Last night I drove to Augusta, GA for my appointments at the VA after finishing the contract on my house. It took much longer than I expected to do but I had a mountain of things to ensure was to be addressed. I pulled out of Huntsville at about 4:30pm to begin my near seven hour trip. I got in and to bed about midnight but it wasn’t until about 3:00am until the room was cooled and dehumidified enough to get comfortable. I started out the day by fasting and getting to the hospital at about 9am for my vitals check and draw blood for my labs. My BP was 126/75 which is pretty good since I didn’t have any coffee this morning. I was sent to X-Ray to get some pix of my right shoulder to help assess why I’m having so much pain. On the way, I ran into the local Paralyzed Veterans of America reps and chatted with them for a few. The gal was having her Levo manual standing wheelchair serviced and hers was very heavy and several versions older than the one I’m getting. They told me I am a very rare individual in the VA system to be doing as well as I am both personally and professionally and that I’m very blessed. I am blessed in the fact that I’m a Sherwood! After X-Ray, I went to Physical Therapy and saw Abby and met the folks from Permobile to test the demo chair they brought. We also had the wheelchair SME there to look over the mechanical fitting and adjustments that will need to be made. The chair is very lightweight and is made from magnesium, titanium and carbon fiber. The first time up into the standing position, I drooped over at the hips and couldn’t get myself upright because the chest belt was too low. After we fixed that, I tried a second time and it worked well. It only takes a couple of seconds to stand so I got a little dizzy since I’m not accustomed to getting up so fast like that. This took about 1½ hours to do all the measurements and complete the options forms. One great bit of news the PT told me is that I don’t have to turn in one of my other chairs! They just will no longer provide maintenance service to it. After lunch, I met with the doctor and it was a long afternoon. My cholesterol has come down from 237 in January to now 182 however I need to raise my good cholesterol. The podiatrist came to look at my toe and gave me some ointment and gauze to put on it to help with the drainage but said it looked good. We discussed my onset of osteopenia in my left hip and femoral neck and the medication I need to be on for the next six months. What I didn’t know is that if my condition worsens to become osteoporosis, being in a stander can actually fracture the weakened site.  They will take another DEXA bone scan at my next annual exam in January 2010 to see if increased standing accompanied with the medication helps. I also received a couple Foley catheter kits for long trips. As for my DVT’s in my legs, I can come off the Lovenox blood thinner and observe my legs for any signs of clotting and swelling. If so, I will have to be on thinners the rest of my life. I will be driving back to Huntsville in the morning after a good night’s rest. I will need to come back in six to seven weeks to pickup my chair and finish up on a couple things I couldn’t get done on this trip…Phillip