Stryker Brigade News

When I arrived at the VAMC this morning about 9:30, I went to Scott's room only to discover that he had aged significantly overnight. Who the hell is this guy in Scott's bed? I went to the nurse's station and asked (more politely than I would have liked) where Thorne had been moved to? I went to that room and discovered three geriatric patients and a pile of things near one of the beds that looked familiar. I asked one of the gentlemen about my son's whereabouts and when the move took place. I got "PT" and "about midnight" as the answers. I went out to the hallway and ran into Scott in a wheelchair. I pulled him into the dining room and asked him about the previous evening's activities. He was obviously tired (I say obviously because his speech is more impaired when he's tired), but managed to get the story out about how he was moved and how the new roomies coughed all night. Julie arrived and then Tiffany soon after. I went to find someone to discuss this situation with and ran into one of Scott's two doctors. I asked if she would be so kind as to step into my parlor, er, the dining room and then I informed her of what happened. She had no idea Scott had been moved and was very apologetic. She understood, of course, that moving TBI patients is disorienting and could lead to a serious fall. She promised to discuss the situation with the nurse manager. A short time later, Dr. Champagne (whose name I mention only because I spelled it wrong in a previous update) came in and also apologized. Generally speaking, patients in the TBI rehab program start out in the one-person rooms and then progress to a two-person room when appropriate. The second patient acts as sort of a partner. I told them "furious" only begins to explain how I felt about this sudden move. The move was made without even notifying us (let alone his doctors!). Anyway, they were as appalled as we were and took effective action. Scott eventually ended up in another room with a Cavalryman (1/9, like in Apocalypse Now) with a similar injury (hit with four hand grenades!) to Scott's. This is cool because it shows Scott how you can recover here.

After the room discussion, we went to OT. Scott is working well with the therapist who is now up to speed on Scott's personality. He demonstrated good strength on both sides, but still has the "feedback" problem, of course. She was also upset to hear about the room move and said it was good that Scott had us here to advocate for him. I told her I'm tired of hearing this _expression, although I do appreciate the compliment.

We took our lunch in the dining room with two other patients, having a friendly discussion with one of them who went to MCRD in San Diego and spent some nice days in the surf there.

Sometime during the day, Julie told me the reason for the sudden move was that a patient came in who needed to be isolated due to concern about having something contageous. However, Julie noted that no one wore gowns entering the room and no notices were posted regarding infection control, etc. Somebody's lying or somebody's not following infection control procedures. I suspect the former as a nurse took Julie (who was carrying Alyson at the time and knew nothing of this until later) into the room to pick up a few things left behind without being warned off.

After lunch, Scott took a badly needed nap, which was interrupted by two medical students whose job it was to inquire about how Scott is sleeping, etc. I smelled a rat here, as this has led to Scott being medicated in the past, interfering with therapy due to side effects.

Scott had appointments scheduled for 2:30, 3:00 and 3:30 p.m., but each of these appointments was to last an hour. The first was to see a speech therapist to continue the assessment process. She was interrupted and had to leave the office. Scott promptly fell asleep. When she returned, I advised her of Scott's fatigue and the reason and got the fourth or fifth apology of the day. She appreciated my bringing it to her attention as it would have affected the results of the assessment. She agreed to call it for the day.

Next, we went to PT. No dizziness or headache today! Scott had to complete some balance exercises: Stand on one foot, turn your head while standing in place, stand with your eyes closed, etc. He seemed to do well on the tests. A different kind of brace was put on Scott's right leg to see if a custom-fitted brace might be better than the Ankle Flexion Orthotic (AFO). Scott seemed to like it, but since the sample he used wasn't fitted to him, it was hard to tell. Also, Scott agreed to be fitted for the Fallschirmjaeger/Hockey helmet, so we'll see. Scott walked on the treadmill a bit, but was a little tight along the back of his right leg, so more stretches were done. Scott had to leave for RT, so we left for the 4th Floor.

At RT, Scott worked on some tasks which resembled OT work. There was a wooden puzzle to put together (traffic signs) and some manipulation of cards. He had to identify certain puzzle pieces and cards. The RT then started into dice rolling and identification with some very large dice. Scott made a rolling motion with his right arm, as best he could, and then dropped the die. As the dice rolling progressed to smaller and smaller dice, identification was added to the task. Scott was asked to show a "one" on a die and he manipulated one to that side. He did the same for "two." When it came to "show me a three" he just rolled one and grinned. He did the same for "four," "five" and "six," comfirming that his dice rolling is still hot and unaffected! I told the RT I was not surprised by this at all, but she was pretty amazed.

After RT was over, we linked up with Julie, Tiffany and Alyson at the room. They surprised us with the news that Scott had a pass for the night! So, we bundled him up (it turned out not to be that cold and no wind was blowing) and wheeled him off to the Fisher House! Whoo hoo! Scott had dinner with the family. The stairs (5, 9 and 5 for a total of 19) were not a problem. Since Scott was tired, he went to bed early. Julie and I stayed downstairs and played Scrabble. Had a fun game. Glad we bought the portable set in Maryland.

ST