Last night I had another horrible night's sleep. I guess I had my mind set on the idea of going into a follow up appointment early next month with my neurologist and having the ball start rolling on getting out. The process is going to take terribly long because it seems each time I need to make an appointment at the pain management clinic, it's going to take almost a month to do. Pain management also wants to try a number of things they hope will help…this means the process is going to take months to finish before I can make the follow-up with my neurologist. It also means I'll be here a lot longer, and in the army a lot longer. I just hope that they can actually fix what is wrong with my head and not just waste a bunch of time.
In other news I headed to work this morning and read. I then read some more, then played some Plants vs. Zombies on my iPhone. Don't get me wrong, having the ability to have my iPhone and iPad in my office with me is awesome, much better than the times when I had to sit and stare at a wall for hours at a time. I did have a break in the norm when the chaplain printed out some PowerPoint slides that I had to look over on some refresher training on security. I then had to take a completion certificate over to our security manager for him to file away.
I had lunch with my wife, then headed back to work where I…you guessed it…read some more. At about 1530, I changed into my civilian PT clothes and headed to the gym. I did a moderate ride on the stationary bike since I haven't been to the gym since the Christmas break! I'll ease into things this week and then get back to normal again next week. I am glad to be back on a normal gym schedule now, I was starting to feel a little lazy doing nothing for so long.
I'm trying to look at the bright side of staying here longer in Germany. There are a ton of things I still want to do and see...and I really do love being here. As far as being in the army, I'm going to just take it one day at a time and try not to look any farther.
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Monday, January 7, 2013
Pain Management - (Germany) Day 376
This morning I headed once again into my office…well I spent the first hour in the conference room as usual waiting for the contractor to come in so I could get the key to my office door. I spent the entire morning reading on my iPad. I switched back and forth between MacLife and the 4th book of "The Game of Thrones" series. I feel like I'm stuck in neutral and not going anywhere. I know some folks would think this is the greatest job in the world, all I do is sit around and read all day with the occasional times that I drive the chaplain around. I just want to feel like I'm doing something with my life…I hate doing nothing.
I had lunch at my house, then headed to Landstuhl medical center for an appointment at the pain management clinic. The doctor did a lot of checks and wants to try another type of injection into my neck this time. I had to schedule another appointment for this procedure, and the next available one is on the 30th. What I thought was going to be a number of quick appointments at the pain management clinic is going to turn out to be a long ordeal. This means that I will not be able to do a follow up appointment with my neurologist for quite some time. I had actually been looking forward to the follow up appointment because the neurologist said if pain management can't do anything to fix my headaches, then I'll have to start the process of getting out of the army. I had it in my head so long that I was probably getting out, that this set back was disappointing to say the least. Don't get me wrong, I would love to have my headaches fixed, but I've grown to pretty much hate the idea of being in the army. Maybe it's just this unit, maybe the next one will be better…but I really doubt it. What I thought the army was going to be like, and what the reality is seem to be oceans apart.
I had lunch at my house, then headed to Landstuhl medical center for an appointment at the pain management clinic. The doctor did a lot of checks and wants to try another type of injection into my neck this time. I had to schedule another appointment for this procedure, and the next available one is on the 30th. What I thought was going to be a number of quick appointments at the pain management clinic is going to turn out to be a long ordeal. This means that I will not be able to do a follow up appointment with my neurologist for quite some time. I had actually been looking forward to the follow up appointment because the neurologist said if pain management can't do anything to fix my headaches, then I'll have to start the process of getting out of the army. I had it in my head so long that I was probably getting out, that this set back was disappointing to say the least. Don't get me wrong, I would love to have my headaches fixed, but I've grown to pretty much hate the idea of being in the army. Maybe it's just this unit, maybe the next one will be better…but I really doubt it. What I thought the army was going to be like, and what the reality is seem to be oceans apart.
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Weekend Wrap-Up - (Germany) Day 375 & 376
Saturday: After getting up and getting ready for the day, we decided to head out to a shopping center near Mannheim (almost 20 minutes from our house). It was something to do and it got us out of the house. With the weather this time of year, we are not doing a lot of site seeing. We hung out at the mall, ate lunch, shopped and had some Starbucks before we left. Not too exciting, but we did get out of the house and actually do something. Our mission was to find some iPhone covers, but we ended up ordering some on the web when we got back from our trip. We just didn't see anything we liked while we were out.
Sunday: Today was a totally lazy day…I've been having a lot of these lately. We just hung out at home and watched a Dexter marathon. It was nice hanging with my wife all day and doing absolutely nothing. I'm back to the grind tomorrow and I found out I have another staff duty next Saturday, so just relaxing and spending time with my wife was fine with me.
Sunday: Today was a totally lazy day…I've been having a lot of these lately. We just hung out at home and watched a Dexter marathon. It was nice hanging with my wife all day and doing absolutely nothing. I'm back to the grind tomorrow and I found out I have another staff duty next Saturday, so just relaxing and spending time with my wife was fine with me.
