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L. Tammy Duckworth 
Back at Walter Reed for an arm checkup, and a prosthetic pit stop.
Journal
Sunday, January 29, 2006 8:17 PM CST Tammy returned to Walter Reed for a check up and the doctor determined that her right ulna bone in her arm is still not knitting back together. However, since the radius and ulna bones in that arm are fused together by her elbow the arm is stable enough for her to start doing pushups and some other exercises. The infection is apparently gone, (for now), and she has been given as clean a bill of health as possible.
Tammy has been working some long days and spending up to 14 hours a day with the prosthetics on. This is very different from the secure environment at Walter Reed, where she could do her physical workout for 2 or 3 hours each day, wheel around and hit her various appointments and head back to Fisher House for a comfortable nap. The legs wear on her differently when she has to keep them on all day, and we have discovered some additional modifications that will need to be made to the legs. We need to go back to Orlando to get another couple of versions of the sockets that were made for her there. We believe Tammy will need one socket for walking and another for flying and other activities. It is still difficult to fit the socket to her leg tightly enough to make it secure and easily controlled, while not making it uncomfortable for sitting and wearing for long periods of time.
We have had some difficulties getting Tammy an appointment to start physical therapy at Hines VA, even though she has a higher priority as an OIF, (Operation Iraqi Freedom), vet. Seems the therapists are very busy, and overbooked.
The VA has determined that Tammy will have to go through a driver’s education program including the use of hand controls in order to get a car modified to allow her to drive. She is not happy about having to learn to use hand controls, as we have already obtained a left foot accelerator device that fits into the car and she can drive with it. After she completes the program, we will have another driving test with the state DOT people to prove she can use the left foot to drive, but that will take more time. I think being able to drive herself, and use the slightly modified vehicle to mount her wheel chair will make her feel a lot more independent and self sufficient.
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Hospital Information: Patient Room: Fisher House 3 Rm. 22 Walter Reed Army Medical Center, (Bldg. 56)
6900 Georgia Ave
Washington, D.C. 20307-5001
Links: http://www.soldiersangels.com Soldiers Angels have already helped us in many, many ways.
http://www.fisherhouse.org/ Fisher House has been a wonderful place to live, and helped us immeasureably.
http://forthefallen.org Excellent Organization
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