Phillip Sherwood

I am here in San Antonio, Texas this week attending the US Paralympic Games and it started with a 6am flight out of Huntsville this morning. It was a super early morning for me so I was real happy to see the curb-side assist guy already there when I rolled up. For a tip, he takes the bags to the check-in with ID and money to process them while I parked. When I came back around, he had my boarding pass in hand and I proceeded right to the gates. There was a changeover in Dallas but the aircraft I was on was the same going to San Antonio so I didn’t have to get off the plane. Shortly after takeoff I started feeling like I had to pee which was strange since I just went about 2½ hours earlier. By the time we landed and I got to a bathroom, I had a severely bloated bladder of 900cc! This is really bad. This is another thing that’s been happening lately too. I can go and it not be much but a couple hours later it’s like I haven’t gone all day. I still haven’t heard anything back from the VA doc.

I was met by a rep at the baggage pick-up and was led to a waiting van outside that already had a couple of other passengers inside. We arrived at the Powless Guest House on the Fort Sam Houston military base where we registered for the program and were assigned our rooms. The Powless Guest House is primarily used for injured soldiers who are transitioning out of the service due to injuries sustained while on active duty. The majority are folks returning from Iraq or Afghanistan grossly disfigured some with burns and most were caused by IEDs. In our group there are 46 people with injuries sustained while serving on active duty or after having left the service like myself. The extents of the injuries are as varied as the imagination can conjure with 19 of us in wheelchairs. Of those 19, very few are spinal cord injured. Compared with some of the others here, I’m in pretty good shape. The vast majority don’t work by choice since they have disability from the service and/or social security for disability.

We will be very busy with group activities during both days and nights. Tonight was the newcomer’s reception and dinner where they explained the program and all who are supporting the US Paralympics military programs. It’s late and I’ve had a super long day and the days start at 7am sharp. More coming tomorrow as time permits…phillip