Busy December!

Everything is going well here in Bethesda. Justin is progressing very well with therapy. His skin graft is healing nicely and hopefully should be completely healed within a week or two. Last week was very busy with appointment after appointment again. We had a follow up with Cardiology and the Cardio-thoracic surgeon which ended up being a 4 hour appointment. Mainly because he saw both doctors back to back and they ran a bunch of tests to follow up on his cardiogenic shock. The Cardiologist decided he still doesn't want to do anything with the hole in his heart, but his heart rate is still high. He is now on medication to bring down his heart rate and will have to follow up in a month, then 3-4 months and yearly after that for life. Thankfully his heart looked great with the Echo, CT- scan, and EKG they ran. Justin and I also had a great laugh that day. When we were called back for his chest CT we thought they called his name and said Corporal Crabbe. Well I wheel him back and we go into this room with an X-ray machine and the first thing that crossed both of our minds was I thought they were doing a CT. Right then the technician says so your here for an X-ray of your right thumb correct? Justin without skipping a beat says "Uh I don't have a right thumb so that maybe a little difficult to do" and we start busting up laughing. Then we realized the mix up they were calling another Corporal with a last name that started with a C. So I wheeled back to the waiting room where mom was sitting and she is looking at us because we just can't stop laughing. We told her what happened and we all had a great laugh. I guess maybe it was just really funny in the moment, but I am so glad we can be at a point where we are able to joke and laugh about things. Justin makes jokes all the time because he says he can't change what happened so he just goes with it.

The days here go by very fast with therapy and appointments, on top of Marine stuff he has to do. His spirits are great and he is the same old Justin which is nice! This past Sunday Dec 11 was his 23rd birthday! It was nice to celebrate a birthday with him because the last birthday we celebrated was his 19th birthday. We went to lunch for his birthday and then ran a few errands. He wanted to stay home and watch the Packers Game, so mom made him ham his favorite and we stayed in at the apartment. I think he had a great day! Plus Hueston and Nicholson came by and hung out with him for awhile.

Today in occupational therapy he made a gingerbread house. I will post pictures later but they are on his camera. I think he enjoyed eating candy during therapy, but his house came out great! This week is another busy week and with the holidays coming there are tons of things to do around here. We are attending a Christmas Party on Wednesday night which should be a lot of fun! Justin is really looking forward to his buddies coming next week to visit. His Marine friends just went on leave since getting back from Afghanistan and they are coming to visit next week. It should be fun for all the guys to get together and hang out.

Other than that everything else is going great here minus the cold weather. I guess I can't complain because there hasn't been any snow yet, but its colder than my California blood is used to. Thankfully the last few days its been sunny. Compared to last week with all the rain. We hope everyone is having a blessed and happy holiday season! Thank you for the continued support and prayers!

Lots of Love,
The Crabbe Family!