The former Minnesota State-Mankato football player recovering from an assault last month in Mankato has undergone another surgery and made more progress, this week.
In a post on Isaac Kolstad’s CaringBridge page, Kolstad’s brother in-law, Mike Fleming, said Kolstad underwent bone replacement surgery Friday, and is recovering.
Fleming also said Kolstad made some big progress during therapy.
When Isaac was alert later on, the therapists returned and attempted a standing exercise with Isaac. Isaac stood with assistance three times. He even followed direction from therapists and stood taller when asked, bearing weight on his legs for the first time in over 4 weeks.
Kolstad has been hospitalized since he was knocked unconscious during an assault that took place in downtown Mankato on May 11. .
Fleming said Kolstad remains in a lot of pain, but his care team is working very closely with him to get him comfortable.
During the procedure, doctors replaced a bone flap that was removed from Kolstad’s skull on May 13 due to major brain swelling.
Fleming said Kolstad was also visited by both speech therapy and physical therapy this week. Speech therapy placed a “speaking valve in Kolstad’s trach,” and are encouraging him to talk, according to the post.
Physical therapy had Kolstad, hold up his head, torso and sit with assistance. He was also able to get back to his feet and bear weight on his legs.
Kolstad had to be treated for a deep vein thrombosis prior to undergoing the surgery on Friday.
Former Gophers quarterback Philip Nelson and 21-year-old Trevor Stenner Shelley, of St. Peter are charged with first-degree assault from the incident.
