Stryker Brigade News

Scott's brain swelling is much reduced, but this now makes it obvious how much skull was removed. I'll spare you the details, but it's hard to look at and not be sad.

We have to take turns seeing Scott (he's really only supposed to see two of us at a time in the ICU, but we often slip in an extra person) and while I was out, he was lectured by his older brother about the need to be more serious with speech pathologists so they could get a clear reading on his brain function. (They came by later this morning but we just missed them and didn't get to see or hear how well Scott followed his brother's advice. We did get a graphic demonstration of Scott's improving language ability, however.)

Scott has been trying to ask us a question since we arrived last week and we just figured it out today. He points at his brother with his forefinger and then points at him again with his thumb and forefinger open about a half inch. Today, he also pointed at a picture on the wall opposite his bed of him and his nephew taken while he was home on R & R this past August. (I'd attach a copy, but the file is too big.) We all went "Oh!" simultaneously, as the answer hit us at the same time. He was asking where his nephew was. "You" and "little you" was the meaning of his gestures. We've been trying hard to keep him away from unpleasant details, but we had to answer this one honestly. Dan told him the child's mother refused to allow the child to be away for a week to see Scott. Scott scowled, made fists with both (!) hands and used some "new" consonants (specifically: f, g, b, t and h) to express his opinion of this refusal. It seems that anger not only "gives you a thirst" (Heinz Guderian), it also gives improved (well, sort of) speech ability to the brain-injured. We were pleased with his diction, but not necessarily with his choice of words.

We decided to change the mood before I had to take his brother to the airport and so we showed him photos we had gathered before leaving of Scott with friends and relatives. Every couple of pictures, he would get excited, point and let out a loud "YEUP!" while he smiled and nodded his head. After running through about twenty or so, his brother said goodbye and they hugged. Dan was sorry to leave and still upset about not being to have his son there to help Scott, but he was glad to have been able to see his brother improve so much over the week he was here. They had grown apart the past few years and it was good to see them as close as they once were.

When I returned (crossing DC from Bethesda to Washington National and back was a "Mr. Toad Experience," I can assure you), Scott had been transferred to a big, padded device that's a cross between a hospital bed and a wheel chair and taken for a test to measure his cerebral blood flow. By the time he returned several hours later, he was really wiped out. He just wanted to be put back in his bed and left alone. We (Dad, Mom, Wife and Baby) went to eat. We called on our way back, but he was still asleep and missed his dinner. This is not like him at all, of course. The nurse described some of the test which involves injections and lying still on a hard table. She said he held up very well, considering.

Tomorrow, we move to guest quarters on the campus of Walter Reed Army Medical Center and hope Scott follows us there soon. We've heard he needs to repeat the blood flow test again tomorrow (those damned "base lines") and we already know what effect this will have on him. Ugh!

We're hanging in there and very much appreciate your kind comments and thoughtfulness. I'm still not getting through to Scott about how much you appreciate his service and sacrifice, but he's being told by me daily anyway. I'm saving your e-mails for him, so don't worry, he'll be amazed eventually. I am honored you think so well of my son, but he's not so different from American soldiers we've produced since the Revolution. We had an Army before we had a nation and Scott's just the latest evolution.

Many of you are encouraging me to publish these little updates. I would but I don't know how it's going to turn out yet! I need a happy ending, but we're still stuck in character development. 8)

ST