Nerve blocks aren't a new concept. They've been around a century. What is new is the electric field at the end of the needle that can stimulate nerves, Buckenmaier said. That translates into motor movements that doctors rely on to know they're working in the right place.

By the time Wilhelm left, he was receiving the anesthetic at a low enough rate to allow him to move his limbs while not letting pain fibers shriek their message to the brain. And Buckenmaier said the morale boost his condition gave the other soldiers was priceless.

It was a festive atmosphere, he said, with soldiers exchanging high fives. Yes, he was injured and going home. No one wanted him hurt, but "I have to believe the soldiers were thinking, 'If I'm hurt and I get to these guys, they'll take care of me,' " Buckenmaier said.

"I've seen the converse of that. Soldiers still come see a patient who had general anesthetic and is out of it, but it's a somber meeting. They can't talk to him and it's a very sad sort of picture."

Ralph Murdock of Syracuse, who was himself an active-duty soldier until December, has been using an ambIT pump since he had shoulder surgery a few days ago. It was an old sports injury that flared to the point he'd wake up every night in pain. His physician found a partial tear in his rotator cuff, as well as bursitis and an impingement.

After surgery, he went home with an ambIT pump in a little pouch around his neck, his arm in a sling. And aside from half a Motrin the first night, "it's working well enough I haven't had to press the button (that allows a small extra dose as needed) much," he said.

The ambIT pump is made in Sorenson's 40,000-square-foot manufacturing plant, where the 80 employees do it all, including their own injection molding. A family of suction catheters, to help clear the lungs of people who are on a ventilator, are also made there.

AmbIT, which has been on the market only a few months, is available all over the world now, according to Rich Borncamp, head of sales for Sorenson Medical.

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E-mail: lois@desnews.com