Luke Schmitz Survived Iraq

Hello from my last day in San An. Hard to imagine I wont visit this place probably until the New Year. We received the keys today for Lukes new room...pretty spiffy! We even called today to set up phone internet and of course cable tv. Its been rainy and chilly here, but nothing compared to MN. I miss the warmness...I didnt bring enough warm clothes!
Luke was fitted yesterday for his new leg! They dont know if a C-Leg will work in MN, being a computer chip and battery power. haha. they've never had to deal with that issue before. He will be getting a new mechanical leg that will suction to his leg instead a lanyard like hes using now. Things are getting set up for his trip home. but it sounds like he prefers family only. christmas will be his time to see everyone. He also had a blood Dr. appt today. The blood is being sent to Mayo to get checked out, but the Dr. is pretty sure his spleen is coming out after the new year. the way his blood was, if he was about 50, he would not have survived. More good news!
His PT Major Campbell told him to get things in order for Fall Semester at school! after the new year he will be getting his running leg, more progressive therapy and be out of here by june or july!!!!!! yea! only about a year, not too bad, we had heard 18months at first. Things are really looking up for the guy and hes getting pretty pumped about all the good news. Gotta Love Him!

Our first experience with a Texas football game was..well...memorable. There were a bunch of us that went and we were excorted in by the JROTC. seated in a special section and then the boys were given goody bags filled with t-shirts, mugs and all sorts of JUDSON sport things. We watched the Judson Rockets defeat the Thunderbirds in a big shut out game. I believe the score was about 40-something to 14. Those boys are pretty good athletes, picking up on any error possible and even a 96 yard touchdown after an interception. The half time show was a dedication to the armed forces which included both schools (which i guess had just split into two this year) marching bands, cheerleaders, flag girls, dancers and more. They played each of the branches songs, and when the Army song was played, Luke stood up with 2 others. Tim, Luke and I stayed until the end, die-hards I guess, but well worth it. At the end of the game we were escorted onto the field, the 3 of us and Major Campbell and Luke was awarded the GAME BALL. The players from Judson all came over and shook Luke's hand, he even got a hug from some. It was pretty cool. The game ball will be displayed in the PT room for all those guys. And for even better news, kinda, the wheelchair was not along on this whole trip, Luke walked, sometimes without the crutches the whole time. And sorry Schmitzs', fans are not allowed to walk along the track with the players, we actually sat the whole game. And a little change from MN football, not only was the stadium huge and filled, no parkas, camo or winter coats filled the seats.

His lip infection is all gone and now he no longer looks like Bubba from Forest Gump. Its about 12:15 and he is still snoring away. We were up early this morning to get a check up on the lip and both fell back asleep...until I awoke at about 11.

Ok so I have no idea if anyone reads this blog anymore, especially since things have slowed down. But I know my dad still reads, so here ya go dad!
San Antonio has showed a new side to us...cold! OK, well not like MN cold, but enough to wear sweatshirts and long pants, in which I did not bring enough! ahh. Anyway. Luke is doing super, I escorted him to his morning PT session on Monday and was summoned my Major Campbell to come into the room, LUKE NOW HAS HIS LEG! Well ya hes had it for a while, but I mean he took it back to the room with him and now can walk whenever he wants. Big deal for him! He even walked all the way to the hospital..about a 1/2 mile on Tuesday morning. Tires him out but he loves to be able to work on it more than just in PT. It was really nice when, last night, we had a date, without the wheelchair.
Of course my trip could not be completed without a trip to the ER and an all day waiting period..ha. Nothing big..except Lukes lip. NO I did not punch him, although thats the big joke that I would hit a guy with one leg and glasses. While he was shaving he nicked himself under the lip. and because he still has some bugs in him it caused an infection, that eventually caused an abscess. Yeh not fun and he was super embarrassed to have a swollen lip. So that was taken care of in a pretty icky procedure. I wont share details..you dont want to know. But today the packing was to be removed at 10, its now 11 and and I havent seen him yet. I took the morning off to sleep in, Luke was up most of the night with some pretty bad phantom pain. But with the group we have here now, no big deal. Nancys sisters came down on Wednesday evening and Megan and Tim arrived last night. Its a big ole party!
Unfortunately the internet has been down quite a bit, and the army computers arent big fans of blog sites, so I wasnt able to update until now. Things are going well and it sounds like paperwork is being done to get Luke home for the upcoming Holidays. He will be moving into his new room on the 31st, and we were suppose to get the key or whatever for that so we could help move, but the week has been so hectic it just didnt happen. From what I can tell the barracks are pretty nice, but luke refuses to move in until he gets internet..ha. Demands he has. Anyway, time for me to clean up and face the day. I took a run yesterday that left me sore and tired today..silly me.

