Stryker Brigade News

We were a bit surprised to find him still in his room, though, but the explanation was his speech therapist had to cancel. Scott said he was tired and not feeling well. He said some stupid dream woke him up and then he couldn't get back to sleep. The dream was not combat-related (I asked after yesterday just to be sure), but just one of those things. His medications have been adjusted recently, so this may not have helped.

Scott walked over to Occupational Therapy at 11 a.m. The therapist was sounding better (laryngitis yesterday) and she discussed the testing. She said she had a surprise for Scott, which was a Shuffleboard game. Scott had some trouble initially, but later did pretty well. He picked up the eight game pieces (pucks?) off the mat, rolled up the mat, took apart the shuffling devices (work with me here), folded the box lid and carried the box back to the storage area. For his next task, he pushed Aly's stroller around with leg weights instead of Alyson (can't be too careful with the genetic material, you know). Being bent over to push it was a problem for him. He couldn't see the stroller and where he was going because he is too tall to do both at once. This will need work or longer handles on the umbrella stroller. Scott asked to put off completion of the testing until tomorrow because he was tired and not feeling well.

Scott went back to his room, ate lunch and then took a well-deserved nap. PT wasn't until 3 p.m. so he got a nice long one. However, he still seemed pretty tired to me.

PT started with stretching and then Scott went to a weight machine to work on some upper body strength. After this, he went to the fitness center to work on a Life Cycle. It was one of two old machines that Scott used. I got on the other to try to help him figure out how to get the damned thing to work. He had a hard time keeping his right foot on the pedal and the machine isn't exactly user-friendly. One has to pedal at a certain speed before pressing "start" and then you have to press other buttons for your desired work out. Scott couldn't pedal and look at the instructions at the same time, so this was pretty frustrating. Next, he walked .4 mile at speeds up to 2.5 MPH on the treadmill. He really didn't get warmed up until he was on the treadmill and this was when he was almost done for the day.

As we walked back to his room, I was in a gloomy mood because the day seemed just wasted. Scott was walking well but I didn't know if he was still tired, frustrated or what. We arrived and Scott put the TV on. We watched the last of the awful Maury Povich Paternity Sweepstakes, but happily Scott was in the same good mood he was in the first time he watched it, thus dispelling my dark mood. Dinner came and then a package from Brian Jenne of the Stryker Program at Ft. Lewis. The box contained two items of headgear with a silhouette of the Stryker (left side) and the name "Stryker" across the vehicle. One was an adjustable cap and the other was a knitted cap for cold weather. The enclosed note praised Scott's performance and inspiration through his recovery and instructed Scott to let me wear one of the items. Well, that's not going to happen. He wouldn't take the cap off once Tiffany fitted it to his head (photo). He even tried to see if the less-hated helmet would fit over it (it didn't). The knitted cap I may eventually see atop my head, but not until I return his Chargers cap I guess. He talked very animatedly to his nurse and us for about fifteen minutes about the vehicle and what he wanted to do in the future. We didn't understand it all, but it was fun to be with him when he was talking so happily. I thought it might be fun to get Brian Jenne on the phone so Scott could thank him personally. I called his office and then put Scott on. After Scott finished, I got back on and translated a bit of it ("I have seven more people before I'm done" meant "I think I have seven more months of therapy before I'll be ready to return to duty," for example). Brian, that hat made his day. Thanks very much. (Look out for a photo, Todd and Brian) [Got it, thanks. - Todd].

Julie and I left about 6 p.m. so Scott, Tiffany and Alyson could have some family time. We went out shopping with Jim Moffet to obtain items for the weekend, gloves for Scott, etc. Jim and I mostly wandered around the store while Julie shopped. We discussed how Scott was doing today and how Travis Majors and Mike Oreo were doing. Jim wasn't sure who Mike was so I told him, "He's the kid who jumped out of bed when Scott arrived to see him" and then had to stop talking and just stand there for a minute or two.

(I've said this about Scott in the past, but I'll say it about Mike, too. "You gotta fix a kid like that." A kid who lost an arm, but still jumps out of bed to greet an NCO from his troop, deserves whatever this nation can provide. That kind of loyalty is inspirational and I consider myself privileged to have witnessed it.)

Since Jim was kind enough to sacrifice some distilled dinosaur remnants and part of his evening, we took him out for a Mexican food snack (dinner for Julie and me). Thanks again, Jim.

ST