N.H. parents anxious to see injured son

“Part of the time you just want to jump out of your skin and go,’’ William Katka said yesterday.

Later this week, the Katkas plan to fly to Washington to see their son, a 20-year-old soldier who is scheduled to return to the United States after surviving a combat wound to the head.

Matthew P. Katka of Dublin, N.H., was on a routine patrol in Afghanistan on Sunday when he was hit by a bullet or shrapnel and sustained serious injuries, including a fractured skull, his family said. He was taken to the Bagram Air Field, the country’s main US military installation, and later transported to a base in Germany, where doctors removed bone fragments from his brain, they said.

As of yesterday morning, 3,237 service members have been wounded in and around Afghanistan since 2001, according to the Department of Defense website.

Matthew’s parents, who are in constant touch with the US Army and with doctors in Germany, said he is in stable condition. He is no longer sedated and is moving his limbs. They did not know whether he had regained consciousness. “We know he’s doing well, but what that means we don’t really understand yet,’’ Ellen Katka said in a phone interview. “The doctors are encouraged; we are encouraged. There’s a lot of hope and a lot of prayers.’’

Matthew, who is one of the couple’s four children and turned 20 in May, had been in Afghanistan for five months. His mother spoke to him by phone just days before he was wounded. He told her the weather was good, and they joked about the fact that he had not been able to change his clothes in a while. They talked about his plans to go to college, and he told her he loved her.

When she received a phone call Sunday morning from Army personnel, informing her that her son had been injured, she reacted oddly, she said. Matthew, an avid soccer player, was notorious for sustaining head injuries.

“I thought, ‘Oh he’ll be fine. It’s just another hit on the head,’ ’’ she said. “It was one of those dumb reactions.’’

Later she cried, called everyone she knew, and asked them to pray for her son.

“It’s only the third day,’’ she said yesterday. “It seems like a week.’’

In three days, the Katkas, teachers at the Dublin Christian Academy, a local boarding school, have received hundreds of messages from people and churches in Germany and across the United States, offering hope and prayers for their son.

They can hardly imagine the state Matthew will be in when they see him. Though the doctors did not find any foreign particles in his brain, the damage could be permanent. They know it might take months for him to recover.

“Nothing really prepares you for the reality,’’ William Katka said. “I don’t wish this experience on anybody. We’re just praying for the best for Matthew.’’