Congratulations to Courtney and Joseph on their Baptism. 2 more saints are amung us, Praise the Lord.
On a more sober note; David, one of the doctors I work for has been in a very bad bike accident and is currently in the hospital with multiple broken bones and other injuries. Please pray for healing for him, and for his wife and 3 children.
Well, Pat tells me he is too busy today dangling his feet in a paddling pool and working on his sun tan, so he asked me to write a piece for the blog. Seeing as I don’t have much going on, just running after 2 toddlers and 34 weeks pregnant, I happily agreed.
A friend told me recently that she was reading some research on the effect of deployments on national guard families. It got me reflecting on the last 2 deployments that Pat has been on: this one, and the one to New Orleans just about a year ago, and how I personally have felt about them.
The deployment to New Orleans came out of the blue: he got the phone call at 5pm Friday and was essentially gone at 6am Saturday morning. Communication was not always easy – cell phones weren’t always working, there wasn’t always electricity, he didn’t have a lap-top at that time, and sometimes the only time he could call was when I was trying to put the boys to bed and I didn’t have time to talk. With no advance notice I had not been able to go shopping and stock up on food, or make plans for when I could. We had no idea when he would be back: it could have been a week, 2 weeks, or 2 months, and the situation in New Orleans at the time sounded very dangerous. Every night after I had got the boys in bed I was exhausted and felt quite lonely.
The deployment to Afghanisthan has been very different. We’ve known for about 2 years that it may happen, and about 1 year that it will probably happen. We knew definitely that Pat was going in January. This gave us a lot of time to adjust to the fact that we were going to be apart for a while and to make plans. We bought a lap top and put on software which meant we could communicate with one another, and we have been able to from Georgia, Germany, and Afghanistan. On the few days we haven’t actually been able to talk we’ve still been able to get e-mails through. I’ve been very fortunate that I was able to come to the UK for the duration and catch up with friends and family, do some travelling around, and introduce the boys to everyone, and have my parents help look after the boys and me.
A few days ago someone said to me ‘you must really miss Pat’ and I replied ‘oh no, it’s not too bad’. Then I felt terrible – I miss him hugely, of course, but it’s so obvious to me that I miss him that I really don’t dwell on it. There’s nothing I can do about it, so I just get on with things I can do (yea, she is finally taking something out of my life rule book). What I have learnt most in this time is not to worry about things I can’t control (I’m generally quite a worrier). But I’m not worrying about Pat’s safety there, I’m not worrying about when he will leave, or whether he will be here when the baby is born – I can control none of those things and whatever happens, happens. I really have to leave it in God’s hands, and it’s okay! Another factor that I think has helped me with Pat being in Afghanistan is that I have been there myself. I spent the first few years of my life in Pakistan and when we came back to Britain we travelled through Afghanistan. Obviously I don’t remember it much, but from photos and converstaions with my parents it’s all very familiar to me. And we lived through two wars between India and Pakistan, so in some ways it was probably less safe for us then. So, although this deployment is longer and further away, in many ways for me, it is easier. I really do hope that this is his LAST deployment with the national guard (as he is due to retire in the near future). With the way that the national guard is being used as just one more unit in the active duty army, many people are going to be deployed a lot more, away from their jobs and families.
So that’s my two cents worth (or two pence worth here). Gillian
Well I thought I would just send out a few good photos that are on my computer. #1 is me hard at work just outside of my TMC (working hard on my suntan). Second is Benjamin “got milk?”. The middle one is the whole family just before they left for England. Next is the Edward explaining the joy of English food. The last one I got sent while I was here. My buddy Jason is here in Afghanistan and we went to his wedding a year ago. He found this on his hard drive and sent it to me. I think it is a truely awesome photo. I do not know who shot it so big kutos to the photographer.
Have a Wonderfull, Blessed, and Cheerfull day.
Ok I have had a busy few days so I have not had time to update my blog, but things are starting to slow down. I want to start with thanking Donna and Dave for the great care package. Brownies, cookies and some candy. It also had a video from Gillian with the boys so it was a lot of fun to watch. Thanks again.
