Yesterday he graduated from Physical Therapy, last week the Neurosurgeon said he was impressed and thought he was doing great and over all he is almost 100% himself.
Today Craig talked to the FAA. They said two years, May 18, 2012, before he can apply to fly. It just seemed to be going so well that this was a devastating blow to us. Craig is pretty sad. He really loves flying. He can't fly any airplane unless it's a remote control one during this time period. Yesterday the light at the end of the tunnel seemed so close. Today it got further away.
Why two years you ask? Well, they found his injury to be moderate, not mild or severe, according to their guidelines. This is the predetermined amount of time he has to wait. Everything is based off of the initial injury, not how fast he has recovered. We still have the right to appeal the decision. We are not sure if that will make a difference or not though. The hard part is that is when he can apply to fly again. Not when he can start flying again.
Both of us are still processing what this will mean for our family. We have a lot of decisions ahead of us but for right now we are just trying to absorb it all. SkyWest is pretty good about these types of situations and we are hoping his job will still be there for him at the end of the two years.
I think we were both looking forward to a normal life again. It's hard to believe one split second can change your life so much. I think this is a good wake up call for all of us to always be paying attention to what we are doing and to listen when we are counseled to get out of debt, save six months for an emergency like this and to be prepared to face the challenges that come our way.
