Thread: This biggest pain while being deployed...

...is having family members who are coming upon hard times and not being able to help.


My Grandma (dad's mom) had congestive heart failure about a month ago. When my dad was younger, my grandma had an artificial valve put in her heart (for reasons I don't know) and now her heart is getting weak. She recovered from the heart failure. On Monday, she had congestive heart failure again and was admitted back in to the hospital. While my Grandpa (her husband, my dad's step-dad) was visiting her room, he had a seizure. His health has been teetering since I was little when he had some kind of wierd deal that caused him to have a foot of small intestine removed. So he had a seizure in a hospital room while visiting my grandma. They admitted him and put him in his own room, where he had another small seizure. He didn't stroke, which is good. My dad told me that his doctor is stumped because my grandpa's blood pressure and heart rate are that of a 20 year old. He walks around the lake in their housing development every morning (about 4 miles), mows the lawn, does yard work, etc. He's very active. So now they have a diagnostician trying to figure out why he seized. This whole thing with my grandpa happened this morning apparently. My dad e-mailed me from his Blackberry.

My son has some sort of wierd thing. He's been sick on and off for the past 3-4 months. He and my soon to be ex wife are in Arizona right now, and my wife is having to take him to a pediatrician on Tuesday to have tests run. She took him to the ER on Monday because he had a 103 fever. Luckily, my best friend Kyle works in the ER at the hospital they went to, and he took care of him. However, the doc that oversaw that thinks that my son has cystic fibrosis, which for those who don't know is a life-threatening disease. They tested for it when he was born (as is required in most states) and his tests came back negative, so I'm not sure. I think his immune system is just taking longer to develop. Either that, or there's something in Texas that he is allergic to and keeps getting him sick.

All in all, I really like deploying and doing my part over here to get the mission done, but when this kind of stuff happens it puts a lot of pressure on me because there is nothing I can do from 8,000 miles away. It sucks. I just needed to get that stuff out there to make myself feel better and I figured this would be a good place to do it, so for those of you who read it, thanks.

Originally Posted by SeeingRed

...is having family members who are coming upon hard times and not being able to help.


My Grandma (dad's mom) had congestive heart failure about a month ago. When my dad was younger, my grandma had an artificial valve put in her heart (for reasons I don't know) and now her heart is getting weak. She recovered from the heart failure. On Monday, she had congestive heart failure again and was admitted back in to the hospital. While my Grandpa (her husband, my dad's step-dad) was visiting her room, he had a seizure. His health has been teetering since I was little when he had some kind of wierd deal that caused him to have a foot of small intestine removed. So he had a seizure in a hospital room while visiting my grandma. They admitted him and put him in his own room, where he had another small seizure. He didn't stroke, which is good. My dad told me that his doctor is stumped because my grandpa's blood pressure and heart rate are that of a 20 year old. He walks around the lake in their housing development every morning (about 4 miles), mows the lawn, does yard work, etc. He's very active. So now they have a diagnostician trying to figure out why he seized. This whole thing with my grandpa happened this morning apparently. My dad e-mailed me from his Blackberry.

My son has some sort of wierd thing. He's been sick on and off for the past 3-4 months. He and my soon to be ex wife are in Arizona right now, and my wife is having to take him to a pediatrician on Tuesday to have tests run. She took him to the ER on Monday because he had a 103 fever. Luckily, my best friend Kyle works in the ER at the hospital they went to, and he took care of him. However, the doc that oversaw that thinks that my son has cystic fibrosis, which for those who don't know is a life-threatening disease. They tested for it when he was born (as is required in most states) and his tests came back negative, so I'm not sure. I think his immune system is just taking longer to develop. Either that, or there's something in Texas that he is allergic to and keeps getting him sick.

All in all, I really like deploying and doing my part over here to get the mission done, but when this kind of stuff happens it puts a lot of pressure on me because there is nothing I can do from 8,000 miles away. It sucks. I just needed to get that stuff out there to make myself feel better and I figured this would be a good place to do it, so for those of you who read it, thanks.

