for the electricians to do their testing first then we follow behind and do ours, the whole time waking up sleeping Marines who had night duty, had to fly patrol, etc. The Marines and soldiers are real gracious with us and will allow us to do what we need to do to keep their lives safe at “home”. Usually we find problems with the installations and have to stop until repairs are made, although after 6 weeks of receiving bad reports about their work, the electricians and the quality is getting better. That makes our jobs better and their lives easier. After lunch we keep going until 5 or 6 pm, and then we come back to the office and do the days paperwork. Lots of nights I have been putting in 16 hours, 14 hours a day on average. So, by 9 pm I am exhausted and go to bed only to start it all over again the nest day. If it were not for Saturday’s time card turn in, I would not know what day of the week it is. I use the formula of adding 4 hours to my time to know what time it is at home, then I have to remember it is the opposite time of the day. Confused yet? I really never know either. During our travels we stop and drop off our laundry, run to the store, and any other errand we have to do. So, this is a typical day in Iraq in the QA/QC department.

Mi Ge-ORgeous Husband!

Because Dan works from 5:30AM - 9:00PM, seven days a week, he has no time to get a hair cut. The last photos he sent of him and his boss Loretta I mentioned to him that it was time for a hair cut. He responded "I'm going to let it grow out, beard too! Well that was only a few weeks ago.... He couldn't stand the beard because it got all curly.

So this is Before his shave.


This is after!

I think he looks like Richard Grere; but then I'm his wife and I think he handsome anyhow.

Dan... Doing His Job

Hark, there must be something wrong with this one!

The latest photos of Dan.