Friday, January 4, 2013
Recovery Day - (Germany) Day 374
During the staff duty shifts it's almost impossible to stay awake the entire time :)
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Surprise Staff Duty - (Germany) Day 373
Today started off like any other day, I sat in the conference room and read my book for a while. Unlike most days, I didn't grab the key to my office from the civilian that came in. I had an appointment at the security office (S2) for an interview at 1000. I decided to just read in the conference room until it was time for my interview. I wasn't sure what to actually expect with this "interview". I just knew that it had to do with my blog of course. As the time grew near, I started to get a little nervous. I had no idea what to expect and my stomach was in knots, I could feel my pulse quicken, and I even started shaking when I started to walk over to the S2 office. OK…the shaking was probably because it was so cold out, but I was extremely apprehensive about this "interview"…I had no idea who or what or how it was going to go.
I arrived 10 minutes early of course, and quickly found out from the main security guy that the people who were going to conduct the interview cancelled it at the last minute. They said they could not interview me while my investigation was still ongoing. I chatted with the main security guy for a while. He said nothing in particular about my blog stood out as being an actual major OpSec violation, but if you add up all the little things then it gets into a grey area. He also said that he knows I really pissed off some of the higher ranking individuals with some of the stuff I said, so he thinks they are hung up with all of that. So no answers at all today, just a bunch of anxiety for nothing. It was good to talk to the security guy though, in his eyes I should only get a warning…too bad he isn't the one who is going to be making the final decision.
On my way back after visiting S2 I ran into SGT Mex who gave me some unexpected news…I have to do staff duty tonight with him. I guess the guy who was scheduled had to do QRF tomorrow, so they had to pull him off of staff duty tonight. Lucky me…on a week of scheduled half days, I have to pull an all night shift. I expected this kind of stuff to happen to me a lot here with all the brass pissed off at me, so I took it in stride. At least I will not have to go in tomorrow, and I get to work the shift with a good NCO.
I headed home for lunch right after talking with SGT Mex and then returned at 1600 for my staff duty shift. The shift went as usual, we talked quite a bit which passed the time. I left at 1830 for dinner and didn't have to return until 2200, which was a nice break to spend the evening with my wife. When I got back we chatted some more and then I finished the book I have been reading "No Easy Day", which turned out to be a pretty good book. It not only tells the story of how Osama Bin Laden was killed, but it goes into more detail about the lives of the guys in seal team 6.
I arrived 10 minutes early of course, and quickly found out from the main security guy that the people who were going to conduct the interview cancelled it at the last minute. They said they could not interview me while my investigation was still ongoing. I chatted with the main security guy for a while. He said nothing in particular about my blog stood out as being an actual major OpSec violation, but if you add up all the little things then it gets into a grey area. He also said that he knows I really pissed off some of the higher ranking individuals with some of the stuff I said, so he thinks they are hung up with all of that. So no answers at all today, just a bunch of anxiety for nothing. It was good to talk to the security guy though, in his eyes I should only get a warning…too bad he isn't the one who is going to be making the final decision.
On my way back after visiting S2 I ran into SGT Mex who gave me some unexpected news…I have to do staff duty tonight with him. I guess the guy who was scheduled had to do QRF tomorrow, so they had to pull him off of staff duty tonight. Lucky me…on a week of scheduled half days, I have to pull an all night shift. I expected this kind of stuff to happen to me a lot here with all the brass pissed off at me, so I took it in stride. At least I will not have to go in tomorrow, and I get to work the shift with a good NCO.
I headed home for lunch right after talking with SGT Mex and then returned at 1600 for my staff duty shift. The shift went as usual, we talked quite a bit which passed the time. I left at 1830 for dinner and didn't have to return until 2200, which was a nice break to spend the evening with my wife. When I got back we chatted some more and then I finished the book I have been reading "No Easy Day", which turned out to be a pretty good book. It not only tells the story of how Osama Bin Laden was killed, but it goes into more detail about the lives of the guys in seal team 6.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Half Days Continued - (Germany) Day 372
Last night I had a horrible night of sleep, which has become the norm after every weekend when I have to head back to work the next day. I take forever getting to sleep while my mind wanders, wondering what kind of crazy is going to go on with me and the army. I then wake up periodically looking at the clock, then start the process of falling asleep all over again. It really sucks!
I headed into my office this morning and sat in the conference room for an hour reading my book before the civilian with the key to my office came in. I then sat in my office for another hour reading until the chaplain came in. I was starting to think he took this week off as well, but it turned out he only had physical therapy this morning. We chatted for a bit about this week's schedule and the schedule for next week as well. I headed back to my office and continued to read until 1130…lunch time. As I was telling the chaplain that I was off for lunch, he informed me that we are having half days this week as well. This is great news!
I headed home for lunch, but didn't change out of my uniform. I had an appointment with my primary care physician in order to get my profile extended. I went in at 1400 and after checking my vitals, the doctor asked how everything was going. Because I'm headed to pain management next week and the neurologist in February, there wasn't a whole lot that my doctor needed to do. She gave me another 3 month profile, so I'll be good while I go through all the next steps they'll have me doing trying to get me fixed.
I then headed home for a bit before picking up my wife from work. If I didn't have the appointment, I would have worked out a bit. We'll see how tomorrow's schedule goes. I need to get back in the gym now that the holidays are over.
