Colin Bowman

Colin Bowman is a patient who developed an infection around a bold placed in his arm to control an electronic arm.

History
Colin lost part of his arm in an accident. He worked with an electronic arm, which gave him previous unattainable range of motion and the ability to catch a tossed object out of the air. The arm was connected directly to his nervous system, so he merely had to think about moving the arm and it moved. While working with the arm, Colin suddenly felt extreme pain in his residual limb. Pete was shocked to see a bolt implanted directly into the end of Colin's arm. Gabriel Fife had sent him to Sweden to have the surgery, which is illegal in the US. He had a serious infection around the bolt and Pete took him to the hospital. It had been hurting for a month, but he hadn't said anything because he was worried he wouldn't be able to keep the arm. Pete said they needed to remove the bolt, but Gabriel and Colin asked him about other options. Pete said there were alternative options, but the FDA hadn't done safety studies on them, so he recommended just removing the bolt, because it was the source of the infection. Colin explained to Pete that he wanted to be able to dip his fiancée at their wedding and needed two arms to do that, but Pete was adamant because it could kill him.

Despite Pete's recommendation, Gabriel looked into the drug protocols and decided to try one, despite the risks. Colin said he had tingling in his arm, like it was asleep and he couldn't wake it up. He had developed neurotoxicity, so Gabriel decided to lower the dose. Despite this, Colin continued to get worse as his infection spread. Pete came in and started a central line for antibiotics. Pete told Gabriel to remove the bolt, but he again refused because Colin didn't want it.

Gabriel told Colin the results weren't what they hoped, with the infection. He said they'd need to remove the bolt and the surround tissue. It might involve amputation the rest of his arm. However, Pete suggested that they could do antibiotic implants, which would give him the chance to keep the part of his arm he had left.

Romantic
He became engaged before he deployed. They planned the whole wedding via letter while he was gone, including the dance, which involved him dipping her. He wanted to be able to do that at their wedding.

Career
He is a member of the US military. He was deployed in Afghanistan and an injury caused him to lose part of his right arm.