Here is a song Megan and Nancy saw fitting to the situation. Took me a while, but I finally found the lyrics..once I looked.
Mountains- Lonestar- (Partial Song)

There are times in life when you gotta crawl
Lose your grip, trip and fall
When you can't lean on no one else
That's when you find yourself
I been around, and I notice that
Walkin's easy when the road is flat
Them danged ol' hills will get you every time
Yeah, the good Lord gave us mountains
So we could learn how to climb

Hobby Bobby Dunn came back from the war
Lost his leg, but they couldn't take his will
Hell bent to run in that local marathon
He trained through the endless pain and pills
It hurt so bad that sometimes
That he just had to cry
He didn't stop until he crossed that finish line
This world ain't fair
It can knock you on your butt
You can just lie there, or you can get back up
You gotta get back up

oh sad day for me today. with lukes great progress he will soon be moving into the barracks. however, as soon as this happens, I got word that I will be cut off. As in, no more of my travels or lodging will be paid for. It sounds as though the family will also have to pay for lodging but not travels. anyway, my trip down there on the 13th may just be my last for quite a while. With his convelesent (spelling?) leave coming I'm not too worried about not seeing him, except for after christmas. hmm time will tell as my roommate always says.
hopefully you keep reading the caringbridge site, nancy has posted some really good recent information about lukes blood and outlook.
all in all they are sending his blood to more places, such as Mayo, to figure out whats going on. It may be the best in the long run to have his spleen removed. The hemotologist is saying that Luke might have always been anemic and didnt know, and removing the spleen will help with future incidences with any infections or sicknesses that may alter blood counts. And here is a little did you know fact- when you get sick you bone marrow stops producing red blood cells for up to a week or two! and if that happens to luke in the future and his spleen wants to eat them, we could see another occurance of that dreadful night in the ER.
Luke is doing so well but still faces the fact that he lost a leg and the whole accident makes him sad. poor guy.
That is all I have for now, I'm watching my new Little Mermaid DVD and finally, after 2 months, I am going to make myself dinner!

Short note here, I'm watching the twins right now.
Luke is super duper! Hasnt been in the hospital for about 4 weeks now, so thats a good number! Also, he said that walking on his new leg is hard and takes a lot of concentration, but he will soon get used to it and get the word to come home and visit..wahoo!. Luke was telling me that on Friday he took his crutches out and went around a ward in the hospital..good step in getting out of that wheelchair, he also said that it made him really hot and sweaty. joy. but thats all I have for now, the news is really starting to slow down now so obviously I have less to write less often. Have a great day, and Go TWINS!

Hmm, so whats better than spending 8 hours in the Salt Lake City Airport, I mean really I did want to make sure I knew every corner, store and food spot in this area..who doesnt? I think my travels with Delta Airlines, and especially Salt Lake City are going to be pushing up tulips after this trip. While sitting here for the lovely 8 hours of blahness there have been numerous calls over overbooking, delays, cancellations and such, on a beautiful day! I just dont get it.
Well maybe I should explain why I've been here so long... short story, I was booked a flight with a 25 minute layover..just barely legal..I complained about it, but got the shaft. We actually arrived early, but I guess SLC is soo busy they couldnt find us a terminal to dock into..so in short, I did not make my connection, even if I was a world class sprinter, in which I'm obviously not, carrying a semi-heavy shoulder bag and a purse thing, I was huffing pretty good. And after my 6 hour wait for my next flight, they announce the airplane was not able to fly because of maintainance..hmm does that sound familiar..scroll down if not :) Dont get me wrong, I'd rather wait than fly a airplane that just doesnt feel like flying.
On to Luke. I dont have much here. We enjoyed a beautiful weekend in San Antonio. A movie and dinner on Friday night, then enjoyed the River Center Mall on Saturday. We ventured onto the River Walk but soon found out that wheelchairs just arent welcome too much down there, each resturaunt has steps and people just dont seem to care if someone is in a wheelchair. Luke and I chatted about how you hear about wheelchair rights and kinda put in the back of your mind until you really see it first hand. Stores, malls, resturaunts arent really equipped or have room for a chair to easily move about. One tends to get easily frustrated, and I'm not even in the chair! Oh for those who are permanently in wheelchairs, I finally understand. Luckily for Luke he will be leaving his chair in the dust within the next few weeks. But my computer battery is low so I must go! I'll write more later..hehe