Separating Allen From Injury

I often hear the comment, "I don't know how you do it." For awhile this really bothered me, made me feel like I was handling our life different than anyone else would. My guess is that it is similar to the way Allen feels when someone calls him a hero. He would say, he was just doing his job. I never really know what to say.

I think that everything about life is a choice. We choose to get up everyday, live our life, and do what we do. I do not see that I am doing anything different than anyone else. Life hands everyone their share of ups and downs, although sometimes I think some get more of the downs than ups just like some get more ups than downs. I often think that God must trust me an awful lot, but that also gives me the strength to live this life, our life, everyday.

One thing that any spouse of a wounded warrior has to keep in mind is that our spouse has an injury, but the injury and our spouse are separate. The injury does not have to define who we are all the time, or who our family is. On those really tough days, or weeks sometimes, I constantly remind myself that what I am dealing with is the illness, not my husband. He developed this illness due to his courageous and selfless service to our country and deserves to be treated with dignity and respect always. Many times, this is not an easy task as he can be very difficult to deal with, but I know in my heart that it is not him, it is his illness. He would do ANYTHING to get past this monster called PTSD and that is what matters. Often it is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but then all I have to do is remember, he doesn't want to be this way and he isn't choosing to be like this. He is fighting with all his strength to stay on top and win! And because I know these things, I can continue to do what I do to take care of him!

Even Now........Gina