New ID Card (MedBoard: Joint Base Lewis-McChord) Day 305

This morning I woke up in extreme pain and nauseous. I’m not exactly sure why, but I’m guessing all the activities yesterday was a little too much. One of the games I was sitting in was a little jerky as I was flying around, but I didn’t think it was too much at the time. I just have to remember that I have to take it easy at all times. I have to dial my activities back a bit…forever now because of my injuries.

I dropped my son off at the ferry, then drove to Ft. Lewis. I out-processed from the ID center. I had to get a new ID card. At first I thought that was pretty stupid and redundant, I’ll be getting a retirement card soon enough. I guess it’s smart though to get a new active ID card with the new expiration date though. I then received a text from my platoon sergeant stating that I have a retirement briefing tomorrow. I told him I already attended one on the 27th of last month and if I have to go and sit through another 3.5 hour brief I’m going to be one very depressed individual!

I then went to my last PCM appointment. My doctor put in 90 day prescriptions for all my meds to hold me over until I start seeing the VA. She also gave me a hug and wished me well. I went from there straight to the pharmacy to pick up all the meds. I had quite the bag full leaving there! I took some because I was still feeling pretty bad all the way from this morning. On the drive home they started to finally kick in. When I got home I worked on schoolwork for a while.

NCM & PCM - (MedBoard: Joint Base Lewis-McChord) Day 284

I got up around 0900…didn’t text my squad leader and basically just don’t give a crap anymore. I think I have a severe case of short timer's syndrome. I’m lucky I can get away with this. My squad leader is very laid back and I think he just assumes I’m working with the navy when he doesn’t see me. He knows I’m an older guy and I take care of anything that needs to be done, so he doesn’t have to worry or babysit me.

I did schoolwork and then left for Ft. Lewis around noon. I headed straight to Waller Hall and picked up my orders. I had to look over my DD214 first to make sure all the information is correct. I then received my orders and a copy of my leave form. I had to head straight to the finance window at Waller Hall where they scheduled me an appointment for their finance brief this Thursday.

After Finance I drove to WTB and checked the mailroom to try and clear, but like the many times I’ve checked previously, there was nobody there. I went to the supply room at our company and again…nobody there. I checked with the VA Rep in our company, I’m supposed to give her my dates I was given for terminal leave and final out…but like everyone else, there was nobody there.

I had my NCM appointment, which went like all the others before…except this time I was able to have her sign my clearing paperwork. I knew I would at least get her signature today. After our appointment, I headed back to the SFAC to use their copier. I had to make 7 copies of my orders & 2 copies of my leave form. These are needed for the finance brief I was signed up for this Thursday. While I was there, I checked my army email.

I then had my PCM appointment. I had my PCM put in a request for my pain medication refills. We also scheduled one last appointment before I am out. I then made my way to the pharmacy and picked up the medication. On my way to my car I decided to stop by the WTB mailroom one more time just in case. To my surprise the guy is actually there! I had him sign my clearing paperwork and I filled out a change of address form for him to file. Kind of strange that I had to fill out the change of address, since I never had one here in the first place…but who cares? At least I got one more item marked off my list.

I headed home for the day and did schoolwork.

JAG - (MedBoard: Joint Base Lewis-McChord) Day 259

Headed to morning formation in ACUs because I had a 0700 appointment with my PCM. Once accountability was over I went back to my car and quickly ate breakfast. I then went to my 0700 appointment with my PCM. I let her know I was doing pretty good except for the 3 day spell earlier this week. I had her put in prescriptions as usual for my pain medication, then left. I had a 0800 acupuncture appointment at the pain clinic. This went as usual, first walking on the hard plastic rocks in my socks and then laying on my back and getting poked in my forehead, wrists, hands, shins, ankles and feet. One the needles were all in, the relaxing music was on and the lights off, I pretty much just relaxed and slept for most of the time.

After my appointment, I headed to my chiropractic appointment which was pretty quick. The doc just had me lay down while he did his manipulation on my neck. After that was over, I headed to the hospital pharmacy and picked up all my refills and prescriptions. The pharmacy was of course busy, I had to wait for a while…luckily I had my iPhone to keep me entertained.

