Jake Is Officially Retired Today From The US Army and Jake's 20th Birthday Celebration

Well today is the day, Jake is officially retired from the US Army and it is a sad and happy day all wrapped into one for him. His career focus was to be a US Army soldier - to serve, lead and protect our country, but due to the physical impairments from his injuries and TBI from the April 5, 2014 accident, Jake will never be able to meet the Army's mandated physical and mental requirements. 

Jake and Jeff are back at the hospital today, as now they are working with a knee specialist. Due to the rapid bone growth that occurs when an individual is in an accident and suffers from a TBI, the bone almost heals twice as fast, but also grows back in a mass amount. This mass amount of bone growth has caused a build up on top of Jake's knee and its inner workings, causing to this day for it not to bend more than 30 degrees. The knee specialist is taking extensive CT scans today from his ankles to his hips to check on alignment, hip placement and knee bone healing from his surgey over a year ago. 

Jake broke his pelvis, both of hips in the accident, along with both legs which included his femurs, tibia, fibula, his knees and knee caps, shin bones and both ankles- and this is just his lower extremities. Yikes- that is oh so much- but we are all so glad Jake is past those days with the metal fixaters that were used to physical hold his entire body of broken bones together in place. We know that Jake will go through many more surgeries, and he has been such a trooper to deal with these addtional set backs, but it is all one step closer to living a more productive and quality of life for him. The next round of knee surgeries will not take place until later Fall- as his knee bone growth needs to be almost 18th months old from his previous surgery to operate again, and the TBI bone growth will have subsided by this time. 

Jake's job is still to heal, rest, engage his brain with positive social experiences, day to day living skills, and focus on quality eating habits and getting exercise that he can tolerate. We are so proud of Jake's recent accomplishments of now getting into and out of his modified shower all by himself. This independence is huge for him, and knowing how to be safe, but also knowing it is still ok to ask for help on many days when he is not strong enough or needs guidance. Jake is also adament about lifting hand weights to increase his upper body strength and taking guided walks each day with us with support of his cane when needed. He so wants to do "normal" daily activities, as he states it, and do things as he has done before. We keep reinforcing to him that it is going to take time, and the time factor is what gets him down at times. We have to reiterate and reiterate often to him the accomplishments and gains he has made so far, so that perspective stays on the forefront with him. 

Lastly, we spent a week in the Carribbean for Jake's 20th birthday the end of April, to relax and rejuvinate and celebrate life. Jake had the opportunity to kayake and get into a swimming pool for the first time since his accident, and he thoroughly enjoyed this as well as Jeff and I did too. Getting back to these types of rituals, yearly family vactions to celebrate life- will be high on our priority list for all of us from each and every year here on out.