Daddy Update

In my last update about Ben, I mentioned we were waiting for the final paperwork to be sent to Seattle.  Well it was sent just a few days later, and that's when the real waiting game began.  The first thing we were waiting to hear back on was whether he was fit or unfit for duty.  We just found out Friday that he is unfit! I know, it seems kind of silly to be so happy that he is not able to continue with duty, but when you've been through everything we've been through it's kind of easy to understand.  Anyway, it received all the signatures it needed and was sent to the next phase around July 14th.  Now we are waiting for our rating, which is how much they are going to give us for the rest of his life.  We get this from both the Army and the VA.  And as long as it is at least 30%, it will be considered a medical retirement.  Which is what we want.  Of course we would like a higher rating, but as long as we get that retirement so he continues to receive his medical benefits we'll be ok with that.  We should have our rating 60 - 80 days from July 14th.  So we are looking at mid September to early October.  Then we should be receiving our orders to go home shortly after that.  We'll have 30 days to clear and we'll be home.  So it's very possible that we'll be home for Thanksgiving, if not Halloween.  Not saying we will be home that soon, but it is a possibility.  I would love to be home by then, but we'll see.
So that's where we are with the Med Board.  In other news, Ben is completely off all narcotics again.  His pain still typically sits between a 4 and 7, but actually being on the narcotics was causing more issues and pain than it was doing good.  His pain doctor had put him on methadone, which is the strongest narcotic out there and what they use for heroin addicts.  But the side effects were making him sick, throwing up several times a day for over a week which was making the pain worse.  We tried telling his pain doctor that and instead of taking him off of it, he doubled the dose.  So we went and saw his regular doctor and we got off it.    And he's doing better now.  We saw his pain doctor again a few days ago, and he was surprised to hear that he was off and doing better with out the narcotics than he was doing with it.  Now there's not much else he can do.  We've pretty much tried everything.  We are going to try some alternative treatments now.  Acupuncture and medical massage, to be exact.  We'll see if either of those give him some relief.  Hopefully it does.
We are still working on what we are going to do once we get out of the Army.  I think we've decided he wants to be an ultrasound tech.  We are working on getting the necessary papers for him to start the Vocational Rehab program.  The VA will actually pay for any schooling or training that needs to be done, so we are working on that process right now too.
That's pretty much what he's up to.  Not super exciting, well ok almost being done with the army is pretty exciting.  He continues to hang in there though. :)