So here is a good taste of what one of my days is like:
I get up about 0530 and get dressed for PT. Most of my aid station joins the ANA (Afghan National Army) for morning PT 3 days a week. We do some streching and callisethics and then go for a run. There is usually about 15 or so US soldiers and 30-40 ANA soldiers. We run with the officers and their Sargent Major. It is pretty funny; some of the junior officers like to try to get into the slow group and the SGM litteraly beats them back into the correct formation with a stick or wire. They all laugh and joke about it, but he is really hitting them. It really cracks me up. We run about 1 3/4 miles at a pretty slow pace then do some more pushups. I then go run another 1/2-1 mile. I spent the first two weeks or so dizzy at the end of each run due to the elevation (7500 feet). I can now do the run with now problem and I did some windsprints two days ago without problems.
I then come back shower, get in uniform and head to the clinic to start sick call. My medics are very well trained and do most of the work (as it should be) and if they have questions or a difficult case they come to me for help. I cant discuse numbers or types of cases due to security reasons. It is not a huge load, but some days I do work all day. We have several beds for inpatients, but they are not used very often.
After our morning sick call I release my medics to go to the gym, read, or relax for a while. We also do classes and continueing education for our medical skills. We have to keep someone here in the clinic during the day, so we take shifts with gym, lunch, ect… We also have to go check on the the sites around the camp where we store medical equipment in case of a mass trauma. The ambulances need to be inspected, run, and make sure all the equipment is in functional order. I have to do regular narcatic inventories with my NCOIC as well.
After luch we have offical off time and I play computer games, read, go on the internet, watch movies, or just relax by the pool (photo to come soon). We still have to maintain a pressence at the TMC so we often take our time off right here in the clinic so if a patient comes in we can treat them.
We also have offical evening sickcall hours so we see patients then as well. After our last evening patient we clean the TMC and then head to dinner. We are all done at that point and there are contact numbers on the door if any needs us at night. I have a cell phone that I have to carry at all times in case I am needed.
In the evening we just hand out socializing, reading, and watching movies. There is a movie room, but it is pretty small so I tend not to go there. I usually hit the hay about 2100 so I am ready to get up early to start the whole thing over again. Each day is similar to the next and I rarely know what day it is.
Well there you go. That is a day in the life of Pat here in Afganistan.
Ok so this is where I live now. I have a little more space, and a whole lot less privacy. I am living in a B hut with 5 other guys. Fortunately they are all pretty good guys and very easy to get along with. My room has good shelves and I have the corner room with the AC; it is good to be the Boss. The middle picture is an outside shot of the bunker I get to spend quality time waiting out rocket attacks. The 4th one is the inside. For those of you who suggested continuing running or other PT in the bunker can see that it will not work. Even sitting down my head touches the top of the bunker. The last shot is a B hut with hescos and sand bags around it. Hescos are the brand name for the big bags of sand and dirt, they are about 1 cubit yard. Then they stack sand bags on top to get better protection. You can see why I am not to worried about rockets, they cant even hit the base, and they would need a direct hit on the roof to do any damage at all to people.
I also have an update on my little girl with the toe injury. She is doing well, with good sensation and blood flow to her toe. She is feeling well and taking minimal pain medication. She has now been sent home and she is following up with her normal doctor. The other PA will be checking in on her occasionaly so I will try to get more updates down the road.
See I really do some work around here. This is an 8 year old girl who had her foot ran over by a lawn mower (yes they do have lawns here). The woman in the middle picture is a PA from a differant camp and she called me up and asked me to meet her at her camp to assit with this little girl. The PA is primary medicine, and not a surgical PA so she was very happy that I was close enough to respond to assist her.
The first two pictures show the laceration, but they don’t really do it justice. The great toe is about 75% amputated, at the MTP join (where the toe meets the foot), and is only conected along the plantar (bottom) surface of the foot. It was a dull blade, so it did not do as much damage as it might have. It went right through the joint and did not break any bones. The second to was badly lacerated, but did not violate the joint space. This one might have been broken, but without x-ray I could not prove it.
We called the otho surgeon here in Afghanistan to learn how do to an ankle block so we could clean and asses the toes. After we got good anesthesia and had Ketamine on board, we completely cleaned and probed the laceration. She had good blood flow to the tip of the toe, her exstensor tendon was intact, and I could visualize the nerve going to the 1st and 2nd toes. I was pretty amazed about that, but it did appear that the toes were vialbe.
I then carefully closed the joint capsule and reattached the medial collateral ligament (picture 4 and 5), and left a penrose drain in the great toe MTP joint. I placed 4 loose stiches in the skin to hold it in place and then we dressed the wound. It took a total of about 2 hours to get everything done, because I was trying to very small stiches to get the best closure possible.
