JUNE 18TH 2010 DAY FORTY SEVEN

Well after 8 1/2 hours at the VA today, I have learned quite a lot. For starters, The VA Hospital in Denver, does not mess around. The entire 8+ hours that I was there, I was actively engaged in medical procedures of one type or another. That means no waiting around in waiting rooms or hurry up and wait. They are a well oiled machine and far superior to any VA I have dealt with in my experiences. The main reason for that is a woman named Claire Robert. She was put in charge of my care and take charge she did. She was without a doubt, a breath of fresh air in the normally broken health care field. I went in with the highest of hopes and I was not let down. Claire was professional, caring, understanding and completely competent. She ordered blood work and x-rays of my back, lower back and chest. She found that the problem stems from an injury I sustained while in the military, when my parachute collapsed one night on a rehearsal combat jump for Haiti, which resulted in me fracturing my spine and tailbone. I recovered enough to continue to jump and perform my duties in a physically demanding job, in fact, I was parachuted up and on the aircraft for the mission just days later. I will try to explain, what is wrong with me to the best of my ability. It seems that the damage has begun to take its toll. My spine at the sight of the injury is now offset and not perfectly straight anymore. The tailbone is also a problem because it is supposed to move as a single unit where it connects with the lumbar. Mine instead, moves moves in two parts and no longer has the space it is supposed to have in between. There is now a 6mm gap in the spine where it shouldn't be. There are also two joints that run down back and rear end, one on the left and one on the right. They are called the Sacro-iliac joints. It seems that the years of abuse of the body that I and others I served with, have taken their toll. The joints are showing degenerative joint disease and probable Sciatica and the beginning of arthritis in the spine. The good news is that my vitals and blood work are in the top 98 percentile. I received an injection of Toradol and a mild muscle relaxer to aide me at sleep time and a topical suave for leg pain. I could have the spinal injection done for relief, but it would be a 6 week wait at this particular VA. Claire is actually trying to find a doctor for me in the civilian sector that performs this type of procedure. That would allow me to continue moving early next week. She told me that the other option would be an oral steroid that I had a lot of experience with in the military called Prednisone, either way i will have a known remedy by Monday. Claire understands my situation and will do everything to keep me safe and capable to continue on our journey. She has, and is, going beyond the call of duty and I appreciate everything she has done for me, she is an extremely dedicated angel of a woman. I look forward to Monday and coming up with the correct solution. I knew that it wouldn't be great news, but it is something I can work on when I get back to California. I will keep everyone up to date and follow with timely blogs. I lost a friend today and I am okay with it. Thank you for being a part of day forty seven.
* When Mackenzie was about 12 years old, she was on a treadmill at a friends house. She slipped and fell and the machine continued to run. she was stuck on it while her stomach was essentially sanded down until they could get the machine off. She had some pretty good burns on her tummy but she got over it and got to where she could laugh about it. She was a tough girl.