? ?
WORLD / Health
Thousands of US GIs cope with brain damage
(AP)
Updated: 2007-09-10 10:59
"I told him and his workout partner: 'Put some more weight on it,'"
prompting the men to get up. Seconds later, a rocket hit where they had
sat. They survived, but a pressure wave from the blast coursed through
their brains.
"I patted myself down head to toe, making sure I wasn't missing a limb,"
and felt odd, like "I must be missing a chunk of my head,'" O'Brien said.
He remembers little else except walking through debris to pick up his
iPod and sunglasses.
As for Malone, an air conditioning vent had fallen on his head and he had
shrapnel wounds. He had multiple surgeries, spent several months in
Walter Reed Army Medical Center and now has titanium mesh reinforcing his
skull.
O'Brien, however, had shrapnel removed from his scalp and then was sent
back to his unit - "no antibiotics, no pain medication or anything. They
just sent me on my way."
When he later complained of pain, doctors gave him Motrin. When he
discovered a trickle of blood from his hip, they said he would be fine.
Six weeks later, when he could barely walk, tests revealed shrapnel in
his hip. By then, he was having headaches and trouble sleeping.
O'Brien had been through multiple previous explosions - troops average
one a month, a study found - and each raises the risk that the next one
will do harm. Soldiers and Marines are proud and reluctant to go "off
mission" just because "they get their bell rung," said Dr Michael
Kilpatrick, a top Defense Department physician.
"Most of the treatment is explaining the situation and giving the
tincture of time - giving it time to heal," he said. If no big symptoms
appear in eight to 12 hours, "they're probably ready to go back."
Officers also face pressure to return troops to duty, said Jordan
Grafman, a neuroscientist who studies TBI at the National Institutes of
Health.
"People don't want to lose these guys from their command - they can't
replace them fast enough," he said.
During a surprise visit to Iraq with President Bush on Labor Day, Gen.
Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the military was
"much smarter about this now," and urged troops to watch for signs of TBI
and post-traumatic stress.
"They are every bit as much battle injuries as is a bullet or shrapnel.
It is OK, it is OK to seek help for those kinds of war wounds, and I ask
you all to help your buddies understand what you see in them," he said.
But that was long after O'Brien was hurt. His TBI was not diagnosed for
months, until his hip injury landed him back at Fort Campbell in
Kentucky. By then, the Army needed help treating TBI and was contracting
with private rehab centers like Schneider's at Vanderbilt.
Malone and O'Brien had become friends, helping each other cope with
wounds.
"They were sent to us together," Schneider said.
"I'll need to get milk and bread and eggs. Milk and bread and eggs. Next
thing you know, I drive right by Wal-Mart," O'Brien said.
"I can vaguely tell you what we talked about at the beginning of this
conversation," Malone said.
Memory trouble is a common sign of TBI. It isn't like Alzheimer's
disease, where people are so disconnected from reality that they forget
things like how a key works or where they live. It isn't like amnesia,
where a chunk of the past is missing.
"I don't have any problem remembering the past. I have trouble with now,"
O'Brien said.
Multiple or complex tasks confound and irritate people with TBI.
Therapists challenge them through exercises, like a computer game where
they run a hot dog stand and must manage inventory, set prices, do
banking and anticipate demand according to the weather.
Other therapy focuses on life skills like following directions while
paying attention to something else.
"I counted three trash cans," O'Brien announced after a scouting mission
to find landmarks using a map and tally cans along the way.
"I counted five," said therapist Jenny Owens.
Improving these skills is key to living a normal life, especially driving.
"Most of them don't drive. A van brings them down. They were hitting
mailboxes, they'd get lost. We draw them maps and they forget when
they're supposed to be here," Schneider said.
The Army gives some injured soldiers Palm Pilots - handheld computers to
help manage their lives.
"It costs them more for us to miss two appointments than to give us one
of these," O'Brien explained.
But devices and mental exercises do only so much. Troops must be able to
use information and reason, but TBI keeps many from being aware of their
gaps.
"They don't realize their judgment is impaired," said Vanderbilt
neuropsychologist Elizabeth Fenimore.
The training that helped them in combat situations is hurting them now.
"These guys are taught to be alert all the time," so they sleep poorly,
Schneider said.
"Their nervous system becomes acclimated to being constantly on alert -
fight or flight," Fenimore said.
Malone knows it well.
"I worry about every little thing - people breaking into my house, loud
booms ... I'm jumpy," he said.
?? ?? 1?? 2?? ??
?? ?? 1?? 2?? ??
Top World News ?
* US denies preparing military attack on Iran
* Bin Laden urges Americans to convert
* Thousands pay respects to Pavarotti
* 5 killed in plane crash in DR Congo
* Italian tenor Pavarotti is dead
Today's Top News ?
* No foreign monopoly in any industry - Report
* Wen stresses importance of education
* Leaders urge progress in trade talks
* Bin Laden branded 'virtually impotent'
* Financial policy changes to back outbound investment
Most Commented/Read Stories in 48 Hours
Learn Chinese, Learn mandarin, Learning Materials, Mandarin audio lessons, Chinese writing lessons, Chinese vocabulary lists, About chinese characters, News in Chinese, Go to China, Travel to China, Study in China, Teach in China, Dictionaries, Learn Chinese Painting, Your name in Chinese, Chinese calligraphy, Chinese songs, Chinese proverbs, Chinese poetry, Chinese tattoo, Beijing 2008 Olympics, Mandarin Phrasebook, Chinese editor, Pinyin editor, China Travel, Travel to Beijing, Travel to Tibet
