As of This Morning...

Ok boys and girls, here’s the most significant update on Andrew’s status, even as we must continue to stomach the absence of detailed information we’ve come to expect from the military thus far. My brother left Iraq in serious condition before improving to stable condition by the time he reached Andrews Air Force Base. As of this morning he has been upgraded once more to “not seriously injured.” One must look at that description in the proper context before the jigs commence. Andrew is a soldier who is no longer seriously injured; the military scale for normalcy is drastically different from our civilian scale. A civilian with extensive nerve damage would be considered seriously injured; a soldier is not. As far as his life goes, Andrew is not in any immediate, grave danger.

“Not seriously injured” really means two things of significance. First, Andrew will not undergo any surgical operations to improve his condition. The shrapnel appears to be there to stay. His path of healing now includes therapy, therapy, and more therapy. He has essentially reached “walk it off” on the Army‘s treatment meter. The second aspect of “not seriously injured” that is worth mentioning is the Army will no longer foot the bill for my parents to go see my brother. Of course, that hasn’t stopped them from going. They left at 9:00 this morning for San Antonio.

Despite the upgrade in Andrew’s status, we still know very little about the condition of his leg. The tests at Sam Houston were unable to determine whether the nerve in his leg was severed, cut, or bruised, and they can’t set a plan for his recovery until they do. So, while Andrew’s arrival in San Antonio was supposed to answer many of our lingering questions, it looks like we will have to wait another week for Andrew’s next appointment. As of now, Andrew has had no improvement in feeling returning to his leg, but he’s as active and mobile as he can possibly be (it seems that is what the doctor is recommending for the time being). But as far as questions about Andrew’s rehab, or even his military future, we’ll have to wait another week.

So, mom and dad are gone for now. They have no idea when they will be back. They’ll be with Andrew until he gets settled wherever he will be doing his therapy. If that means they have to drive up to Fort Carson, then that’s what they’ll be doing. I’ll be manning the phones and the blog here. I don’t imagine I’ll have much to update until my empty nest syndrome kicks in and I start begging for companionship. However, if I do get some news on Andrew, or even some new speculation regarding his future, I will be sure to pass it along.