You're Beautiful

Today I had the honor of meeting one of the most famous vets at our facility. This 21yo man survived a mortar attack on a humvee. He was brought to our facility in 2004 unresponsive, attached to feeding tubes, and paralyzed. His parents were told he would never walk again. After being medically stabilized, he was placed in our nursing home at the age of 20. Today he's in the mainstream program - a program aimed at teaching traumatic brain injury patients life skills so they can return to society. JW presented to my window today to pick up his medicines for pass. Every weekend he leaves the facility to go home to his parents - and to go to the local dirt track races. As soon as he walked through the double doors, I knew who he was. He walks with a walker and has gross motor tremors in his arms. I had worked on his case when I was in-patient, so it was great to finally put a face with a name. When he sat down in my booth, we discovered that the doctor had not put in his pass medication orders. I called the doctor and requested the orders. While we were waiting for them to be input, JW and I struck up a conversation. After talking for a few minutes he asked if he could tell me something without offending me. I told him that I'm not easily offended and that he could speak his mind. He leaned in my window and said, "You're very pretty." I smiled and thanked him. The conversation then turned to my marriage status, then dating status, and finally my age. I could quickly see where this was headed, so I tried to steer the conversation in another direction. This was not successful. JW asked me to go on a date with him. I told him that we'd both get in trouble for dating since I'm an employee and he's a patient. JW, who is very aware of his physical status, said, "Is it because of my condition?" That was heart wrenching. I explained that it had absolutely NOTHING to do with his condition. He then asked me to quit my job. HA! He's a character to say the least. We talked for several more minutes. He shook my hand, and again told me I was beautiful. I could only get him to leave my booth window by explaining that there were lots of other patients waiting to see me. He agreed and reluctantly left my booth - bidding me farewell and holding my hand.

Consequently, I've spent some time this evening reflecting on him and my previous post on this site. I think the most frustrating thing of all is that JW would not be in this condition if we weren't engaged in a political war in Iraq. I get sick of the Republican mantra that you can't support the troops if you don't support the war. That is such crap! This war has brought civil war to Iraq and left American men and women damaged for life. This damage is far more than physical disabilities and deformities...it's the psychological damage that comes from seeing the horrors of war. Not is JW physically disabled, but he is also pyschologically damaged. He has vivid nightmares. He has trouble functioning in groups. It's incredibly sad. And the saddest part is that JW was simply a pawn in Bush's political war.