Last night Karl and I watched Red Dawn, the 2012 version. During one of the explosions in the movie, Karl said, "Yeah, that sucks. I've been in a lot of blasts like that."
"What? A lot?"
"Yeah, remember how I've told you about when there's a blast and you can watch the dust rising up off the surfaces around you?"
Oh, yes, I do remember this. I somehow did not connect my husband talking about clouds of dust lifting off tables to his head receiving the force of a blast wind. I did not think about how many times his body has absorbed blast winds. Some studies indicate that a single blast wind could cause the degenerative brain condition CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy)*. I prefer the term "blast wave," but the article I'm linking distinguishes between "shock wave" and "blast wind." I don't know the difference.
What I do know is that it is misleading of me to refer to Karl's TBI as coming from that time he drove a Stryker over a pressure plate bomb, even if it is the easiest explanation. It would be more accurate for me to say he has an unidentified degenerative brain condition due to multiple exposures to blasts over a two and a half year span in combat. I'll stick with the misleading, simple version. It is shorter and more attention-grabbing. It makes a better story.
And yes, he still has all his limbs, which is what people really want to know.
*http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-brain-injury-soldiers-exposure-explosion.html
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