Well, it's official. I am finally very tired. We have been operating constantly for the last week. From one to seventeen patients at a time, we are receiving a steady flow of patients both Iraqi's and American service members. I think my daily blog is going to end up being a weekly blog. It feels like we've been here for 3 months, but it's only been 2 weeks. The outgoing surgical team has returned home and the entire responsibility of patient care falls on our shoulders. It's an awesome responsibility, but one that we're proud to provide. I liken this experience so far to being on trauma call during residency, being on call 24/7 and the casualties can and will come in at anytime. However, when I get the call to respond to a urgent surgical medevac I truly haven't felt overburdened or stressed about getting out of bed to go to work. I've quickly learned that my job here is much, much easier than the young (usually 18-24 years old) soldiers, sailors and marines out there on patrols and convoy ops, at check points, and clearing neighborhoods. They are doing the hard work and they rarely complain. Nearly all of them also want to return to there units after being wounded. It's tough to tell a young lieutenant that he'll need to leave his men behind to get more definitive care back in the U.S. They usually have a large amount of guilt associated with leaving their friends behind to fight without them. There's many patients dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
I'm also learning about the Iraqi Army and the Iraqi Police. I probably have treated more of them than Americans. So far, we've seen some of them with self inflicted gun shot wounds to the extremities. I've been told that in order to clear there weapons they need take them off of safety and have negligently shot themselves. Some of these patients can't return to duty because of it which is extremely counter-productive to the overall mission here. Also, we have to very careful where we send them after care. They are high profile targets for the insurgents or death squads.
As for life at TQ, I've been too busy to enjoy life outside the hospital. I hope that can change in the next couple of months. I finally have a room to myself and I'm slowly getting settled in. Many of us officers have started classes toward gaining our Fleet Marine Force Warfare Pin. It's something to do out here other than work. It's the Marines' way of saying us Navy guys are part of the Corps. We also have a huge share drive of media files (movies, shows, etc.) we can download from for downtime. We're all waiting for the summer heat, but we have been told to expect some rain in the next couple of months, which is horrible here in the desert. I hear its a sloppy mess all over the camp when it rains.
I have a picture of me and two nurses from the New England region (Groton and Newport), LT Lora Martin and LCDR Chad Deaton. They're both ERC (En-route care) nurses and have one of the most dangerous medical jobs out here. They go out with sick MEDEVAC patients on helicopters. Many of them have experienced being fired on with small arms fire and rocket propelled grenades. They should get special recognition for this, but unfortunately at this time, they don't.
There's a picture of me and CDR Erin Moore one of our surgeons who specializes in vascular surgery. We were busy debriding what was left of the heels of an Iraqi Army soldier who stepped on an IED.
The guy with dusty foot is what happens to splints after just 2 weeks out in the desert.
I also have a picture of the some of TQ Surgical waiting for a MEDEVAC helicopter to land to bring in an urgent surgical patient.
The next picture is me and LCDR Neptune (one of our OR Nurses) at the Hajji shop where you can buy anything from an external hard drive for you computer to bootleg DVDs.
The last picture is me with the outgoing surgical group having hot tea and smoking cigars at the Hajji shop. It's sort of a weekly ritual for the troops to unwind and sit outside on a clear night.
Well I'll try to keep the info coming, but unfortunately this war keeps Ortho docs like me very, very busy.
Take care
3 comments:
Cool pics!! It's helpful to see how you all are living. Do I have to start buying you cigars!!
Cigars? I suppose you will now smoke those things whenever Craig Stevenson comes around at the academy!
Stay safe... take care... thanks for the update on what has been happening.
Harland,
Greetings from Plum Hill. Amy, Andrea and myself are doing well and following you wonderful blog with great interest. Its been so cold here of late that there hasn't been much action in the Orchards although construction on the house beside ours has begun and the other specs have all sold with the big influx of new Pfizer people moving to the area mostly from Ann Arbor. Jim, Simon and Mark are excited with the prospects of moving a lot of lots over the coming months. We saw the new arrival and wow what a cutie!! He and Andrea will be great friends for sure.
Keep up the great and truly valuable and honorable work you are doing for the troops. We'll be following your progress closely and thinking of you, Tanika and the kids.
Best regards,
Brian, Amy & Andrea
Post a Comment