Stryker Brigade News

PT was the usual arm cycle and stretches. A new exercise involving a piece of plexiglas called an ankle slide involved Scott sliding his heel back toward him and then extending his leg again. Scott did more of the stepping on the six inch stool again, too. The PT said he would try to give Scott PT on Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons as well as the usual morning sessions in order to try to get him ready for the regime in Minneapolis.

I wanted to check on the CT scans to see if they were good enough for the 3-D Applications Lab so I went down to the tunnel to find out. I found Dr. Rouse working on the 3-D modelling of Scott's skull (which answered my question). It was fascinating to watch him make the mirror image of the right side and add it to the left to make a whole skull. Then he subtracted the image of Scott's existing skull and the piece remaining was the patch. The 3-D "patches", bullets (he's making us some of those, too) and skulls were set out on a grid on the screen. He said if no other requests came in the 3 p.m. UPS drop, he would put Scott's grid on the machine and the models would be ready the next day. I asked Dr. Rouse if he got any feedback about the tour the other day. He thanked me again for being able to use Scott as his impromptu demonstrator. He said the feedback was that seeing Scott put a human face on the issue and allowed the visitors to see how his work could help a real soldier and his family.

After lunch Scott went to OT. He was given the task of writing his name with his right hand. The next task was to pinch rings on a half hula hoop-looking device and move them from one side to the other. He hooked some with his finger instead and let them drop from 2/3's the way over to hear them clank (the kid needs some amusement). We all got on him to do it right and he did the rest more or less correctly. The next task was to move a line of pegs from one row of holes to another row of holes. This is, of course, really painful for us to watch, but it's progress and it makes us happy. The final task was to pick up the nickel again. He slid it to the table edge and picked it up quickly, remembering the trick from the other day.

After OT, we went over to PT to work on the treadmill. Scott did well with this, but needed a special wrap to pull his toe up to do it well. He walked .23 miles at 1.6 MPH and then went up and down five stairs five times. The final task was to walk over to the cooler to get a bottle of something to drink on condition he opened it himself. He chose a certain lime green sports drink (Gatorade is a registered trademark, you know) and, after some effort, got the cap off. He was told to take a drink by raising the bottle with his right hand and did so. It was a little hard at the top, but he took a sip and then closed the cap back on.

This afternoon we had another discussion about temporary and permanent profiles. People keep trying to convince me that permanent is temporary, but I'm not buying it. The definition of permanent is something that doesn't change, so how can a permanent profile be temporary? What's the big rush? If Scott can't do it, we'll all know soon enough. I suspect this is somebody's idea of helping the brain injured out with a nice disability, but we're not here to collect a check.

I missed speech therapy because I had to take a rental car back. I heard from Tiffany that Scott wasn't able to do much today. Scott was upset that he couldn't continue, but his head was hurting too much.

As Scott was resting comfortably and Tiffany was "on duty" tonight, Julie and I left about 5 p.m. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped outside the 3-D lab to see if Scott's skull parts were being made. I recognized the same grid I saw earlier today on the computer screen through the window. The large device I didn't name the other day attracted my attention when I saw what looked like blue sparks shooting across the surface. It looked like what happens when you put an AOL CD-Rom in the microwave for a few seconds (Kids, don't try this at home!) only darker blue sparks. It was actually the laser working on making the models. Julie and I were looking at this process like we were looking at a baby in the window at Labor and Delivery. We grabbed the attention of a passing Colonel and told him about the process. He had walked past the window dozens of times, but did not know what was done there. We thought he was just entering an office next door, but later learned it was an exit! (Ooops! Cold dinner was our fault, Mrs. Colonel.) Tiffany later told me Scott woke up and asked about seeing the process, but wasn't feeling good enough to actually go down there. I can't wait to show him the models tomorrow, but we'll have to wait until after an important meeting.

ST