An hour after we were done, she was sitting up and eating a little. The last picture is the post op shot and while she looks a little frazzled she was sitting there pretty comfortalbe. We took a cam walker (a type of strap on cast) and cut it down to fit her, and did the same for a set of crutches. The other PA is going to keep her in her clinic for IV antibiotics, obviously antibiotics are very important due to the type of wound and our lack of real OR (notice no masks, gowns, and it is just any open bay sick call area. Everyone else is wearing sunglasses because I made them put on some sort of eye protection.), and pain meds for 48 hours and then she will have to back home and be followed up by an Afghan Doctor.
I think that she will not have a normal toe, but I am hoping that it is going to be pretty functional. Only time will tell. The other PA is here for 6-7 more months so she will be able to do some follow up to see how the little girl is doing. I am just glad that all those guys in Western Orthopedics trained me well so I was able to help her.
Ok I have a new worse pet peeve while running, but first I wanted to show some evidence of what a CH-47 does when it lands. It is accually worse when it takes off, but I was busy at the time and could not get a good picture. The picture on the left shows it well. That cloud is about 100 feet high and 200 feet wide. You can see that running in that would not be fun.
My new pet peeve is rockets while trying to work out. With the dust you can go somewhere else or go into the gym, but if you are trying to run when rockets are coming in all you can do is go and sit in a bunker. Not condusive to a good work out, but the good news is they really are bad shots. I was obviously awake for this one and I even heard it the scream of the rockets before they went bang. If you dont know what that means ask around, because I cant post it.
So still safe, just annoyed at the lack of concern that the Talaban is showing for my running schedual.
Ok so I messed up and the pictures are in the oposite order. This was a much longer climb than the Ghar, but not as hard. It took about 1 1/2 hours to get to the top and then another 45 min to get back down. It is a climb from 7500 feet to 9250 feet and I must say that there is not a lot of O2 at that hight, at least not for my lungs.
The pictures are from lower right to upper left: The view from Camp Lightning to the Rock, we climbed it from right to left as you look at the picture; next is me and my 3 medics; then a cool view from about half way up; top row right is a good view of the first big hurdle; then one of my medics with just a small drop off to her right; then the whole gang on top with my flag (I have carried this flag for 18 years in the Army and it has gone every where I have in that time, to include all military schools and it flew for the first time outside during the invasion of Panama); the last two are pictures of me at the top and nearly wiped out.
Now I have done both official climbs here in Afghanistan and I have to say the Ghar was harder, but I hurt more with the Rock. Once I get the T-shirt I will post a picture of that as well. Now I need to go take a nap.
I had lunch with these guys today. Most of the soldiers are my medics, and the Afghans are interpetures that work here on Camp Lightning. They are a very friendly group and I felt honored that they would invite me to lunch with them. The food was very good, it reminded me of Indian food a lot. Not to surprising since they are so close. They also wear very similar clothing with the long shirt and loose trousers. Several of them come from families of tailors and make their own cloths. I may try to get them to make me some traditional Afghan clothing.
They can also go into town, unlike the Americans so they can pick up and buy stuff and bring it in, so they are a good conection to have. This base is very isolated and does not even have a px so getting anything around here is very difficult.
More comments
Ok, I have several more replys on comments.
1) If it is the first two times you submit comments I have to approve them to get them on the blog. After the 2nd one they are automaticly placed on the blog, but I always retain the right to modify or delet the comment.
2) Yep no px. The nearest store I have access to is a 3.5 hour drive away, so care packages with goodies and fun stuff is always apreciated.
3) Yes I am wearing full body armour and helmet on the climb. The Rock is in a free fire zone so we have to go fully armed and armoured for the whole hike. It only adds about 45-50 pounds to the walk. I really feel sorry for the short climbers because their armour does not weigh much less than mine.
4) Even with no px this is a much better place to live. It is cooler, there is much better air quality, it is a long way from the chain of command and other people who think they are in charge, and overall much more relaxed enviornment.
5) I have just finished moving into my permanent space so I will get a picture of that and post it tomorrow.
6) Gillian and the boys are doing well, except Benjamin thinks that everyone is food, so he has become a biter. He is also almost potty trained, so no more diapers for him. Edward has become a climber and giving everyone fits, because he is also a faller.