Stryker Brigade News

Open quote:
We were surprised to receive so many notes and then one explained about Scott and Mr. Thorne's updates on the Stryker site. We have
now been following Scott's progress. We applaud your family for sharing this ordeal--the trials and triumphs--and we share in the tears and laughter. What a strong support system Scott has!

Enclosed is information about our project and what is done as a follow up once the quilt is received.

We send our love and best wishes to Scott, Tiffany, and Alyson and to all family members who have surrounded them in love and support.

Thank you for taking the time to acknowledge us and Marguerite. All orginal notes and letters have been forwarded to her.

Sincerely,

Pat Baker and the Quilter's Guild of Southern Maryland
Close quote

Which disproves one of my favorite sayings: No good deed goes unpunished. This one went rewarded.

Today, Julie remained at the hotel because she still wasn't feeling well. I went to the hospital. I ran into Scott and Tiffany at the elevator near the Eye Clinic. We checked in and Tiff informed me that the appointment was moved up to 9:30 a.m. from 10. While waiting for Tiffany to return from dumping the coats in Scott's room, Scott bombarded me with his plan for getting his skull replaced immediately ("You call those guys down in the, you know, the thing." "The tunnel at Walter Reed?" "Yeah!" with a knowing wink and a nod), so he could "get done." He's really tired of being away from home, family, friends and comrades. I can't blame him, but I do wish he'd pick a more disreet location to discuss it.

Sometime after Tiffany got back, a very nice, but somewhat eccentric (imagine your great-grandmother singing in the shower--loudly) volunteer came in pushing a cart with a coffee machine on it. She offered coffee to everybody and then left after a loud discussion about smoking and where you can't these days (this is a brewing, no pun intended, controversy here in Minnesota where they want to ban smoking in restaurants, etc., but understand that sometimes it's too cold to just have people go outside).

Eventually, Scott was called and was given the Humphrey (no relation to Hubert, despite the test's location in Minnesota) Visual Field Test. Scott had an eye patch put over one eye and rested his chin on the machine. The machine had a camera on the open eye to ensure the patient kept his eye straight ahead on a target light. The interior of the machine resembled the dome of a planetarium set for dusk. The "stars" winked on and off at varying strengths at various locations. If Scott saw the light, he was to press a button. When the right eye was finished, the patch was adjusted and the chin moved to another position on the chinrest. Soon the test was completed. In a moment, the results of that trial. Actually, the results I won't see until somebody gives me a copy, but I couldn't resist the Dragnet line.

The length of the test caused Scott to miss Speech Therapy (again). However, he did make it to Occupational Therapy. The task for today was to go shopping for the delicacy he will eventually prepare in their kitchen. Since we didn't have the car seat, Tiffany and Alyson stayed behind while Deb the Therapist drove Scott and I over to Rainbow Foods. Scott was supposed to navigate for us, but this proved interesting. 6's became 2's for a moment and this caused some problems. Scott knows the concept of "six" but sometimes the wrong word comes out. He also sometimes has to count to the target number before he can say it. For example, Scott wants to say "Turn right at 66th Street." It comes out like this: "Turn at (lower volume) one, two, three, four, five--(louder now) six and six. Yeah!"

Once in the parking lot, we exited the vehicle and Scott brushed his right arm on a sign. He stopped and stared at the sign (which was still wobbling) as if to say, "What were you doing there?"

We entered the store and Scott started scanning the shelves for what he wanted. He really didn't need much prompting (other than to get smaller amounts and less-expensive brands--It is your Uncle's money we're spending, you know). I picked up a certain pink product for Julie and we went to check out (and yes, I paid for my own stuff). Scott didn't want to carry a basket, so he put things in his pockets, of which he had sufficient quantity and quality. He did have to carry a package of diapers in Alyson's size, though. These were purchased so he could practice on a doll before the "Alyson Test."

We left and drove back to the hospital. On the way, Scott tried to educate the therapist about the hierarchy of military service. Sorry to say, the Air Force and Navy did not fare well here. He views the Marines as pretty high-speed, but too small a service (so remember that next time you appear before the House Armed Services Committee). When it came to the Army, he discussed varying speeds of soldier from regular soldiers to airborne to Rangers to Special Forces to "those guys we can't talk about" (Delta Force?). While Scott was mostly serious, it was fun to hear him describe the other branches.

After lunch, I went over to the Fisher House to pick up a package, only to discover three. (They were from "Auntie Karen" for Alyson, cousin Val to Scott and from Fujifilm to me.) I returned to the hospital with a package I received last week but was unable to get over to the hospital until today. The package was full of games contributed by Charlie Spiegel of Clash of Arms Games (www.clashofarms.com, click on Family Games to see some of what he donated). More later on this.

After I got back, Scott and I went to Physical Therapy. The usual stretches and then exploration with the electrodes for the best location to stimulate Scott's right calf muscles. After this location was found, he went to the treadmill where he walked about ten minutes with and without electrical stimulation, but also without the leg brace. The discussion for today resulted in instructions to wear the brace when doing any prolonged walking, such as from the hospital to the Fisher House. He doesn't need to wear it for short distances. This looks like improvement to me.

The last task for the day was to go to Rec Therapy. I brought the Charlie Contribution with me, for which they were truly thankful. Scott threw darts with the therapist for a half hour while I checked my e-mail and obtained Charlie's mailing address for the therapist so he can be properly thanked. (And thanks from me, too, Charlie!)

I wanted to get back quickly this afternoon as Julie didn't sound too good on the phone when I checked in on her about 4 p.m. I left Scott's room at 4:15 p.m. Unfortunately, I waited about an hour for the (insert expletives about here) shuttle and she left for an urgent care facility that later told her to go to a local ER. Long evening short: She has a combination of a food-borne illness, migraine headache and a sinus infection. Sounds like piling on to me.

ST