What is new with Justin? Seems like everyday we encounter something new. Good news first! Justin had another echo cardiogram yesterday and his heart is doing wonderful! The inflammation around his heart has gone away! Praying that it stays away. The Dr is starting to take remove his hearts meds one at a time! This is excellent news. Hearing that news yesterday had me dancing out of the Dr's office!
The stitches are out of his left hand now as well and Justin is getting more mobility since the operation to remove that pin.. It was so small about the size of pencil lead, hard to believe that little bugger could cause so much pain.
Tomorrow is our Ortho appointment. This is where we are discussing those lovely HO's in his legs. Surgery most likely will have to take place to shave the bones down. Just a matter of timing. Timing for the bones to stop growing and when is the best time to not be walking for 4-6 weeks. When you think about it that way, planning needs to take place! Justin is planing on attending a Wounded Wear event over Memorial Day weekend to go Skydiving, so we want to have him healthy for that. We also are in the midst of his Medical Board evaluation and he needs to be available to go to theVA for his appointments so again, when is the right time? It really is nice to be able to plan his surgery around our schedule, then have the surgery schedule us!
Justin is doing well in PT. Still waiting for his other new pair of legs to come in. They are due in anytime. Really a shame that the need out ways the inventory, no I won't go there.
Another sport Justin is doing is Golf. Saturday will be his first day. Last week was the first week, but he had VA appointments. A special device has been made so he can grip the club. I cannot wait to see him swing those clubs again. The golf lessons include one on one instructors, wow we are blessed.
The remodel for Justin's room started on Monday. A great big THANK YOU to Braughton Construction for all the their efforts obtaining as many donations as possible for the project! On their website they have the Wounded Warrior Project tab! Check out their website to see the wonderful job they are doing. WWW.BCI.IE.com We are so appreciative for everyone's support. Honestly we don't know where we would be without all of you! God Bless you all!
Well that about does it for our current events. Stay tuned for more exciting news as we journey along Justin's road to getting home for good.
Hope you all have an incredible week and continue to smile! Smiling does wonders for both you and the person who receives it!
Thank you again from the Crabbe Family, we sincerely mean this with all of our hearts!
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Happy Easter All
With Easter comes spring, with spring new beginnings! Happy Easter everyone, looking forward to our new beginnings.
So what has been happening here in Bethesda the last few weeks. Justin went to Aspen Colorado for a theraputic ski trip! Had an absolute blast.Wishes the weather was a bit colder and a little more snow other than that he had a great time. He had two instructors throughout the week so he was well trained. Their hotel room overlooked the ski run. Nice!
Justin's been driving a lot, has another few behind the wheel classes and then he will be set to get his truck adapted so he really has freedom. The truck arrived last week to my cousin's house in PA. He is storing it until we go and pick it up. Jon likes the truck and Justin may have to pay a ransom to get it back! There were so many expensive cars on the trailer that delivered the truck that Jon's neighbors all came out for the "car show" and took pictures of the slick cars. How fun is that?
Justin is getting used to his new legs and it waiting yet another new pair this week. He can then do a comparison test to see which ones work better for him, almost like taking a test drive in a new car. Only we test drive new legs. The checklist for comfort, weight, maneuverability, ease of use, looks, normal things you check for in legs.
Justin had surgery yesterday to remove the final pin from his left wrist. This will hopefully take care of the residual pain he has had. No more surgeries scheduled as of now until we see Ortho next week to check on the HO in his legs. Can't remember the name for HO but it is bone's continuing to grow which causes pain in the legs which in turn may need to be removed surgically.
Golf clinic starts next week, Justin can't wait to swing a club again. He will have a hand glove designed to be able to grip the club so he will be able to grip and swing the club. He is really looking forward to this as he loved to golf before. As I always say, we are learning our "new normal".
That is about all for now. Pictures will be forthcoming when Jennifer is here. She is the pro so I will leave it to her.
Keep a smile in your heart! Hugs to all.
So what has been happening here in Bethesda the last few weeks. Justin went to Aspen Colorado for a theraputic ski trip! Had an absolute blast.Wishes the weather was a bit colder and a little more snow other than that he had a great time. He had two instructors throughout the week so he was well trained. Their hotel room overlooked the ski run. Nice!
Justin's been driving a lot, has another few behind the wheel classes and then he will be set to get his truck adapted so he really has freedom. The truck arrived last week to my cousin's house in PA. He is storing it until we go and pick it up. Jon likes the truck and Justin may have to pay a ransom to get it back! There were so many expensive cars on the trailer that delivered the truck that Jon's neighbors all came out for the "car show" and took pictures of the slick cars. How fun is that?
Justin is getting used to his new legs and it waiting yet another new pair this week. He can then do a comparison test to see which ones work better for him, almost like taking a test drive in a new car. Only we test drive new legs. The checklist for comfort, weight, maneuverability, ease of use, looks, normal things you check for in legs.
Justin had surgery yesterday to remove the final pin from his left wrist. This will hopefully take care of the residual pain he has had. No more surgeries scheduled as of now until we see Ortho next week to check on the HO in his legs. Can't remember the name for HO but it is bone's continuing to grow which causes pain in the legs which in turn may need to be removed surgically.
Golf clinic starts next week, Justin can't wait to swing a club again. He will have a hand glove designed to be able to grip the club so he will be able to grip and swing the club. He is really looking forward to this as he loved to golf before. As I always say, we are learning our "new normal".
That is about all for now. Pictures will be forthcoming when Jennifer is here. She is the pro so I will leave it to her.
Keep a smile in your heart! Hugs to all.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
It's about time!
Talk about a slacker for a blogger, boy I take the record there! Sorry for the delays, time just slips away from me these days and yes I admit Jennifer is much better at this then I am..
Justin Update:
Since the last post of the Homecoming in Hawaii which was absolutely wonderful for everyone, Justin spent the remainder of his 30 days at home in California. Time home was so nice, Boomer really stuck like glue to his master.. We met with the contractor working on plans to remodel the downstairs bedroom and make it accessible for Justin. Fun for Justin to be in control of his space.
Justin also bought his dream truck while home, he had already picked out the perfect truck prior to deployment and told the salesman "he would be back to buy this truck after deployment". It was nice to see the same salesman work with Justin on buying his truck. We are all so happy that he got what he wanted. Now it is being shipped to Maryland to undergo adaptations. This will allow Justin to drive independently.
He has been driving here to get the hang of the hand controls and help him decide what kind of control he feels most comfortable in.
We had a few more bumps in the road with Justin's health. He started having chest pains again so we had lots of tests to go through to make sure the pericarditis was not back. Good news is that he is improving and turned out to be a pulled muscle from lifting weights above his head while walking around the track. Believe me when I say that they work these guys like crazy in physical therapy. It is so exciting to see the progress. Then we had a severe bought of the flu that sent him back to ER.. There goes all the weight I put on him!
Justin is doing really good in his new legs and knees, topping out at 5'11, he is taller than his mom. The knees and ankles have microprocessors in them and they are programmed to Justin's gait. These will take a bit of work to get used to but I am sure that in no time it will be old hat for him. I will be filming him next week and I will post for all to see.
The next upcoming event is Justin is going to Aspen Colorado for a ski trip! This is part of the therapy letting them experience all the sports they enjoy and learn how to do it again. He is so excited and looking forward to hitting the slopes again. This will be new for him as he always did snowboarding and this is mono skiing.. Still should be a blast.
At last a great big THANK YOU to everyone involved with the The Justin Crabbe Dinner, Dance, Auction on March 17th. This was a huge undertaking for a main team of 4 people! Many many thanks to Kathie Conaway, Eryn Ogren, Crystal Atwood, and Ann Marie Keener. The list goes on and on from lots of other people who got donations and such.. We appreciate this so much and I know all the hours upon hours of time it took to put together such a gala event. Everyone braved the huge winter storm and all had a fabulous time. I tried to talk to everyone and say Thank you so much form the Crabbe Family.. If I missed you, I just ran out of time! Thank everyone who traveled long distances to attend. Without all of you this would not have been possible.. I know I am always saying that Thank You does not seem to say enough, We love you all.
Well that about wraps up our last month or so here in Bethesda, I promise to update for often in the future. Happy Spring all and keep smiling it does wonders for the soul!