I had lunch in my car and then waited for my 1230 physical therapy appointment for my positive profile. This is something that just appeared out of the blue on my appointment sheet. My NCM said it was located on the 8th floor of the hospital, but that was all I knew. I wandered around for a bit until someone finally showed me where the office was located. Once there I spoke with the physical therapist for a while. We went over all of my issues, then she took measurements on my range of motion with my legs, arms and neck. She also did some resistance test and logged everything in her computer. I guess I’ll get an updated positive profile in a week or so. A positive profile basically states what I can do versus what I can’t do.

After this appointment I headed back to my car and took a nap. I then went to the JAG office. While in the waiting room I received a text from my squad leader stating that I had to do staff duty on Monday. I really hate this place and I hate staff duty. This just really pissed me off. I did find out later that I would only have to do it from 0800 to 1600, this is much better…but I was still pretty pissed. I hate the short notice and I also hate that I was told that everyone only has staff duty about once every three months. I just had one about a month ago, so this really sucks!

At JAG I spoke with a lawyer that specializes in the medboard process. My PEBLO suggests that everyone have JAG look over the findings and make sure everything looks good. I was fine with my findings and the lawyer just wanted to make sure I was fine with getting out of the army…of course I am…I can’t wait…I’m done with all this stupid shit. After JAG gave their blessing I went straight to my PEBLO and signed all the paperwork. I was going to wait until Monday which was my final day, but after the staff duty text, all I wanted to do was get this process started and get the hell out of the army.

I headed home after signing everything. I was told the next step will have me put into transition processing. Once this is done I’ll get a call from my PEBLO and she will give me a date for my retirement brief that I’ll attend. At this brief I’ll find out all the steps that I’ll need to do before getting out. The max for getting into transition processing is 30 days, but my PEBLO said it can be as short as a week.

Tonight just my girls came over to stay the weekend, my son has the flu and is feeling pretty sick. We had a great homecooked meal and then watched a couple of movies that arrived via Netflix. The first was Charlie Bartlett, which was a comedy about a rich privileged student who gets kicked out of private school and must attend a public school. It was pretty good and kept my girls entertained. The second movie of our double feature was Untraceable, which was a thriller about an FBI agent who is trying to track and capture a villain who is killing people and broadcasting it live on the internet. This movie was also decent, it kept everyone entertained.

Cognitive Behavior Therapy - (MedBoard: Joint Base Lewis-McChord) Day 229

A view from one of the windows of the hospital tower

This morning I headed to formation in ACUs because I have a 0700 appointment. As I was waiting in the parking lot, I received a text from my squad leader telling me that now formation is at 0730 in ACUs (probably because it’s Thursday which means sergeant’s time training). I was happy to text him back stating that I will not be there because I have an appointment. I headed to my 0700 PCM appointment and let her know that so far the pain clinic is going well. I had her order refills for my pain medications and then took off. I got a call from my NCM as I was heading to her office for my next appointment. She asks me if I know about an appointment at 0930 today. I said no, then I get a little pissed because I hate it when appointments get added without my knowledge. Luckily I was here already today or else I would not have made it. I let my NCM know I’m on my way to her office and she can tell me about it when I get there.

When I meet up with my NCM, I find out my 0930 appointment is for CBT (Cognitive Behavior Therapy) and is part of the pain clinic. By this time I’ve calmed down a bit, no need to get all worked up over stuff that is out of my control. At least I am already here and the new appointment is in the morning, so I will not be hanging around all day just waiting for an appointment. After my NCM appointment I head down to the SFAC and check my army email, but cannot log into AKO because it’s down.

I go back to my car and listen to the radio to pass the time. The guys on the radio were talking about a guest they had for one of their podcasts. The guest was a stripper that works in Seattle and I guess she has a lot of interesting stories. She keeps a blog (seattlestripper.blogspot.com) and she also has a twitter feed you can follow (@RED_stripper). So I started reading her blog to pass the time.

At 0930 I have my CBT appointment. There is a group of about 8 people in this meeting and is a combination of army and air force personnel, but lead by a navy officer. We find out it’s actually an orientation for a group of classes that we can sign up for. The navy captain talks about chronic pain and how it affects daily life. We each go around and introduce ourselves, our pain and how long we’ve had it. We also say what we do to relieve the pain…if anything. There was a wide range of different issues people are dealing with here. Everything from a guy who was shot in Afghanistan to parachute jump injuries. The navy captain goes through a number of PowerPoint slides discussing what chronic pain does to people physically and emotionally. The class lasted about 90 minutes and then we are split into two groups. There are two types of classes that each meet once a week for three weeks. These are the behavioral and the cognitive class. Each group will go through one of the classes, then switch after three weeks. I had to choose the cognitive class because it is scheduled on Mondays and I already had appointments that conflicted with the behavioral class that will be meeting on Wednesdays.

