Medical Board Update

I thought I would update everyone one what is going on with Adam's Army medical board process and when we are getting out of the Army since we get that question a lot.  And since that is one of the main reasons I started the blog...to continue updates on Adam after I stopped the CaringBridge website.  I have been really bad about keeping everyone updated but I think that is because Adam is doing so well!  It sounds kind of crazy but sometimes I even forget that he was injured and has a head injury at all.  Don't get me wrong, he still has some pretty major deficits, mostly visually, but he functions so well now it is amazing.  Also, I am so use to our "new normal" and I think we have both adjusted pretty well so far.  I am sure Adam never "forgets" he has a head injury because he must get frustrated; although, he rarely expresses that to me.  Adam is done with therapy now, he just goes on post for medical appointments or "work" related things which are few and far between compared to what they were.  He maybe has only 3-4 appointments a week now versus 3-4 a day back at the beginning of the year.

So with the medical board, it is a very long and confusing process so I won't bore everyone with the details.  Basically, a medical board doctor here at Fort Campbell reviewed all of Adam's medical records, wrote a summary, included pertinent medical information and created a "packet" to send to Texas for a board to review.  The board then decides on what rating Adam will receive for his medical retirement.  Adam's "packet" is now in Texas.  It can be there anywhere from 10 days to a few months from what we have heard??  So far it has been there 2 weeks.  After we receive the rating from Texas, we review it, either agree or disagree, then if we agree, sign off on it.  Then it has to go through signatures here at Ft Campbell then go to D.C. to be approved and for Adam to get a final date to get out of the Army.  Then there is a timeline to get some things done, use his extra leave time, etc.  So that being the short version, we are making progress with the medical board but still do not know when we are getting out.  Hopefully in the next few months??

2 years old!!

Cohen's birthday was a couple of weeks ago and we celebrated with my family in GA.  His birthday is also the same day as mine and my Grandmother's so we all had a birthday party together!  Such a special time for all of us.  We went to my parents house on Sunday after spending the day Saturday with friends in North GA.  Cohen is not into very many characters or television right now but he loves trains (he does know who Thomas is) and his favorite things to play with are balls, especially "basketgoals" as he calls them.  So he got a "basketgoal" for his birthday and now plays with it everyday.  Here are a few birthday pictures: