And the story continues...

Hello Faithful Readers!

It's Carren... yes, I am still alive and kickin. I haven't been posting b/c my life was a whirlwind while I was home. And it's Chuck's blog anyway, so I let him post w/o my interjections. BUT... now it's my turn again b/c he had surgery today.

Chuck had his skin flap done today and everything went okay. I got to his room about 15 minutes before they brought him up from recovery, so I had good timing (for once). He was awake and kinda chatty at first, then he had to wiggle himself from the OR bed to his bed and felt pain again for about 2 hours. Once again, the docs and nurses have to figure out what combination of meds are going to work for him. He has a PCA pump (w/ Dilaudid) again that he can push every ten minutes. He got a Dilaudid push (a bolis - sp?) before I left and was not in any pain (at least not severe) when I left about 8:15pm.

So overall he is doing well so far. I haven't seen his surgical sights b/c they have his whole mid-section bound w/ ace wraps so he doesn't pull his left arm off of his abdomen. The ace wraps should be removed in the next 24-36 hours, I think.

He will have his arm attached for about three weeks, not 4-6 like we were told before. He might even be able to go outpatient in those 3 weeks, but it depends on how he is healing and his pain management.

Anywho... I am staying in Alexandria, VA w/ a friend of ours from college (thanks, Devon!!!). The Army won't pay for my food or lodging while Chuck is an inpatient. It's different this time from when he was here initially. The Army pays for my round trip flight and meals when he is an outpatient (b/c then I am his non-medical attendant). So, our good friend Devon is allowing me to crash his place, I mean, stay at his place :) so I don't have to pay for lodging.

The kids are doing well. Chuck's mom Alice is staying w/ them so Creighton doesn't have to be pulled out of Kindergarten. Alice is so AWESOME, just like my mom and my sister were amazing when all of this started. We realized just how much we love and adore our kids after being away from them for 9 weeks. Quality time is a much bigger deal at our house, which is a good thing for all of us.

There is another soldier from our BN who was injured a few weeks ago. His name is LT Morgan and he is at Brook Army Med. Center in Texas. His right leg is messed up pretty badly, but I don't know the extent of all of his injuries. Please pray for him and his wife Lorene (and their two kids). Plus one more, I almost forgot, LT Rocha. I don't know much about his injuries but he should be back at Fort Riley by now. Please pray for him and his family as well.

If you would like to send cards to Chuck (which so many of you did by the armloads last time), you can mail to the same address that we had before... but here it is again:

CPT Charles W. Ziegenfuss (or Carren)
PO Box 59051
Washington, DC 20012

The cards you all sent last time were such a blessing for him and his healing process. I still owe many of you thank you notes for all of the great packages that were sent too.... still workin on those...

I'll update again soon. Take care, God Bless, and pray for our Armed Forces and their families!

Carren