Stryker Brigade News

When Julie missed the official visit from Paul Wolfowitz the other day because she was taking a vehicle back to her niece, she had no idea the man was coming to visit. These guys just show up at the hospital and some officer knocks at your door to see if the soldier is feeling well enough to have visitors. That's it. I wish they would let us know because we would be prepared. You know, have the camera ready, get Scott up on his feet to receive them, etc. So really, it was no big deal. We still greatly appreciate the use of the vehicle and even if it had only been available to us for a day, it would still have been a wonderful, thoughtful and generous offer on her part. The fact that Jennifer and Floyd made it available to us for so long a time was beyond kind.

Now on to today.

Scott was asleep upon my arrival and breakfast was going nowhere. Having been present for the previous evening's exertions, I knew he was not likely to awaken easily. This turned out to be the case, but I'm hard to say "no" to and he eventually began to eat the Fruit Loops "Provided at Government Expense." Vital signs were put off until he finished eating as was Occupational Therapy.

Scott wanted to go outside again (a daily ritual being formed, we hope) and he sat in the sunshine by the main flag pole for about fifteen minutes. Julie reminds me that I should describe the setting here. There is a circle for VIP cars that separates the hospital from the flagpole area. In front of the pole is a 75mm howitzer that appears not to be used (alas!). A large green field fills the semi-circle. Scott talks about playing football on this field with "my guys" (meaning the men of his unit) with a big smile. He talks about "my guys" often and thinks of them always.

Scott made it up to his OT/PT appointment (somewhat against his will) and began an interesting series of exercises. One involved moving a weighted cane from his waist to the wall behind him while rolling a giant red ball with both feet. I asked if he was going to have to pat his head and rub his belly for the next exercise. Scott was able to do 30 ankle lifts with his right foot. In fact, he did so well, the PT said he might not have to wear the AFO (Ankle Flexion Orthotic, for you non-PT types) anymore. Scott was still not feeling too well, so he didn't walk for us or use the arm cycle today.

We returned from PT and had a discussion about Scott's medications and what could be done to avoid further problems of the type he's been having. It was decided to see if the reduction of "vital signing" during the night would do the trick as medications seem (to me anyway) to be giving him side effects that hamper his daily activities. Also, we discussed moving Scott to the P.M. & R. ward where the other OIF guys are located and the doctor expressed no objections to this. (More on this later.)

Brenda the Social Worker came by with copies of Scott's paperwork (with the all-important "temporary" profile in black-and-white) and the news that we would likely not be leaving for two weeks. This is just as well as I understand that the entire population of Minnesota will be fishing and hunting starting Thursday and no one would be available to greet Scott. Housing may work itself out as Tiffany is on a priority list for the Fisher House (http://www.msc.navy.mil/inventory/citations/fishers.htm for more information on nice people for whom the houses are named) while Julie is on the waiting list. Me, I get to practice my igloo-building skills. I only learned how to make them 30 years ago (this month) in my Artic Infantry Training, so I may need a refresher course.

Scott seemed to be dozing on and off through lunch until we got a visit from Strykermom. No, she's not a super hero. She's super to heroes. She brought Scott a very nice quilt and visited with us for some time. She wanted to go see PFC Majors and SPC Oreo (who has arrived) before leaving. Julie and I accompanied her to Majors' room. After "gowning up" we went in to see him, his mother and step-father. Majors, who looked very good, announced "no pneumonia" with a big smile. He had most of the covers off and we were able to see his legs, which were covered with special stockings. He was very happy to see us and we talked for a bit before his talking device had to be disconnected. Strykermom (real name Barbara) gave him a nice T-shirt and wished him well. We promised to get Scott down to see him before he left on Wednesday. After we left, Barbara took it pretty hard. Majors is too nice a guy to have something like this befall him and anyone who meets him is upset afterwards for that reason.

We went around the waiting rooms asking "anybody named Oreo in here?" (and getting very strange looks in return) before deciding to go down to his ward for a quick look. We saw a man with one of the sharp-looking Stryker T-shirts and I noticed the unit crest of the 14th Cavalry on his chest. "You must be Mike," I said and we hooked up for a lengthy conversation about how he got there and how Mike the Younger was doing. I'm sure Mike will write more, but suffice it to say, he had been in surgery and we got the chance to meet him as he came by in his bed from the operation. He looked pretty good and Barbara gave his father a T-shirt for him, too.

Barbara has offered to take the ladies out shopping tomorrow night, so I'll have to report the VISA card stolen tomorrow morning (just kidding, ladies).

I ran into the former Marine father of the other "Scooter" today and was again impressed by his scrounging skills which I must admit rival my own. I guess riflemen are pretty much the same, as long as they have the letters "U.S." on them someplace. Anyway, he has his information on the VA Hospital in Minneapolis and he kindly made copies for us. I won't ask him where he found a copier at that time of day... Scooter agreed to work as the "advance party" for us and to let us know how the program works.

Julie applied her excellent people skills in the effort to move Scott to the Neuroscience Ward. We're working the problem from both wards and maybe something good will happen. I suggested just moving him and blaming lost paperwork on the confusion I created. Of course, this would have been no challenge to me, so the decision was made to allow the parties involved to do the right thing without any midnight moving on my part. (In other words, I'm reserving the right...)

When we returned to Scott's room, he was alert and happy. He had received a telephone call from someone someplace telling him something about something. Scott felt something about this something. (How's that for Operational Security?) I read to Scott the letters from his Squadron Executive Officer and Troop Commander and made it almost all the way through both without a partial pride explosion. One day, I'll share these with you all, but I feel this would not be appropriate right now.

Scott wanted to watch a movie after dinner so we put on The Addams Family. Everybody but Tiffany fell asleep, so we decided to pack up and move out for the day. We walked the tunnel from the new hospital to the old hospital only to discover the door we intended to exit from was locked. So much for the short cut. Oh well...

ST