Phillip Sherwood

I haven’t been able to keep up with my posts lately because I’ve been busier than ever with work and the final touches on the house. I’ve had a lot of friends coming over sporadically over the past week volunteering with packing my apartment and it’s been much appreciated. I hope to spend Christmas Eve in my new house by my fireplace. This afternoon I have the final walk-through of the house prior to closing. Tomorrow the show begins with movers at 0:Dark 30 and I’ll be on straight black coffee for appx 72 hours straight with closing, moving, unpacking and taking care of everything that goes along with the logistics of changing residences. My mother gets here on Christmas day to help with unpacking and organizing everything and she’ll be here all the following week.

As for how I’m doing health wise, my nasal infection has gone away, my pain is still peaking at night, right leg still swelling unproportionately more than the left and right shoulder feels like it was shot by a whale harpoon. My prescreening is done for my annual medical evaluation at the Augusta VA Hospital and I have a pain pump follow-up appointment the day prior. The Christmas holidays are not helping with my diet and trim down plan so I’m hoping the pain doctor will release me to more physically demanding activity on my next visit. Until then, I’m still restricted to light activity, standing and my stim-bike for the legs. Have a Merry and safe Christmas and New Year’s. I’ve enjoyed everyone’s friendship and look forward to more years ahead.

I am nearing the end of the road and within 10-days will be taking possession of my new house. There still seems like a million things to get done beforehand so I’m keeping my fingers crossed everything will work out. Friday night Becky, Mike Magee’s wife, organized a birthday dinner at the Thai restaurant in Madison named Surin’s. It was nice to see a bunch of the old SNAG gang once again. Today my little buddy DJ Brazelton and his MX racing companion Chase stopped over for a little bit. It was really nice to see him after so long. He never ceases to impress me in every way imaginable. My right leg continues to be over swollen in comparison to the right so I’m going to consult with my doctor about resuming the Lovenox blood thinner injections once again until I can get a Doppler sonogram to look at the deep femoral veins to reassess the clotting. I am still sweating profusely at night leading into the early hours of the morning. I don’t like waking up in the darkness with my head lying on a wet sponge-like pillow. Sue from Publix is the lady who cooks and prepares the meal samples for the customers. I see her almost all the time and I’ll stop by her booth and chat with her for a while from time to time. She’s really nice and always hooks me up good. COSTCO samplers can’t hold a candle to her. It’s been a tiring weekend and I’m going to bed early tonight. Peace out…

My cold has finally left me and I feel so much better. Previously I reported that my spasm’s were bothering me during the second phase of my sleep so last Sunday morning I took an oral dose of my standard spaz meds so I can get a good morning of sleep. Low and behold I didn’t wake up until nearly 3pm in the afternoon! I have never slept that sound and deep before and I was lucky to be dehydrated from the sweating to negate the need for doing an IC. I called my doctor’s office to request they look at pumping up the program from the hours of 10pm to 8am to allow me to sleep and bathe without the additional difficulties of dealing with dancing legs. My right leg continues to swell beyond the amount the left does which will be number one on my list when I go to the VA for my annual. I will need to get another Doppler sonogram to verify the status of the clotting.

The house is almost done. I went in today during lunch and there were a cleaning crew and electrical guy who was putting on all the light switch covers. The cleaners have their work really cut out for them. The heater was on and set to 74 degrees and was working great. All the light fixtures were now installed and working. The outside landscaping and screened in back terrace still have yet to be done. We received a serious soaking last night so I’m not sure when that will be done. I have the home inspection set for the 16th and the walk-through with the contractor on the 18th. The day is coming soon to move out of this apartment. Recently I changed jobs as much as I was hoping not to but the bottom line came down to the fact that I can and will not compromise my moral integrity for someone who has none. Even as a civilian now, there are qualities as a military officer I will always carry with me and live by.

I am sitting here on the couch watching the SEC Championship game between Alabama and Florida all warm and cozy while it’s freezing outside. This morning I woke up and turned on Headline News when they reported snow in Huntsville and sure enough there was. I’ve started feeling better with my chest cold and sinus infection but I keep waking up in the morning in soaked sheets and pillows from sweating so bad during “second shift” and I don’t know why. With the sheets so wet, they just stick to me and everything feels so cold. My legs are also super sensitive and react to any movement of the sheets over my legs stimulating the hairs sending the legs into spasms. They also feel like they’re sunburned until I get out of the bed and about my business. The “second shift” is the time after my 3am catheterization to my wake-up. I can’t go an entire night sleeping without waking up because when I lay down flat, my swollen legs drain causing my bladder to fill in about 4-5 hours. I also need to shift my body into a different position to avoid pressure sores. It’s been the same routine since the accident. I have a follow-up appointment with my pain doctor on Jan 7th however I need to see the doctor this week or next to discuss my condition.

I have my annual SCI exam scheduled for Jan 7th at the Augusta, GA VA hospital. This will take about 2-3 days to complete everything. BREAK. Alabama is spanking Florida at the moment. I was by the house yesterday but the office was closed and there was no key available to get inside. There were lights turned on both inside and out so that’s a good sign. The closing on the house is set for 11am on Dec 23rd. While I am there, I’ve hired a pair of corn fed farm boys with a truck to move all the stuff from the storage in Madison to the house to include the big safe. I’m also having the new washer, dryer and refrigerator delivered and hooked up that same day by Home Depot. The 24th will be the big stuff from the apartment. My mother gets in on Christmas. It will be a busy two days and if anyone is available during this time span the additional elbow grease would be appreciated. That’s it for the moment and it’s 26-13 BAMA halfway through the 3rd quarter.

For the past two weeks, I’ve been feeling the effects of my body withdrawing from the cumulative chemical dependency to the pain and anti-spasm medications I’ve been taking for the last two years to try and keep my spasms under control enough for me to just get through a day safely. Although everything I took was perscribed and managed by my primary physician, I still withheld from taking the high-test narcotics for pain unless absolutely necessary. Since the implantation of the pain pump and its excellent functionality, I originally cut back to less than half of my oral dosages and by yesterday after the last tweak, I discontinued all of my oral meds related to pain & spasms. Although I was never psychologically addicted to the drugs, physiologically the chemicals already impacted my systems in many ways thus the reason I wanted the pump in the first place. My basic symptoms through this weening process have been severe night sweats, irritability, headaches, and itchy skin and scalp. All this coupled with the cold and congestion I’ve had lately has been a tough challenge. One good thing is that the doctor said I can get back up on my stander now and stretch my legs out but it will still be another month at least before I can get back to my regular routine at the gym. Things kinda suck a little bit now but at least this too shall pass.