I emailed various friends about Jake. A good friend informed me that he has a son-in-law stationed minutes from the hospital where Jake is being treated. His wife has always had a soft spot for Jake. She talks to him whenever she sees him, hugs him, and prays for him. My friend suggested that his son-in-law might be able to visit JakeWe thought that would be wonderful.
We received a call from the daughter, Jody, this morning. Jody, her husband, and a friend visited Jake in the hospital at about 11:30 in the afternoon. They spent an hour and a half with him. Jody said that she looks like, acts like, and sounds a lot like her mother. If true, she's cute and gregarious. I could tell that she's gregarious based on our phone conversation. I guess Jake took right to her. They felt he really appreciated and enjoyed the visit from someone that looked like a "mother" back home who loves him. Her husband is in air force intelligence so Jake and he talked and talked about technical stuff.
Jody gave us a more detailed description of Jake's injuries. He has a wide V shaped laceration on his forehead. She thought there must be some twenty plus stitches on this cut. He has another smaller cut with stitches in his hairline. Jake described to her that the fracture on his left leg was "clean." It will heal up and return pretty much back to normal. The right leg, though, is a bit more complicated.
I'm not certain we still know everything about his right leg. Jake told Jody that he may never use it quite the same again, so I wonder if a doctor has said as much to him. I still don't know if it was broken or dislocated. The gash on his leg is much more significant than we previously understood. Jody said this leg has some type of velcro wrap that is tightly holding everything together. Now we know why cleaning the wound requires a four hour surgery.
Jake made a comment to them that he felt sort of guilty that it wasn't him that died. He said that it usually is the gunner who dies. They told him "no, no. You are being watched over, for some reason. It wasn't your turn. You shouldn't feel guilty." I guess Jake said he knew he was being watched over and couldn't understand why. He said he wasn't living God's ways as he should and yet, he's being watched over. He told them about the accident he had in VT in his truck last year and how he shouldn't have escaped alive. Now this situation.
Jake told them that barring any weather problems, he'll be flying on Tuesday to Walter Reed. Jody is familiar with Walter Reed and said it is a great hospital for injured soldiers. Jake will receive a great deal of support there not only from the medical staff, but also from other soldiers whose recoveries are further along than Jake's.
We talked to Jake yesterday as well. It must of happened before Jody visited. Probably the most important information we got out of this conversation is that the pain medicine is working very well. He said on a pain scale of 1 to 10, the pain used to be a ten, but is now a zero. I'm sure this has made him feel a lot more comfortable.
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