Day 9 - June 9, 2008

I received a box today from Germany. I was so thankful to see Kev's wallet and his dog tags. I know it's stupid - but I sat in the waiting room and just cried. Sgt B was also very perturbed because in the box was also Kev's Purple Heart - both the certificate and the medal. B took it so that it could be presented to Kevin correctly - hopefully with him awake enough to understand the ceremony. (BTW, Sgt B is our 173rd Airborne liaison - great guy)

It was kinda a rough day for ICU Burns. I don't think any of us had any good news. We weren't allowed in to see Kev till almost 3 1/2 hours after visiting hours began. We had no idea why and when I walked into his room - I was shocked. Yesterday I was able to see my son; see his face, his torso, his legs. Today he was completely encased in gauze and a white net type material. He looked like a mummy. I was so upset because I didn't understand why they wrapped him like they did - still don't, truthfully. I was told they put some type of burn medication on him and needed the new wrapping to keep it in place. Not seeing it - but that just goes to prove I'm not a doctor.

While I was in there with him, a physical therapist came in and started working on his limbs. He did Kev's left arm and I must have zoned out (do that a lot here) because next thing I knew - he was working on Kev's left leg. When I realized it, I was like "WHOA! Don't do that - that ankle is fractured!!" The jerk pulled out his orders and said - and I quote - "oops". I'm not going to tell you what happened after this because it's just not appropriate, but I will say that it's been recorded in Kev's file.

So when I went back in to see Kev this evening, I was told that they had to do a biopsy of something on one of his hands. The docs are concerned that he may have picked up some sort of fungus down range (down range is slang for Afghanistan I guess). I am trying not to worry about it yet, but it's hard. It could mean losing his fingers or even his hand. And yes - we are still very worried about pneumonia.

As to how bad it was for all of us today...I should first tell you that everyone in the ICU Burns waiting room has become family. We all know or are getting to know everything about each other and we all lean on each other for support. Today, one of our guys will not make it through the night. No names, but he got sick yesterday and they went in to do some type of surgery and he went into cardiac arrest. He has been here close to 3 months. Fought numerous times through numerous surgeries. He is/was 95% burned. At this point, he is on life support only until his father can get here. He is leaving behind a 22 year old wife and 3 children. It's so sad and it's also so scary. Every day I wake up and say "day 8" or "day whatever" and think that each day Kev is still alive he is just that much closer to being totally healed. But is he? Apparently not. I learned today that it honestly doesn't matter how much time has passed, he still may not make it.