Day 176 - Nov 23, 2008

We had a better day today. Kevin didn't seem to be as depressed as he had been. We had one little instance where a girl of about 10 years old or so started crying when she saw him tonight, but he just ignored her. Or maybe he didn't comprehend why she was crying - I am just not sure.

Other than that, Kevin allowed me and Breezy to go see a community that we are considering living in. He stayed with his favorite sitter all afternoon and they watched "The Goonies" with two of the other patients and I guess they were all laughing their butts off. I just love to hear that.

The community is very nice - they all seem to be though. It has a very nice fitness center (which he can definitely utilize) and it's on a wildlife preserve so it almost feels like East Brady. I was pleased to see a bunch of teenagers playing football in one of the parks and it was overall very quiet there. This development is in the beginning stages, but they intend it to be a whole town at completion (with 8500 homes over 15 years). One thing I really like is that they will be having a community hospital with acute care built in the first quarter of 2009. In an emergency, we can go there until they can get us to the VA hospital here in Tampa, which is about 25 minutes away. The homes there start in the 170's and go up into the millions and I think it's safe to say that we are going to be on the low end, lol.

So anyway, we did tour a couple that were already pretty much handicap accessible (shower and front steps only need changed), but they were in the 500 - 800 range. Ha! We just walked through those so that we could drool. Man, I sure wish one of those were in our budget, lol!

And now I am just sitting here waiting for Kev to go to sleep. It's just shy of midnight and I am not seeing it happening anytime soon. There is a ROCKY marathon on and him and Vinnie are both watching.

So, I am going to hit a few more questions:

Ben - Kevin doesn't seem to remember names so I can't say if he remembers you or not. You also asked if we could maybe stay here until he is ready to come back to PA. That's more what I am thinking, to be honest. I am hoping we can do that, and if not, maybe we can come back to Brady for the summers at least. No matter where we end up, East Brady will always be our home. I also looked up the Wounded Warrior Bill and thanks for the info.

Lisa in Minnesota - I love the idea of Kev talking to other guys that have went through what he has, but unfortunately there really isn't anyone here that can do that. This hospital ward here is probably the most devastating ward in the country. I mean, you can get a prosthetic for every missing limb, but there's nothing you can do about missing brain tissue. And Kevin is honestly one of the lucky ones. Most of the guys here are way worse that he is. Maybe somewhere along the line someone will come in though and be in the place to help Kevin like that - who knows. I wish your step-son good luck in making the decision to join the Army.

Jodi - good idea on having someone that Kevin looks up to come to get him to snap out of it. I will have to give that some thought...and before I forgot - on Veteran's Day, you posted a short note to Andrew and hoped I didn't mind. Of course I didn't. Andrew, James and Dan will forever be in our hearts - along with all of our fallen and wounded soldiers.

Miss Em - great idea on having someone get my photos. I will have to try to find out where my storage unit is located and go from there. Ooooohhhhh Moe...can I ask a favor?

Martha K - thanks for calling Senator Casey's office for me - I will contact him soon myself.

Kristen - I had never heard of General Anxiety Disorder, but that is so what's going on. I kinda figured it would wear off once we are out in public more and it's not such a big deal to be. I'm glad it all went away for Travis! Say "hi" to him and everyone at work!

Ok - enough for tonight. I think he's sleeping so I can sneak on home...