Justin Update:
Since the last post of the Homecoming in Hawaii which was absolutely wonderful for everyone, Justin spent the remainder of his 30 days at home in California. Time home was so nice, Boomer really stuck like glue to his master.. We met with the contractor working on plans to remodel the downstairs bedroom and make it accessible for Justin. Fun for Justin to be in control of his space.
Justin also bought his dream truck while home, he had already picked out the perfect truck prior to deployment and told the salesman "he would be back to buy this truck after deployment". It was nice to see the same salesman work with Justin on buying his truck. We are all so happy that he got what he wanted. Now it is being shipped to Maryland to undergo adaptations. This will allow Justin to drive independently.
He has been driving here to get the hang of the hand controls and help him decide what kind of control he feels most comfortable in.
We had a few more bumps in the road with Justin's health. He started having chest pains again so we had lots of tests to go through to make sure the pericarditis was not back. Good news is that he is improving and turned out to be a pulled muscle from lifting weights above his head while walking around the track. Believe me when I say that they work these guys like crazy in physical therapy. It is so exciting to see the progress. Then we had a severe bought of the flu that sent him back to ER.. There goes all the weight I put on him!
Justin is doing really good in his new legs and knees, topping out at 5'11, he is taller than his mom. The knees and ankles have microprocessors in them and they are programmed to Justin's gait. These will take a bit of work to get used to but I am sure that in no time it will be old hat for him. I will be filming him next week and I will post for all to see.
The next upcoming event is Justin is going to Aspen Colorado for a ski trip! This is part of the therapy letting them experience all the sports they enjoy and learn how to do it again. He is so excited and looking forward to hitting the slopes again. This will be new for him as he always did snowboarding and this is mono skiing.. Still should be a blast.
At last a great big THANK YOU to everyone involved with the The Justin Crabbe Dinner, Dance, Auction on March 17th. This was a huge undertaking for a main team of 4 people! Many many thanks to Kathie Conaway, Eryn Ogren, Crystal Atwood, and Ann Marie Keener. The list goes on and on from lots of other people who got donations and such.. We appreciate this so much and I know all the hours upon hours of time it took to put together such a gala event. Everyone braved the huge winter storm and all had a fabulous time. I tried to talk to everyone and say Thank you so much form the Crabbe Family.. If I missed you, I just ran out of time! Thank everyone who traveled long distances to attend. Without all of you this would not have been possible.. I know I am always saying that Thank You does not seem to say enough, We love you all.
Well that about wraps up our last month or so here in Bethesda, I promise to update for often in the future. Happy Spring all and keep smiling it does wonders for the soul!
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Aug. 26th 2011 A day we shall never forget!
6 months ago today, I received the phone call no one ever is ready for. The call informing me that my son, Corporal Justin Crabbe was critically wounded in the Afghanistan war. During those 6 months the out pouring of love, support, prayers and genorisity has been over whelming and the The Crabbe Family is so appreciative words are not enough. We did everything we could to live day to day with all the ups and downs, everyone else took care of every last need. We did not have to worry about anything but the health and well being of our son. With that said, we are here to say that we love all of you and cannot thank you enough. We have such a respect for everyone and we love you all!
Justin and I return to Bethesda Sunday March 4th. We have enjoyed our leave but are actually excited about returning to therapy! Justin will be advancing into his larger legs and knees... This is a very exciting time, look forward to future pictures! I will chronicle the great progress he makes. We plan on being in Maryland till the end of the year. Stay tuned on our progress.. We appreciate that everyone enjoys the blog and I look forward to updating everyone over the next few months..
Justin and I are going to try for leave to come home for the March 17th Dinner, dance, auction... Everyone please say a prayer that his leave will be approved. We all want for him to be able to attend! The fact of the matter is Justin is still on active duty as a United States Marine following all the Marine rules even though he is a wounded warrior! He stills reports for duty everyday Mon-Fri. He has formation and must wear his PT gear or uniform. He is still a Marine must follow all the rules of the military. As much as I would love to sneak him home without anyone knowing, I cannot do that without all the proper approvals so keep those prayers coming.
We look forward to seeing everyone at the dinner, dance, and auction at the Double Tree Hotel. Just a reminder all and reservations and money are due by March 1st!
Next update hopefully will be new legs and knees! Have a great week, be safe, be happy and remain positive! Love and hugs to all, The Crabbe Family!
