Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: texasmom on August 06, 2007, 01:16:55 PM
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How's your son doing Shifty?
Post another recent picture. :)
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Hi,
Thanks for asking. We just spent this past weekend with him down at Ft Sam Houston. My wife and I took him for a drive through the Hill Country, down to Fredrickberg, plus we all went to downtown San Antonio Saturday night.
He took his first steps early last month on what they call stubbies. Very short prosthetics. He'll be working rehab on these for a while before he moves up to the full size legs. These are only for the rehab excersises, so for now all his traveling is done by wheelchair.
His spirits remain very high, he amazes us with his positive attitude. He just never complains. Quite a few of his Army friends have taken the time to visit him while they are on their mid tour leaves. He really enjoys thier visits, he worries about them quite a bit. I know he's very happy whenever one gets home safe on leave. One of his platoon mates has been killed by a sniper since Thomas was wounded. Another was also sent to Brooke Army Medical Center with two broken legs from an IED. Thomas spent a lot of time with him, but fortunatly his stay in the hospital wasn't long.
Thomas was home in June for a 30 day convelescent leave. I have some pictures from his birthday party on June 11th, I'll try and post. He's not giving me anymore pictures from his rehab until he has his new legs on. :)
One thing that is still kind of freaky. He has phantom pains quite a bit. We'll be talking and he'll wince. I'll ask him are you okay, he'll say yeah but my foot hurts like hell. That part just doesn't seem fair.
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:aok
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Tell him we all said Howdy next time you hear from him
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Originally posted by Eagler
Tell him we all said Howdy next time you hear from him
YES!!!
Let him know we are thinking about him!!!
:aok
68ROX
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What happened to him?
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Angus, Thomas lost both legs above the knee when his patrol came under IED attack just outside Baghdad on February 5th 2007.
Thanks guys I'll send him your well wishes.:aok
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send a
from me shifty!
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Thanks Money, I will. :)
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give him a
for me :D
btw where did you go in SA?
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Originally posted by 68slayr
give him a for me :D
btw where did you go in SA?
You had to ask didn't you?:D One of his friends that was home on leave took him to an Irish Pub down by the river a few weeks ago. I can't keep him out of it now. I can't for the life of me remember the name. It will come to me and I'll post it. I kind of liked the place myself too you see. Good thing Mrs Shifty was there to baby sit us and drive us home. Actually we didn't stay in that long, we got a buzz and decided to catch one of the haunted San Antonio tours that night. What a rip off! It's a good thing both of us are happy drunks, or we would have demanded our money back. We were laughing so hard and playing with the laser pointers they gave us, hell I wouldn't have recognized a ghost if Jim Bowie had walked up and stuck me with his knife. :aok
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hmmmmm
You and Thomas inebriated.. this is something I must see in person :D
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<
> to the both of you. Is there an address I can mail a letter to Shifty? Tell Thomas I said "Hi, and keep on improving."
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Shifty...yall ever get to Austin.....I MUST buy you and your son a Margaritta. PM me if yall see your coming here.
and Best wishes to your Boy. Tell him my wife and I wish all the best as we do to you and yours as well.
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Shifty,
I must admit I missed the info on your son being injured, and I am very sad to hear of it, but I am glad to hear it sounds as if he is doing well and his spirits are up. He must be one outstanding young man!
Please tell him how much we appreciate his service and sacrifice.
If he needs anything, please let us know. I would certainly be happy to chip in some beer money. :aok
dago
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Originally posted by Masherbrum
<> to the both of you. Is there an address I can mail a letter to Shifty? Tell Thomas I said "Hi, and keep on improving."
I wish to send a letter as well.!!!!!
Addy via PM ok.
Best wishes from Hot Springs!!!!
And prayers as well.
68ROX
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Originally posted by Shifty
Angus, Thomas lost both legs above the knee when his patrol came under IED attack just outside Baghdad on February 5th 2007.
Thanks guys I'll send him your well wishes.:aok
I didnt know that, but im glad to hear he is doing better and that his spirits are high. Legs must be hard to lose, but if you lose your spirits you are done. Im betting it will be a rocky road with many ups and downs to come, but as he has family and friends there to lift him up when he is down he will do just fine :)
Send him my best wishes from across the pond!
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Both legs? Thats gruesome. Well, all the best hopes, especially for the moral side, and tell him off Douglas Bader.
He will assumably be entering the long rad of training up with a protese?
Check here:
http://www.ossur.com/
Godspeed.
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Shifty, there aren't enough keys on this computer for me to properly salute your son. Godspeed on his recovery. My stepbrother lost a leg in Vietnam and I watched his recovery process.
A grateful nation is humbled by your son's service.