After that I headed home, but didn’t quite make it all the way there. About halfway home a Dairy Queen Oreo Blizzard was screaming my name, so I took a short break and had lunch with that awesome dessert. I then made my way to the mall and picked up a Seahawks jersey for my nephew. A little present my in-laws wanted to get him and mail it so it arrives before the Super Bowl. I have to take advantage of the military discount while I still can! Once finished with that I headed home and…you guessed it…did schoolwork! I’m looking forward to the days where I can go home and do whatever I want. I am ready to be done with school!!

Back to Ft. Lewis - (MedBoard: Joint Base Lewis-McChord) Day 201

At Madigan near the WTB clinic. No description or anything around it, 

but I thought it was pretty cool

This morning our morning formation wasn’t until 0800, but I had an appointment at 0800 with my NCM so I just headed straight to my appointment. The actual appointment went as planned. I answered all the usual questions and nothing is really new. My NCM wanted me to give her a call later on today and let her know how my appointment with my PCM goes. I headed to my car, ate breakfast, and then pulled my blanket up over me and took a long nap.

I made my way up a little early for my PCM appointment. This place is dead today. The parking lot is half empty and there is hardly anyone wandering around the hospital because of the holidays. There was nobody at the WTB clinic, so I was let in early to see my PCM. I asked her about alternative solutions such as massage therapy, chiropractic and acupuncture, because I am really ready to give anything a try. I know massage therapy will help because when my wife massages my tight shoulders and neck, I always feel better. I have constant chronic pain and it’s really keeping me from actually enjoying life. When my head is killing me, I don’t want to do much of anything! My PCM said all of that is done through the pain clinic and she’ll put in another referral for me to see them. I had a referral before, but the pain clinic wanted me to see neurology before I saw them. Now that I’ve finished with neurology, I can now see them. I also had my PCM give me refills for my pain medications. Usually I have a few left by the time I see her, but I’ve been completely out for a couple days now.

I went down to the pharmacy after our appointment and picked up my refills. I then headed home and did schoolwork. Once finished with the schoolwork I just laid down on the couch. I feel like my head and neck are still in a very fragile state, it seems like it doesn’t take much to trigger a lot of pain for me. Laying down on the couch with the heating pad and taking it very easy seems to help somewhat.

NCM, PCM & Pharmacy - (MedBoard: Joint Base Lewis-McChord) Day 88

This morning we had our formation with summer PTs and the jacket. While we were in formation it started to rain so we headed inside. Once inside we did a little stretching and then called it a day. I headed to my car and ate breakfast, then listened to the radio for a bit.

I headed to the SFAC when it opened up at 0730, I was able to check my army email and digitally sign some paperwork for the internship I'm about to start with the navy. I then took off to the gym to change into my ACUs. After that I headed back to the WTB and hung out in my car for a bit listening to the radio and playing on my iPhone.

I headed in for my weekly appointment with my NCM. Everything was the same old song and dance routine. I'm doing the same…no changes. I did let her know that I'm now due for my annual PHA (Periodic Health Assessment) also known as a normal physical in the civilian world. Everything that I need to do shows up on a system called MedPros, and I check that each time I check my army email at the SFAC. My NCM will make an appointment for me and let me know when it is.

I head out of there and straight to my PCM visit. My PCM visits have now grown to become monthly…well close to monthly because she's usually over booked, so they will now be about 5 to 6 weeks between visits. We went over all my issues and I had her issue me more Percocet. After that I headed down to the crazy mess that they call a pharmacy here. I waited almost 2 hours in the waiting room before getting called. I'm also active duty in uniform, so I get queued up faster than all the other suckers that have been there who knows how long! Luckily I had my iPhone and Plants Vs Zombies 2 to pass the time.

I headed home and did my schoolwork. I then get a text from my squad leader stating there is a 1400 formation today. I just ignore it, my MOU states that I'm in school and will not be at the end of day formations. I have better stuff to do.