Justin and I return to Bethesda Sunday March 4th. We have enjoyed our leave but are actually excited about returning to therapy! Justin will be advancing into his larger legs and knees... This is a very exciting time, look forward to future pictures! I will chronicle the great progress he makes. We plan on being in Maryland till the end of the year. Stay tuned on our progress.. We appreciate that everyone enjoys the blog and I look forward to updating everyone over the next few months..
Justin and I are going to try for leave to come home for the March 17th Dinner, dance, auction... Everyone please say a prayer that his leave will be approved. We all want for him to be able to attend! The fact of the matter is Justin is still on active duty as a United States Marine following all the Marine rules even though he is a wounded warrior! He stills reports for duty everyday Mon-Fri. He has formation and must wear his PT gear or uniform. He is still a Marine must follow all the rules of the military. As much as I would love to sneak him home without anyone knowing, I cannot do that without all the proper approvals so keep those prayers coming.
We look forward to seeing everyone at the dinner, dance, and auction at the Double Tree Hotel. Just a reminder all and reservations and money are due by March 1st!
Next update hopefully will be new legs and knees! Have a great week, be safe, be happy and remain positive! Love and hugs to all, The Crabbe Family!
Monday, February 20, 2012
Back from the Islands
Justin and I are back from Hawaii! We had a wonderful trip. When we arrived at the airport the CO, Captain Richie, set up a homecoming and allowed all the boys to meet us at the airport. We were greeted by Echo Marines, wives, girlfriends, children, etc. Justin and Mike were so excited to see "their boys". It was great for them to be reunited because they had not seen each other since being injured. After the airport homecoming we headed to our hotel. We had a beautiful two bedroom, two bathroom suite (Thanks to a wonderful family member who is a travel agent). It was absolutely beautiful with 4 balconies, we had ocean views and views of diamond head! We were living like kings and queens on the 40th floor!
Saturday night was the Warrior Ball and the boys looked so handsome in their dress blues. During the speech given by a General he talked about Justin, Mike, and Murphy and everyone gave them a standing ovation. It was definitely an emotional moment and of course I could not hold back the tears. The boys had a great time at the ball catching up with their buddies. There was lots of laughter, drinking, and a few tears! Overall the trip was great minus almost missing our flight to hawaii because of construction and elevators being broken at LAX. Thankfully coming home was less stressful and TSA helped us out tremendously.
While we were in Hawaii it was my 25th birthday so the boys took me out to dinner and we had a great time. I could not believe the generosity of people. The table next to us bought our first round of drinks (there was 5 of us total). Then when we tried to pay our bill our waitress asked us if we were celebrities because her other table paid for our entire bill. We couldn't believe it and thankfully we were able to catch the men to thank them before they left. While we wanted to thank them they just wanted to thank Justin and Mike for everything they had done. Then while we were finishing our dessert another table bought us another round of drinks and left our waitress $60 for additional drinks. We were blown away by everyone being so generous.
We are so thankful both Justin and Mike were healthy enough to fly and we had no complications or problems with the trip. Justin has two more weeks left of leave so he is enjoying being home. Today Justin became the proud owner of a new F-150! Thanks to the VA and the Semper Fi Fund who assisted him in buying his new truck. He will be taking the truck back to Maryland so all the adaptations/hand controls can be modified. (Its still up in the air if we will have it shipped or if dad will drive it back) When he gets back to Maryland he will begin his driving classes and then he can drive his truck around. Justin has been looking forward to getting this truck since before deployment.
Thank you again for the continued prayers, love, and support! We are so thankful Justin is doing so well and so far is heart is not having any problems. The medicine is really working so we are hoping to avoid the surgery all together. When he gets back to Maryland he will be seeing his cardiologist and having another Echocardiogram done to confirm the medicine is working. We are so happy to be back home as a family and enjoying the time together. Mom and Justin will be living in Maryland and dad and I will be living here in California. So we are enjoying these next two weeks of being together as a family.
Please continue to pray for all the troops still fighting for us. Especially our cousin Cody who will be deploying again in the next few months. Please keep him and his unit in your prayers as they prepare for deployment.