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Originally posted by Shifty
You had to ask didn't you?:D One of his friends that was home on leave took him to an Irish Pub down by the river a few weeks ago. I can't keep him out of it now. I can't for the life of me remember the name. It will come to me and I'll post it. I kind of liked the place myself too you see. Good thing Mrs Shifty was there to baby sit us and drive us home. Actually we didn't stay in that long, we got a buzz and decided to catch one of the haunted San Antonio tours that night. What a rip off! It's a good thing both of us are happy drunks, or we would have demanded our money back. We were laughing so hard and playing with the laser pointers they gave us, hell I wouldn't have recognized a ghost if Jim Bowie had walked up and stuck me with his knife. :aok
Drunken ghost hunting, thats what Im talking about:rofl :aok
Tell Thomas I said <>
How is your other son?
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I missed the original info myself.
I did not realize this Shifty.
Glad to hear his spirits are high.
Tell him for me and a big thank you for his service.
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Again, Thanks to each and every one of you. When we first got word of Thomas being wounded, the issue was in doubt for the first 24 hours as to if he was going to make it. I contacted Guppy35, who has suffered through the actual loss of a son. It was Guppy who got the word out to this community about Thomas in the general forums.
The people of this community have just been fantastic, old friends like Slash27, Phaser11, and Eagler, new friends like Dichotomy,Texmom, and then guys like RPM, and Crockett, whom I would normally argue the color of the sky with, have been nothing but supportive and encouraging. I cannot properly thank this community. I do want to make a feeble attempt to say it on more time. Thank each and every one of you. It doesn't matter if we're best of friends, or we've crossed swords in this BBS. I appreciate each and every one of you as does our whole family.
I went back and found some of the old threads and I'll link them at the bottom of this post for those of you just finding out about this. You can see what a roller coaster ride the whole thing has been. The biggest thing I want to display is Thomas' courage, and the fantastic character of the people in the AH Community. Never forget we have members of this community serving over there now like VWE. We have members that have served there and will go again. all of you guys.
Mailing address for Thomas.
SPC Thomas Vandeventer
3851 Roger Brooke Drive Apt # 43
Fort Sam Houston Tx 78234-6200
Links
February 6th (http://forums.hitechcreations.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=198454&highlight=Shifty)
Feb 7th (http://forums.hitechcreations.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=198528&highlight=Shifty)
Feb 9th (http://forums.hitechcreations.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=198695&highlight=Shifty)
Feb 24th (http://forums.hitechcreations.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=199766&highlight=Shifty)
March 8th (http://forums.hitechcreations.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=200543&highlight=Shifty)
March 18th (http://forums.hitechcreations.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=201232&highlight=Shifty)
March 19th (http://forums.hitechcreations.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=203801&highlight=Shifty)
80 Days after the attack. "My Favorite" (http://forums.hitechcreations.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=204798&highlight=Shifty)
All
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you have a son that would make anyone proud. I have some small experiance with physical therapy and can only imagine the courage your son has shown and will need to get through the process. I didn't walk for two years but it is nothing compared to what your son is doing.
He makes me proud to be a human... thank you for letting us be a small part of this.
lazs
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We ought to have an AH get together in San Antonio. This could be an oportunity to say thanks in person and get the 2 of them "buzzed" on us.
I'm just NW of SA in the Medina Lake area right now and will be here for another 2 weeks.
Anyone interested?
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Originally posted by Maverick
We ought to have an AH get together in San Antonio. This could be an oportunity to say thanks in person and get the 2 of them "buzzed" on us.
I'm just NW of SA in the Medina Lake area right now and will be here for another 2 weeks.
Anyone interested?
I live in Central Arkansas....
Depending on the timing of the event, I'd LOVE to make that trip!
68ROX
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Originally posted by Shifty
One of his friends that was home on leave took him to an Irish Pub down by the river a few weeks ago. I can't keep him out of it now. I can't for the life of me remember the name. It will come to me and I'll post it. I kind of liked the place myself too . Good :aok
If it wasn't Dick's Last Resort, y'all should definitely go there. :D
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I can't recall the name of that pub for the life of me. I'll call Thomas after work this evening and get the name. The only bad thing about Saturday night was the dang tour went so late that Mortons Steak House was closed before it was over. I really wanted to go in there for a steak. The tour ran over, the tourist were thinning out, and the street people started getting a little combative. So we found the car, and had to settle for Applebees.
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On the pictures, it seems he lost both above the knee. Am I right?
I am serious about the link I posted, those guys probably have the best "spares" in the world. And they've been doing very much with exactly cases like landmine wounds etc. Things have come a long way since D.Bader went into a killer ace with two tin legs in 1940.
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Angus.
I forwarded the link to Thomas. He pretty much gets to pick out his prosthetics from what I've gathered.
Thank you.
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Originally posted by Maverick
We ought to have an AH get together in San Antonio. This could be an oportunity to say thanks in person and get the 2 of them "buzzed" on us.
I'm just NW of SA in the Medina Lake area right now and will be here for another 2 weeks.
Anyone interested?
Im just a few miles north...post details....Im sure Wife and I could make it more than likely.