Stryker Brigade News

PT consisted of some stretches and some treadmill work. OT involved putting a pen in a spongy tube to make it easier to use and then some peg-in-holes exercises. There was about an hour in between appointments. Lunch was uneventful, but Scott is eating better.

I needed to get some things in town and Jim Moffet offered to take me around to show me the sights in a telephone call earlier in the day. I took advantage of the offer and got a nice tour including the local falls, Historic Fort Snelling and an awesome hobby store. This store had about everything, but I guess that's needed up here where it gets a bit cold sometimes. The weather today was beautiful, though. You know you're acclimatized when you feel like taking off your sweater and it's 60 degrees. At Ft. Snelling, we met two Sergeants (re-enactors) of the First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry who were preparing a demonstration for a Boy Scout troop. I very much appreciate Jim's tour. You really need a couple of hours away every now and then.

After returning about 3 p.m., I went up to the hospital to meet Julie who had earlier gone up to see Scott. They were watching Aladdin on the DVD player and having a good time. Around 5 p.m., Tiffany and Alyson came back by to see Scott before leaving for the airport. She's going home for a week to take care of some business at Ft. Lewis. We'll all miss Alyson. She's (almost) a perfect baby. Very cute and rarely makes a fuss.

After dinner, Scott wanted to watch the South Park movie, which was a little much for Julie in places. Scott crashed close to the end of the movie so we packed up the dog sled and left for the evening.

A friend asked me to describe the VA hospital here. Well, it's a huge square block of a building. There's four floors and three enclosed atriums (atria? atriae?), one of which has a gigantic U.S. flag hanging about three floors down from the ceiling. The four sections of the floors are color coded (red, green, purple and blue) to correspond with A-F, G-L, M-P, and Q-Z, but that's not helping me much. There are also rooms within those sections. Scott is in 3F, room 120, a red section. You know there's something wrong with the building labelling when you see VA fliers titled "How to find your way around" posted all over and courtesy telephones with "Are you lost?" (actually they read "Need Help?" but you get the point) on the walls. Scott's schedule gives room numbers and the event as in: Occupational Therapy, 3R-126. Fortunately, we know where his appointments are now, so we don't have to worry much about getting lost.

ST