I headed into my office this morning and sat in the conference room for an hour reading my book before the civilian with the key to my office came in. I then sat in my office for another hour reading until the chaplain came in. I was starting to think he took this week off as well, but it turned out he only had physical therapy this morning. We chatted for a bit about this week's schedule and the schedule for next week as well. I headed back to my office and continued to read until 1130…lunch time. As I was telling the chaplain that I was off for lunch, he informed me that we are having half days this week as well. This is great news!
I headed home for lunch, but didn't change out of my uniform. I had an appointment with my primary care physician in order to get my profile extended. I went in at 1400 and after checking my vitals, the doctor asked how everything was going. Because I'm headed to pain management next week and the neurologist in February, there wasn't a whole lot that my doctor needed to do. She gave me another 3 month profile, so I'll be good while I go through all the next steps they'll have me doing trying to get me fixed.
I then headed home for a bit before picking up my wife from work. If I didn't have the appointment, I would have worked out a bit. We'll see how tomorrow's schedule goes. I need to get back in the gym now that the holidays are over.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Weekend Wrap-Up (New Year's 4-Day) - (Germany) Day 368 -371
Saturday: This entire weekend turned out to be very mellow. We were asked if we wanted to attend some events for New Years, but because my wife has to work New Year's Eve, we really couldn't do much…especially anything that required us to go anywhere very far. The entire day Saturday was spent in my bathrobe. I'm not gonna lie, it was pretty cool just hanging out and relaxing. We just watched TV and didn't do much of anything.
Sunday: Today our big event was to at least get out of the house and do something. We ended up heading to the Ramstein air base. We saw a movie called "This is 40", which considering I'm almost there, I thought was pretty funny. My wife and I both had a great time, the movie was funny, the popcorn was good, and we did get out of the house.
Shortly after we got back, I met up with my boss and SPC Mac at the Village Grill on PHV. They show all the football games each Sunday. Surprisingly there were only about 6 people there including us! I finally got to watch a Seahawks game, I haven't been able to see one of those since I joined the army. As luck would have it, they won the game…but because of the time difference it didn't finish until 0200. One of the reasons I don't watch any of the games, but with the day off tomorrow it worked out perfect!
Monday: My wife had to go to work and I spent all of New Year's Eve in my bathrobe. By the time my wife got home she had tweaked something in her back and was pretty sore, so we ended up just staying home and watching TV shows, then Mission Impossible until midnight. We gave each other a kiss and wished each other a happy new year…then headed to bed. Not the most spectacular new year's celebration, but I can't complain…I was with my wife and I didn't have staff duty or anything.
Tuesday: Today we started off the new year by having a "Dexter" marathon. We watched a lot of season 4 and also did a little cleaning. All signs of Christmas are now gone. My wife's back is still quite a bit sore, so we weren't going to do anything strenuous. This new year will be full of changes. One way or another, I'll be leaving Heidelberg at some point. I just hope this investigation and whatever it brings happens soon. I want to get it all over with because until then, I can't go on pass or leave. I can't make any plans, I'm basically just stuck in limbo.
Not much of a holiday weekend as far as getting out and seeing things. In fact it was about as total opposite as you can get from that. I hope that this new year turns out to be much better than last year. I will not take anything for granted, and I will always remember that no matter how bad things may seem…they can always get worse.
Sunday: Today our big event was to at least get out of the house and do something. We ended up heading to the Ramstein air base. We saw a movie called "This is 40", which considering I'm almost there, I thought was pretty funny. My wife and I both had a great time, the movie was funny, the popcorn was good, and we did get out of the house.
Shortly after we got back, I met up with my boss and SPC Mac at the Village Grill on PHV. They show all the football games each Sunday. Surprisingly there were only about 6 people there including us! I finally got to watch a Seahawks game, I haven't been able to see one of those since I joined the army. As luck would have it, they won the game…but because of the time difference it didn't finish until 0200. One of the reasons I don't watch any of the games, but with the day off tomorrow it worked out perfect!
Monday: My wife had to go to work and I spent all of New Year's Eve in my bathrobe. By the time my wife got home she had tweaked something in her back and was pretty sore, so we ended up just staying home and watching TV shows, then Mission Impossible until midnight. We gave each other a kiss and wished each other a happy new year…then headed to bed. Not the most spectacular new year's celebration, but I can't complain…I was with my wife and I didn't have staff duty or anything.
Tuesday: Today we started off the new year by having a "Dexter" marathon. We watched a lot of season 4 and also did a little cleaning. All signs of Christmas are now gone. My wife's back is still quite a bit sore, so we weren't going to do anything strenuous. This new year will be full of changes. One way or another, I'll be leaving Heidelberg at some point. I just hope this investigation and whatever it brings happens soon. I want to get it all over with because until then, I can't go on pass or leave. I can't make any plans, I'm basically just stuck in limbo.
Not much of a holiday weekend as far as getting out and seeing things. In fact it was about as total opposite as you can get from that. I hope that this new year turns out to be much better than last year. I will not take anything for granted, and I will always remember that no matter how bad things may seem…they can always get worse.
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