In Afghanistan in May, Robert Warren’s truck was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade, which caused him to suffer from a traumatic brain injury. After being injure, Warren was specially treated at 7 East, a unit at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda. There, surgeons successfully removed his entire left-side skull so that his brain would not be damaged worse.
After two weeks of treatment and therapy at the Richmond medical center, Warren came back home to Arkansas to prepare for his next surgery in Washington. According to surgeons, treatment for traumatic brain injury often concerns a craniectomy so as to relieve swelling by temporarily removing part of the skull. Therefore, when the swelling has subsided and the risk of infection is lower, the skull piece is replaced from three to six months later. To repair the skull, surgeons have placed a titanium mesh prosthetic implant in Warren's skull. Let’s have a look at the following images of Robert Warren before and after the surgery.
Robert Warren, aged 20, suffered a traumatic brain injury in Afghanistan in May
Three weeks after being injured, Warren claims that his speech or memory are normal. But when his therapist gave him a rose, he identified it as a telephone.
Warren visited his newborn daughter at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda when he was allowed to be back home after the first successful surgery.
Warren and Brittanie are playing with their 2-month-old daughter
Warren along with his wife Brittanie Warren and his grandmother Annette White goes to church on a Sunday morning.
Robert and Brittanie Warren stays at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington one week before his surgery
Warren has his cranioplasty operation at National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda
Warren's head is carefully wrapped all the time to prevent infection
After the operation, Warren's head looks normal because doctors have inserted the titanium mesh prosthesis in his skull.
Warren smiles happily when looking at himself with his unbandaged head for the first time
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