Getting Going

Austin has been working hard for the last 6 months. He blazed through inpatient physical therapy when the new leg was ready, quickly adjusting to walking on a prosthetic forward, backwards, and on inclines. When he walked backwards up stairs on day 1 the physical therapist basically declared him graduated, but kept him around a few more days to make sure nothing spicy happened to the stump as it acclimated. There's a tendency for the skin to break down when the prosthetic is first being used and, of course, that happened to Austin. The skin is still quite delicate and prone to get friction wounds, which are slow to heal and bleed annoyingly the whole time. 

Recreation Therapy ordered Austin a very fancy 4x4 power wheelchair that can climb curbs, raise him up to countertop height, and do some other tricks. It sat in a crate at the VA the whole time Austin was in inpatient rehab, then for another whole week, despite many phone calls and in-person queries. After a very dramatic fight with  one stubborn arse of an employee - involving half a dozen departments insisting they had already signed everything plus a doggedly determined patient advocate  - the wheelchair finally came home on a trailer, just in time to load up for his Wood Badge training without a moment to spare.

Let's Roll

Overall the truck has been a big stress. Remember how we bought it in June? There's a VA program which applies a grant to purchase a modified vehicle or a vehicle and the modifications. In theory, it is two pages with a couple signatures. In reality, due to a combination of absolutely no one knowing what to do with those pages, no one knowing how to correctly interpret the legalese on those pages, terribly conflicted advice about which boxes to check, and the one person who does that job going on an unannounced vacation for 3 months and letting everything go to voice mail... lots of new gray hair. It only took until October to get the hoist. It was December before the hand controls were installed. Austin was elated to drive himself around the block in his own vehicle for the first time in probably 3 years. 

Now, you'd think that authorizing a hoist and hand controls, paying for hoist and hand controls systems, and paying for the hoist and hand controls to be installed in a specific VIN number vehicle would then make it obvious that that vehicle is "modified", right? Noooooo.  Here we sat in February with no registration, license plates, or tabs because the VA wasn't sure which vehicle to send out payment on for their own grant program, and that held up registration because of a sales tax waiver. Cue disgusted huff. 

Last week, Austin got the mail and gave a little shout. License plates! 9 months seems a tad excessive, but everything is finally squared away, largely thanks to an authorized replacement coming into the office in December for the person who was out, signing the one thing that needed a signature, and sending it to the right people. See also: he's doing your job for you. 

Meanwhile...

In the meantime, we've been busy with lots of Scout and Cub Scout activities- several camping trips, many meetings, D&D campaigns, training, and lots of hours of phone calls and zoom behind the scenes. Austin quickly became a crowd favorite at Wood Badge for his positive attitude and big laugh. Getting into the woods is the best therapy. Austin walked into the second weekend of training just a few weeks later to big congratulations for his mobility gains, but accidently ran over his artificial ankle with said wheelchair and bent it. That requiring a trip to the prosthetist to install a whole new joint assembly, who was both impressed and horrified that the titanium bent like it did.

Because time stops for no man, Austin celebrated his 40th birthday in October. It was a quiet affair with no big surprise party or fuss, just like he wanted. Austin likes  surprises as much as he likes spiders, which is to say, he doesn't. At any rate, he's over the hill now!  

Austin also got to complete the IOLS weekend with two other fellows from our Troop. He'd been registered for IOLS and had to drop out because of the leg or stump twice before. Austin is officially Scoutmaster-trained and actually got awarded the corresponding patch last night at a Troop Court of Honor.

Birch Bark continued his basic training and graduated all three levels of obedience. We did two weeks of intensive practice with "stay" to convince this Velcro dog that 20 feet is an acceptable distance from his human for under 3 seconds, and then Birch passed his Canine Good Citizen testing. He is AKC-certified as Birch Bark McGlaun, CGC. He's already providing medical alerts and performing some tasks that qualify him as a Service Dog, but Austin and Birch are in the queue for additional training via Can Do Canines to improve his repertoire of tasks to match his paw-tential. He is an incredibly sweet and smart pup, who is eager to work and delightfully intuitive.

Austin has slowly been getting back into the shop, focusing on finishing old orders first. One fellow has been waiting for almost 4 years. That's how long this pattern of surgeries and complications has been revolving. People been so patient and wonderful, with full understanding that Austin is absolutely fulfilling their orders as soon as stumpily possible. He'll work like a maniac for several hours and have to come home and immediately pull off his prosthetic. His weightbearing tolerance maxes out quickly, and wound prevention is top priority. Austin has also come into a collaborative project with best selling author Faith Hunter to create hand-crafted merchandise from her most beloved series. More things are to come with CRKT, but that's all I can say for now! 

Travel is back on the menu!

Austin was able to travel to within inches of Canada for a grouse hunting weekend with friends at the end of October and was able to successfully harvest edible birds. One other fellow took one down but didn't understand gauge and made sky sausage. Oops. He came home very jolly after all that fresh air and his prosthetic performed well. He still hasn't cooked said frozen birdy.

Thanksgiving, around a different sort of wild bird, congregated in Tennessee.  Grandpa drove down to Georgia and brought Austin's boy's back up for the long weekend. Our sisters-in-law were there with their significant others and pups. We drove down and brought our pup. There was a huge amount of superb food and much laughter. Austin took pup on long runs along the dirt road with the power wheelchair and let him sniff at the cows. Birch Bark mostly decided they weren't food or playmate and ignored them. I told you; he's smart.

December held the possibility of flying, but the boys flew solo together for the first time to come see Dad for Christmas. We did a ton of fun activities, including laser tag, and Austin wore himself out daily. 

January means Shot Show, so off to Vegas he flew, with the ultralight wheelchair carefully labeled and tied together for gate checking. Delta is doing a much better job than the non-job that South West did before with wheelchair assistance. Shot Show itself was a roaring good time, with so many people who have followed this journey making it a point to find Austin and share kind words. Business was done and shenanigans were had. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, and thankfully Austin didn't bring home any extra germs like last time's lung funk flu plague. 

Then, since he wasn't even tired yet (ha), Austin went with the Scouts to the largest onyx cave in Wisconsin for overnight camping inside said cave. They made friends with several bats by keeping their distance, created a fun meercat game with the youth, and made some fun memories. 

What's next?

Well that's a fine question, isn't it? The calendar is full of Scouting activities, doggy training sessions, and actually being able to drive independently wherever he wants. You can expect to see Austin at Blade Show in Atlanta when June rolls around and then up in northern Minnesota for a week of summer camp with the Scouts in July.