Airport Homecoming
Saturday night was the Warrior Ball and the boys looked so handsome in their dress blues. During the speech given by a General he talked about Justin, Mike, and Murphy and everyone gave them a standing ovation. It was definitely an emotional moment and of course I could not hold back the tears. The boys had a great time at the ball catching up with their buddies. There was lots of laughter, drinking, and a few tears! Overall the trip was great minus almost missing our flight to hawaii because of construction and elevators being broken at LAX. Thankfully coming home was less stressful and TSA helped us out tremendously.
While we were in Hawaii it was my 25th birthday so the boys took me out to dinner and we had a great time. I could not believe the generosity of people. The table next to us bought our first round of drinks (there was 5 of us total). Then when we tried to pay our bill our waitress asked us if we were celebrities because her other table paid for our entire bill. We couldn't believe it and thankfully we were able to catch the men to thank them before they left. While we wanted to thank them they just wanted to thank Justin and Mike for everything they had done. Then while we were finishing our dessert another table bought us another round of drinks and left our waitress $60 for additional drinks. We were blown away by everyone being so generous.
We are so thankful both Justin and Mike were healthy enough to fly and we had no complications or problems with the trip. Justin has two more weeks left of leave so he is enjoying being home. Today Justin became the proud owner of a new F-150! Thanks to the VA and the Semper Fi Fund who assisted him in buying his new truck. He will be taking the truck back to Maryland so all the adaptations/hand controls can be modified. (Its still up in the air if we will have it shipped or if dad will drive it back) When he gets back to Maryland he will begin his driving classes and then he can drive his truck around. Justin has been looking forward to getting this truck since before deployment.
Thank you again for the continued prayers, love, and support! We are so thankful Justin is doing so well and so far is heart is not having any problems. The medicine is really working so we are hoping to avoid the surgery all together. When he gets back to Maryland he will be seeing his cardiologist and having another Echocardiogram done to confirm the medicine is working. We are so happy to be back home as a family and enjoying the time together. Mom and Justin will be living in Maryland and dad and I will be living here in California. So we are enjoying these next two weeks of being together as a family.
Please continue to pray for all the troops still fighting for us. Especially our cousin Cody who will be deploying again in the next few months. Please keep him and his unit in your prayers as they prepare for deployment.
The boys out one night
Ball Photos!
Our Hotel Room
Our amazing view
The full ocean view from Justin and Mikes balcony
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Cleared for Hawaii!
The last few weeks have been busy but here is recap on how Justin is doing:
He decided to go with the conservative method and take the medication for his heart condition instead of having the surgery. The medicine is working and relieved all of his symptoms. The Cardiologist have ran multiple tests to confirm the medicine is helping with inflammation around his heart. They also wanted to rule out another condition they were suspicious about because it showed up on his EKG. Thankfully that test was done this week to stress out and his heart and it did not show up again. So they have ruled out that particular syndrome. He also had his pins removed in his left hand. He was thrilled to finally get those out.
Justin is continuing to impress his therapists by making tons of progress in therapy. Going to therapy with him this past week I could see how much progress he has made. He is getting so much stronger and walking better and better every day. This past week he was excited because he got carbon fiber legs (which are lighter and less bulky). He is hoping to get his "knees" in maybe another month/month and a half. Sometime in March he will probably have hopefully his finally surgery to have the HO bone in his leg removed. He wanted to wait until after Hawaii so he can walk while he is there.
SO the great news is Justin and his friend Mike are both cleared for Hawaii! The three of us will be going next Thursday for six days. We are all looking forward to this trip. Justin and Mike can't wait to see all their guys. I will definitely blog about our trip and post lots of pictures when we return. I think Justin and Mike are ready to get out of Bethesda for a week. Thankfully though the winter has been very mild back there. We only had snow one day and it wasn't a lot.
Thank you again for everything and the continued prayers. The heart problem had us all scared and worried. The prayers again have come through and once again Justin ended up with the best outcome!
If you would like to send mail please send it to this address:
Corporal Justin Crabbe
Warrior Transition Battalion
Box 20098
8901 Wisconsin Ave
Bethesda MD 20889-5600
Corporal Justin Crabbe
Warrior Transition Battalion
Box 20098
8901 Wisconsin Ave
Bethesda MD 20889-5600
We still have mail going to the Navy Lodge and the post office is not happy with us because they have to keep sorting it out. Thank you again!
Justin doing exercises!
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
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