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.