Stryker Brigade News

Needless to say we made a back from Fort Lewis and got set up at the Malone house. Michael has been going to occupational therapy almost everyday. His electric arm has been causing him some difficulty. Between the sensors malfunctioning a slight electric shock in the way his arm is healing and shrinking its almost a constant battle for him to make it work the way it is supposed to. Needless to say it tries his patience. His arm is due back in a few days from the manufacturer with all the necessary repairs. Hopefully after recovers from his eye surgery he will be able to get back in training and see if it will work as described. He will only have a couple weeks to practice with it before his nexr surgery poor kid has to have all four wisdom teeth pulled. Ouch. I guess it will be my patience that will be tested in the next four weeks or so.

I guess I should give you quick little update on some of the things the Michael has been up to. The people at occupational therapy set them up with a voice-recognition class with some pretty spiffy new software that I'm using at this time. A set of earphones and a microphone and all I have to do is speak plainly and it does all the typing for me. I'm still in the process of training the software to recognize all of the words that I say but Michael has his trained pretty well. Once I get a better hangof this stuff I will be able to type faster with my mouth that I can with my fingers. The good news is it won't misinterpret a word that is X-rated in nature unless it's added to the library. My library is empty Michael's library has a few additional terms that he tends to use from time to time. Ha ha.

I would like to take a moment to thank everyone for all their kind thoughts and wishes and prayers it has really meant a lot to us. We have met so many people here in Washington DC that they are too numerous to mention. There a lot of great little organizations out here for the soldiers and their families and it speaks volumes for the type of people that live in this country. Nary a day goes by that someone doesn't stop by from soldiers angels, first response, disabled American veterans, Veterans of Foreign Wars, wounded warriors project, just to name a few. There Allis seems to be an organization that stopped by to say hi thank the soldiers for only done. Some bring gifts some donate money some put on special shows some just dropped by information that's pertinent to the situation the soldiers in. It does my heart good to see all the different people from these organizations doing what little they can to help out our wounded soldiers. ( notice I have not figured out how to cap all the right words yet) ;-)

The weather here in DC has been hit and miss lately. It snowed a few days got up in the sixties for a few days now looks like snow again tomorrow. I sure miss Oregon. It looks like we'll be here for another three or four months but the good news is there is light at the end of the tunnel. The advanced arm people have developed a new carbon synthetic prosthetic for the body activated arm which Michael hasn't been trained on yet. This new arm is lighter and more compact and more self-contained and has a few additional features that make the arm more workable. Depending on the type of work done the electric arm is not always the best choice. We did get to see the artists to do the painting of the arms after Michael had a casting made of his right arm and hand they will make a reverse mold of that in a synthetic material and after its painted it looked just like his other hand and arm. The artists are even starting sideline doing special tatto like designs on the arms for the soldiers if they would like one. It is really amazing how lifelike the arms look after the artists is finished with them.

Our resident angel, Cindy, has stopped by periodically, like she does with so many other soldiers here, and she took Michael shopping the other day. He bought himself some new pants and shirts and even bought a tie. He also bought himself a new pair of sunglasses as recommended by the doctors. He has to wear them constantly for a while after surgery for the UV protection when he is outside. Needless to say he is a Wiley X and Oakley customer for life. Both of those manufactures need to be commended for their efforts in the products they build. The doctors said that he should rest for at least three days after the surgery and if he could sleep for the full three days that would even be better. It'll be real interesting to see how he copes with having to stay in bed for three more days.

Starting next week will be visiting the Veterans Administration to find out what type of options Michael has available and we will also be in contact with his unit command to see what is options are for staying in the Army. Now that his medications have been dropped drastically I feel comfortable in starting the process that will determine Michael's future. His short term memory is still not what is should be so more testing may be required.

At the home front the wife is still not feeling well. Thankfully our daughter can stay with her while I am in DC. I feel I need to be in two places at the same time ande it is driving me crazy. Michael's sister Andrea called today and asked how far down she should trim my rose bushes. Bless her heart, taking care of daddy's roses while he is gone. Tomorrow is a pretty big day for both my children, say a prayer they both do well. I can not tell in words how tough it is on family members having a wounded soldier so far from home. The bills keep coming each month and the grass continues to grow at home. So many things to consider it becomes depressing at times. Dealing with the military paperwork, the lack of knowledge about certain issues by some people and the number of wounded increasing each day, it is an experience I would not wish upon anyone. It definately changes your family's life and some of these families have been here over a year. God bless them all for all they endure.

Well, that is about all for now. I promise I will post updates more regularly in the future.(I will be uploading some pics to our album pertaining to our time here the last two months) I think my funk has subsided and I feel the cold and congestion is starting to fade so my energy level should start to improve. Take care all.

Respectfully yours,
Michael Oreskovic
Proud Parent of a Soldier

Addition (Todd): I just wanted to remind everyone that there is still an active donation fund set up for Michael. You can find all the details in this previous entry.

Photos: Mike also has some new photos in his album.