Hello!

If you followed my previous blog, welcome! If you are new, welcome! :D I am excited to "attempt" to blog again. It all depends on if time permits unfortunately. As the title states, I am a female disabled veteran. It does affect my life daily no matter how much I am hardheaded some days. A little about me.....I am married to a wonderful man for over six years. We have been together for almost seven (this December). What makes my man even more wonderful is that he is a disabled veteran too. So that mutual understanding and support is priceless. We have a beautiful daughter who is almost four who is homeschooled right now. And, I am now pregnant with our second child. I am also a full time student with the University of Colorado as a double major (Psychology and Anthropology) and a double minor (Philosophy and Law). I was accepted in a graduate class this semester and one next semester so I am having a head start for next year's journey in the Psychology graduate program to become a psychologist. My concentration for Psychology is trauma, specifically military trauma (PTSD and TBI). In Anthropology, my concentration is in Native American studies. Which is another fun fact about my husband and daughter, both being members of an Apache tribe. I am an alumni of the Wounded Warrior Project but have been a volunteer since I left Brooks Army Medical Center almost seven years ago. I also volunteer with a PTSD therapy group as a mentor. I use to volunteer at other organizations but I had to step away due to re injuring my back. Which I guess leads us to the disabled veteran portion. I am broken. There is no denying it even though I try to many days. I worked hard from wheelchair bound when my back was first crushed to crutches to walking. Last year I was finally running and was back to military strength. I signed up for the Spartan Race which I was pretty stoked about. I started working for the DoD with criminal cases which meant it could get physical during certain times. But, it all went down the drain a few months ago when I was in an accident at work. They put me on medical leave for up to a year. But my civilian doctor (notice I said civilian since the VA refused to see me, lol) scared the crap out of me by saying if I continued I would end up in a wheelchair. That leads me to where I am now. At the time, I didn't know I was pregnant. Me and my husband have tried for two years and it just wasn't the time. Right after I was laid up in bed with a long list of different physical therapy and specialist appointments I needed to go to, I found out I was pregnant. It has been a wonderful surprise, but it has helped me realize how my health really is taking a toll on me. My back has a one ruptured disc, one slipped disc, four bulging disc with one that is ripped, disc degeneration, and vertebra crushed against my spine causing nerve damage. All this has caused radiculopathy down both legs which has in turn caused numbness in parts of my legs including drop foot in both feet. Not to mention the shoulder injury, TBI (which has caused photosensitivity, visual changes, loss of some color vision on one eye, loss of peripheral vision in the same eye, migraines, and some short term memory loss), PTSD, and hip bursitis from the back injury. I am back with a cane, a sling some days depending on how my shoulder acts up, sunglasses even indoors, and a hat when outside. It's annoying to say the least. This is just a glimpse of my life right now. I am still figuring out the gist of this blog.  I'm going to take it one step at a time to figure out what I am going to do with this thing.  So far....I'm thinking some self-help ideas and reviews for products that make my life easier with the disabilities.  By the way, I sometimes really hate that word....disability.  Stay posted and again, welcome!