A Touch of Winter

A few weeks ago,our neighbor came up to our door,opened it,and said,"Rick is passed out in the yard." I ran outside with him and there was Rick.laying on his right arm,out like a light. He had been working on building one of the walls for the barn. We tried to wake him up,but couldn't. His eyes were fluttering,and his hands were shaking. I called 911 and he was brought to the hospital in the ambulance.He was awake when Zach and I got there,but confused. He didn't remember what happened. He didn't remember being in the ambulance. Then,he passed again. His eyes fluttered,his hand shook. After a few minutes his eyes opened,and I told him to squeeze my hand if he could hear me,because he was just staring in to space. He squeezed it. I asked him if he wasn't able to talk to squeeze my hand again. He did. Then, less than a minute later,he was out again.

This happened several times. The Dr said it was either seizures,or "pseudo seizures." Because of his history,they wanted to send  him to the VA Hospital down in West Roxbury, MA.

The next day,I went down to see him.

They had him all attached to various wires so they could track his brain activity. He did wind up having another episode during the second night of his stay,so they kept him there for three days to get a good reading.

What they determined was he was having pseudo seizures. When he had the episode in the hospital, there was no seizure activity.  Rick had begun a very intensive cognitive PTSD therapy program a few weeks before. He has to write a trauma statement,with daily homework about the event,and the residual problems that is has caused.I am not allowed in with him at these sessions so he can talk freely,in case there are things that he does not want me to know about (there are).
These sessions,while good,make him think about things and emotions that he has tried to suppress for almost 10 years. It has put him through an emotional wringer. Because the memory and emotion part of the brain are on the same loop,it can get overwhelmed and basically shut down (this is the easiest way to think of it). This is turn causes him to have what looks like a seizure. We were told that it should stop after the therapy is completed. If not,they want him back for a week so they can monitor him further.He cannot drive,or climb anything higher than 3 ft until these "episodes" ( as I call them) go away.

Some days he is fine. Some days he has as much as 6 episodes in 45 minutes. Thankfully,it's been over a week without one,so that is good. It really drains him mentally and physically.

We do have new addition...Rooster Cogburn!  Our neighbor gave him to us. He is a very pretty Rhode Island Red. It took him a few days to find his voice,but he cock-a-doodle-dos throughout the day now,and loves to walk around the yard,strutting his stuff. Hey,if you were the only male among 21 females,you'd strut too!

This past Sunday,Rick and Richie officially graduated from the NEADS program. Rick is officially trained enough to have his service dog-he is licensed for 5 years. At that point,he will have to go back and be tested again,just to make sure he is doing the right things. It was a lovely ceremony. They had 26 dogs and partners-they had children,veterans with PTSD,physically disabled people,and those who use the dog for therapy or ministry purposes.

Here is a pic of some of the graduating veterans-Rick is in the blue shirt. The gentleman in dress blues to Rick's left was in Rick's class.  He also served in Ramadi Iraq at the same time as Rick,and come to find out,Rick's unit helped his unit when it came under attack,but they never met when they were over there.

I thought I had newer pictures of the barn,but I guess not.

At this point, the doors and window areas are cut out,and all four walls are up. Rick has been working on leveling the ground. Because it is getting rather late in the year,we are going to get the hayloft floor/first floor ceiling up,cover it with a tarp,and call it good until Spring when we will put the roof on it.It will just have to be shoveled off during the winter because it will be flat. We have the dog kennel chain link fencing panels that we will use for a fenced in area until the Spring when we will get our permanent fencing up.

This is what we woke up to this AM:

Since deer season for rifle opened up Wednesday,this is good for tracking. Rick and his brother went out early this AM--saw a deer,but couldn't get a shot off.

Have you been hit by this winter weather? Has it affected your farm in anyway?

Rick Is Getting A Service Dog!

Those of you who followed my blog Little Cottage In The Country know of my husband Rick's struggle with PTSD and TBI from his service in Iraq back in 2005 (has it been that long already?)

He applied to NEADS ( National Education for Assistance Dog Services) for a PTSD service dog,and a couple weeks ago we went down their training campus in Princeton MA so they could interview Rick and see how he interacted with a few of their dogs.

NEADS is the first assistance dog organization that Walter Reed Hospital contacted regarding service dogs for veterans,and then NEADS implemented their Canines For Combat Veterans program. They are the premiere organization in the country regarding veterans and service dogs,.Others who need dogs have to help with fundraising ( it costs $25,000 to train a dog) but vets owe nothing.

The campus is in a lovely,country setting. They have a main building,where the dogs and the administration happens,and there is also a house where folks stay when they are in training with the dogs.

Most of the folks there have service dogs,for various reasons.Some dogs are labs and golden retrievers. Some are smaller dogs. 

There were three other veterans with PTSD in the morning group. That helped Rick a bit knowing that that everyone had the same issues. We first met in a group setting with the trainers,the head psychologist (who herself had a service dog),and a graduate of the PTSD program who also served in Iraq. They discussed the program,and then everyone broke off with one person for interview/discussion.

The first person we spoke with was Bill,who was the veteran. He had his dog beside him. He talked about how having a dog changed his life,and told Rick to be aware that he will "get stares" from people,because most folks only associate service dogs with someone who is blind or unable to walk.Some folks will be nice and ask questions,some will be rude because "they will think you are faking it." He told Rick how to respond to people (especially little kids) who will want to pat his dog (they can,but he has to give a command to the dog first).He told us about ADA,( Americans With Disablity Act) and how anyone who owns a business who questions  him can only ask two questions:1) Is that a service dog? and 2) What is the nature of your disability? Rick asked him all about his relationship with his dog,and Bill spoke in depth about  how they have such a great bond,etc. He then starting saying,"We will get your life back to you,man..." and Rick started crying. Bill was kind and said,"We're going to help you,I know what your're going through,and we are going to change your life." Rick apologized for breaking down,and Bill shook his hand and said,"Brother, I have been there.This is the beginning of a new life for you.I guarantee it."

We then met with the head psychologist who met with both of us,then Rick by himself. She was a bit concerned about this TBI,and after they met together she came out to ask me if I thought that Rick could remember the commands because "his TBI is quite pronounced." I told her that I didn't see a problem for him,and she said that she was glad I said that,because she felt he would really "benefit from this program."

We then spoke with another lady about our home life,the activities Rick does,what we have for animals,and what we needed to do to get the house ready for a dog (we needed a crate and a 20 foot enclosed run for exercise).

Rick then met four dogs,but he only worked with three: Atticus,a black lab;Richie,a black lab;and Molly,a yellow lab (they only use black and yellow labs for the PTSD program. They seem to respond the best out of all the other breeds,including chocolate labs,which I found quite interesting.Having a chocolate lab of our own,I assume it's because they are rather excitable). He gave them direction,and played with them. It was amazing to see the dogs fixate on Rick. He felt most comfortable with Richie and Molly.The trainer thought that was good,because he thought those two dogs would suffice for Rick. 

We had to wait until the following week to find out if Rick got accepted into the program,and was very anxious and hopeful. The call came through,and they told Rick that everyone liked him and felt that he was the perfect candidate for the program. They also told him that his dog was going to be Richie,which he was very happy about!!

I bring him down to MA on Sunday Sept 8. I then go back to pick him up for the weekend the following Friday,and he brings Richie home with him. I then have to bring him back on Sunday for his final week of training,then pick him and Richie up Friday evening for good. We do have to go back down on occasion so they can check Richie to make sure he fed,exercised,and used properly.

Check out their website:www.neads.org.It's a fabulous place where they really care about their dogs and the people they help!