Stryker Brigade News

Which reminds me: This is the anniversary of my last re-enlistment in 1977. I was pretty much required to do so as I was sent to Germany with 13 months left. If I hadn't re-enlisted, they would have dumped my stuff and my family at Ft. Dix, New Jersey and said good-bye. So, I got even by selecting a very short officer (one with a real nasty Napoleonic complex) to do the honors. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to grin in the re-enlistment ceremony photos. I towered over him as I was 14 inches taller. He had no idea why I was smiling. Julie knew, but she smiled as nicely as ever.

I think Scott now looks pretty much like he did before the surgery, except that he's got the bandages on his head and about two inches of stitches coming out from under them above his left eye. We'll see how well they heal. Maybe we can get some plastic surgery on there later on to fix up the scar that shows below the hair line. His brain drain has been pulled, so we don't have that red line and suction bottle to kick around anymore. The catheter was still out this morning, so he's still "flowing" just fine.

We left for the Fisher House after lunch so Julie could take a nap concurrent with Scott's. When we returned, we were pleasantly surprised by his being very alert and watching college basketball on the TV. Tiff and Aly returned soon after we did and we played with Aly while talking to Scott about how he was doing.

Sometime later, Mrs. Shover and her daughter Sara(h) came by with a delicious lasagna dinner, complete with garlic bread and some chocolate oatmeal bars for dessert. Tiff had brought Scott's laptop and some DVD's for the evening's entertainment. After we figured out what strange things we needed to do to make his laptop play DVD's, we watched the movie Dave while eating dinner. Julie had made a salad over at the Fisher House so everything was complete. After the movie ended, Scott made a trip to another part of his room, which gave us an excuse to hug him while he was on his feet. Not as dramatic as when he was at Bethesda, but it feels just as good.

ST