post wounded veterans weekend
Tuesday, July 29, 2008, 06:42 PM EST
[General]
Just wanted to post I just finished three days with 6 remarkable young wounded Marines and soldiers here in LA, three of them amputees.
One of the Marines exemplifies what I preceive to be is wrong with the way we are supporting these guys when they come home. Cory (name changed) lost both legs in the war and for three years was bounced around from VA to VA, no one regulating his meds, pumped up with multiple drugs just to keep him quiet (Heath Ledger anyone?) from sleep meds to anxiety meds to pain meds. For three years he was absolutely in hell, floundering because his local VA lost his file or the doctor assigned him to a new doctor or they felt there was nothing they could do. He has one leg with just his knee and the other two inches from the hip -- and constant neuromas etc. His pros guy told him they couldnt make it work, and he finally said, let me make my own socket. and three years later he arrived here in LA last friday on two legs. It almost made me cry.
in any event, the weekend was remarkable. we had a luncheon and most of the band of brothers cast showed up along with other actors. The Dodgers gave us a private suite and Jason Bateman came down for a half hour to hang, a private movie studio tour etc... you get the picture. and there was no press on purpose - just a chance for these guys to hang out and tell their stories, and be seen.
will post some pics as soon as they are available and if anyone wants any information on the project, you can email me here.
Thanks to Josh S as always for his continued support and friendship and all of you for sharing your circle with me.
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another chance to vote
Friday, December 7, 2007, 12:11 PM EST
[General]
hey fellow LessThanFourers: Just for fun, I work on the TV show MOONLIGHT which is up for best new drama (one of three finalists) - if you are up to it, you can vote for the show every day once until the show airs. Here is the link and thanks in advance for the support!
http://www.pcavote.com/pca/votenow.jsp
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happy thanksgiving
Wednesday, November 21, 2007, 01:42 PM EST
[General]
tried to mass email this to all my friends here, but it disappeared into the ether!
i just wanted to take the time to say thank you for everyone's friendship here. as an amputee mentor, your openness and willingness to share the journey is deeply appreciated. i am humbled by the community of less than four and specifically josh's spirit.
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on the subject of staring
Thursday, November 1, 2007, 11:21 PM EST
[General]
With most of the guys I mentor, the biggest issues are not the mobility challenges but the psychological ones. All of them have expressed that the newness of being stared at is at the very least a bothersome daily occurence.
Thanks to the members who have shared their thoughts with me here and would like to hear from anyone else who has a coping technique for feeling like you are on parade... especially for the soldiers that dont wear prosthetics.
I did read a great article somewhere which detailed a woman who was hosting a famous double leg amputee athlete at her house. Her kid happened to have a horrible facial deformity, and as she watched the athlete join them for the first meal - he walking on his hands to the table and then coming across her kid, she noticed that the athlete stared intently. And then she realized that for a few seconds at least, staring is perfectly normal. Its the brains way of processing new information - something different, something out of the ordinary. The brain is trained to search out new info and differences... and for her son and for the athlete, it was a nice revelation that
at least for a few seconds, a stare is perfectly normal. We're not talking about the intense stares, stalking, pointing here. (As i have seen happen in the company of the wounded soldiers).
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amputee soldier weekend - some thoughts
Tuesday, October 16, 2007, 08:21 PM EST
[General]
first off, i would like to honor the wounded vets here in tihis forum by restating that these thought are just my own and in no way are meant as the definitive "reality" of the war and
the rehabbing of soldiers. its just one man's experience with two severely wounded Marines that i mentor, one a double leg amp and one brain injured -- and this is the result of many late night phone calls and long soul baring sessions with me.
it seems for these two that BAMC and Walter Reed treatment was absolutely outstanding and superior, but once they were released into their smaller home systems, they were lost. the double leg amp has detailed three horrific years of being shuffled from doctor to doctor, with missing charts and doctors on vacation and no one listening as he handled muscle retraction on his stump by himself -- the bone pushing through the msucle - and no one supervising his meds nor his PTSD. He just now after three years got fitted for his second leg (he uses one and crutches so far) and only because a US congressman intervened - and the same for the brain injured Marine.
For me, it is two cases too many, and it is why I jumped into the mentoring trenches with these heroes. I would love to hear from my vet friends here in the forum as to their experiences and thoughts.
We hosted three amps and the brain injured Marine in LA this summer. It was a remarkable and also tough weekend. The first hurdle came as we took the guys on the set of BONES and hosted a lunch - the studio people actually called me and asked whether they should shake
the amputee's hand if he has a hook and where they should direct their eyes! Unbelievable!
But if those were their real reactions, then I am glad we took them and broke down some barriers. We did a Dodger game, they met Tommy Lasorda, and for the most part after the huge amount of staring - three amps and a guy missing part of hus skull create quite a scene -
everything was great. Jason Bateman from ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT came to one of the events (I did consulting on that show) and a good time was had by all. It was just an effort to say hey somebody cares.
That's it from here for now - I am working on a film project and will be out of the loop for awhile but look forward to catching up soon.
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