Sorry to hear all that brother. I know the feeling though, it seems like things always go wrong back home whenever you're not there to take care of it, or at least take care of it your way.

All you can do is push hard, your family knows what you're doing they're proud of you, and they understand you being away.

I hope your grandparents get better, I would definitely get the number to that hospital room and make some calls. The satellites are always there.

I don't dwell on it too much because, obviously, it's out of my control. I think about it and I wish the best for all of them, but I can't dwell on it.

Hell, this is my fourth trip out here and some kind of poo always seems to hit the fan while I'm over here, so I'm kind of used to the whole flow of things, but the feeling of helplessness is never easy to bear.


And holy crap, I just realized it's Dec 21st. I never pay attention to the date because we go by Julian dates (all the days of the year numbered 1-365, today is 355). That means Tuesday is Christmas and the following is New Years day...I've got both of those days off by pure coincidence. Weird...not that it matters...I'm still here...

Originally Posted by SeeingRed

I don't dwell on it too much because, obviously, it's out of my control. I think about it and I wish the best for all of them, but I can't dwell on it.

Hell, this is my fourth trip out here and some kind of poo always seems to hit the fan while I'm over here, so I'm kind of used to the whole flow of things, but the feeling of helplessness is never easy to bear.


And holy crap, I just realized it's Dec 21st. I never pay attention to the date because we go by Julian dates (all the days of the year numbered 1-365, today is 355). That means Tuesday is Christmas and the following is New Years day...I've got both of those days off by pure coincidence. Weird...not that it matters...I'm still here...

True, nothing you can do about it while you're deployed.

I guess pretty much all the maintenance communities throughout the services use the Julian date, that's all I use as well. I haven't paid hardly any attention to the actual day, not even Monday, Tuesday etc. I thought today was Wednesday until one of the other Gunny's was talking about football being on in two days.

I know today is Friday and 07355 day...aside from that I try not to pay attention.

dang, sorry to hear all that SR-- hope everything works out. . .

SR...I am sorry to hear this.Hope all the tests come back ok with
your little guy.

I will keep him and your grandma in my thoughts.

Do let us know what the test results are.

SeeingRed....

You have a lot of things to be deeply concerned about at this time. The news about your son has got to be tremendously hard for you being so far away. I do hope you hear some good news out of all of this that you can hold onto until you get back home. Just sorry to hear all of this, and best wishes to your grandparents, your son, and you.

Sorry to hear about all of that, ingRed....

Life has a peculiar way of hitting you when you're not looking.


I guess it pays to have eyes in the back of the head also.


Hope all turns out well for you, and GodSpeed.

My son.... years ago (he is 31) was being tested for cystic fibrosis constantly. He would get the fevers, as a matter of fact he hit 106 at one point and had pnemonia all the time. They finally took out his tonsils and adnoids (at age 18 months) and the only thing he has had since is sinus infections and he developed croup at age 14. They had me very scared.. but it turned out to be something very simple and within 30 minutes of surgery time he was healthy again.

I know each child is different.. just saying that sometimes they look for the BIG thing that could be wrong and forget the "simple" things that can cause real BIG problems.

I sure hope that you and yours get good news, and have the best Christmas you all can have! Take care!

My son is only a year old, so I don't think he is quite old enough to have the T&A (tonsils and adnoids) taken out yet, but I'll definitely be having that done when he's 2-3.

Originally Posted by SeeingRed

My son is only a year old, so I don't think he is quite old enough to have the T&A (tonsils and adnoids) taken out yet, but I'll definitely be having that done when he's 2-3.

Do you take them out as a preventative measure? I still have mine.

Originally Posted by tnedator

Do you take them out as a preventative measure? I still have mine.

not everyone can be as special as you. . . .

Originally Posted by tnedator

Do you take them out as a preventative measure? I still have mine.

Yeah. It's an easy, out-patient procedure that is a precautionary measure to avoid things like strep throat.