UPDATE: December 26, 2010

Well, another year is coming to a close. It's been a long, hard year for us, but we are very grateful to God for bringing us through it.

Jeff's health has continued to deteriorate over the last few months. We were able to keep the VA from declaring him incompetent to handle finances, which was good, but that's about the only good thing so far. Still no diagnosis other than the depression and sleep apnea. The VA is going under the assumption that all of Jeff's cognitive issues stem from his depression and sleep apnea. While this should help in getting him approved for Aid and Attendance, it's not helping on getting the problems treated or reduced. He's been through several different anti-depressants, none of which have made much of a difference. He did have a procedure earlier this month that was supposed to ease the pain in his lower back. Unfortunately, he has not received as much relief as expected. Another procedure is scheduled for January 3rd and we are praying that the combination of the two procedures will reduce his pain.

The VA is currently reviewing the case. Please pray they make the correct decision with regards to the Aid and Attendance.

A few weeks ago we learned that the person we're renting our house from had received a call from her bank. She has a reverse mortgage and they told her one of three things had to happen. 1. She had to move back in. 2. She had to sell the property. 3. She had to turn the property over to the bank. Since we are not able to obtain financing at this time, we will have to move. Thankfully, we have found another house, but between the first month's rent, security deposit and moving costs, we'll need approximately $3000 to move in. Please join us in praying and trusting God to supply this need.

PRAYER REQUESTS:

• Funds to move as close to January 1st as possible
• The VA to award Aid and Attendance
• Jeff's health
• sleep
• pain in lower back and knees
• stiffness in entire body
• continued headaches 
• overall feeling not well

Independent Medical Opinion

Today we go for an Independent Medical Opinion to contest the VA's proposal of Incompetency. This will be the first non-VA appointment in over two years.

UPDATE:

Been a rough week or so.

• Pain meds have been changed and increased, but still aren't controlling pain at a good level. 
• New meds (for other issues, not pain meds) are causing some difficulty breathing when Jeff lies down. Waiting to hear back from the doctor on that. 
• Numbness and weakness in his legs is continuing. Jeff is basically in a wheelchair anytime we go outside of the house. 
• Despite new meds, cognitive problems are continuing. Not sure what the VA docs will decide to do about this. 
• All-in-all, Jeff is still in pretty good spirits. 
• VA has received paperwork regarding our positions on their claim decisions. Now we wait (AGAIN!) to see what they're gonna say about it. 
• Financially we're still struggling. I keep thinking I see a light at the end of the tunnel, but it just turns out to be another train (IE: more bills, another setback, another issue, etc) Thinking of adding a "Donate" button to the page. LOL

Please continue to pray for us. Your prayers sustain us. 

Update: October 4, 2010

For the most part, Jeff is in a wheelchair now. He is able, with help from us, to move around the house, but for any trips outside the house he uses the wheelchair to get around. All of the tests have come back within normal ranges, so the neurologist decided that the cognitive issues were due to depression and sleep apnea. They are treating that now and we'll see what happens.

On another note, the VA recently added an adjustment disorder at 50%, but denied Aid and Attendance. We could really use the A&A, so we are filing a request for reconsideration based on new evidence. Please pray this is approved quickly.

Welcome!

Welcome to our blog. My name is Michelle Rodgers. In 1990 I married Jeff Rodgers. This is his story. The story of one US Marine injured while serving in the early 80's. We've had our ups and downs. Currently we're in a down spot. Hope to keep his family and our friends updated via this site.