Openbah / Journal of a Marine Officer Candidate

Category: Marines

  • Training not going so well

    Things haven’t been going as well as I’d hoped. A week after I started jogging again, I got some pretty bad pain in my hip, more specifically my hip flexor. It feels like the same pain I had when I tried running for the first time back in March. At first the pain only happened right after a jog. After a few days of gritting my teeth, the leg began hurting all the time, even on my off days. As of now, I can’t walk right and I’m in pain almost all the time.

    I think I’m finally realizing that having a job that requires being in excellent physical condition might not be in my future anymore.

    I see an Army doc at Hanscom Air Force Base in a week. Hopefully I’ll know more then.

  • Cleared by ortho docs

    The time has finally come: I have been cleared by my orthopedic doctors at Boston Medical Center to return to full duty! They don’t need to see me anymore and as far as they’re concerned I can return to OCS whenever I am physically qualified to. I can finally start jogging and begin building my strength back up. I celebrated with a 20-minute jog around Fenway.

    This doesn’t mean I’ll be back in the Marines anytime soon. I still need to get off disability, be cleared by the Navy, and finally have my waivers approved by the Marines and NOMI (Naval Operational Medicine Institute).

    I have been looking forward to this for quite a long time. First step: get off disability.

  • Crutch-free, hopefully for good this time

    It has been 6 weeks since I had the hardware removed from my hip and I am crutch-free once again. It’s like nothing ever happened. I have been to the gym 3 times in the past 3 days, and have resumed my usual routine. Thanks to my recent appendectomy my pullups are limited, but other than that things feel great. I was actually sore, I love it.

    I have my follow-up appointment with Dr. C next Tuesday. I’ll get more x-rays and find out how long it will be before I can start running again. Hopefully soon.

  • 12-day follow up

    I had my follow up appointment today. A doctor removed the staples from my leg; I was glad to see them go. Orthopedic specialist Dr. C. said the x-ray from the surgery looks great and that my hip is definitely 100% healed. There is a good-sized hole where the screws were so it is important that I keep off the leg for 4 more weeks.

    Once I’m walking unassisted and given an OK by the ortho docs, I’m going to finally attempt to get off disability and be cleared “fit for duty.” As I’ve explained, this doesn’t mean that I’ll be immediately returning to active duty. What it does mean is that I can reapply for OCS (assuming the higher-ups approve of it) and start the lengthy waiver process.

    At this time, I can apply for OCC-197 or PLC 2nd Increment 2008. OCC-197 starts in January of 2008, which will give me a little over 6 months of training (if all goes well). If that doesn’t happen, I’ll just wait for PLC 2nd Increment 2008, which begins in just over a year.

  • New scar

    My new scar

    I took the dressing off my incision today. This scar is a little better than the last one, but still not as gross as I’d hoped. Check out the high resolution version.