Any Given Sunday

Sunday 8 November 2009

It is a beautiful Sunday morning here at Bagram with a cool breeze and light, sprinkling rain. This is only our third rain in the past three months and it is certainly welcome. When I walked out of the hospital last night, a general surgeon I passed saw the rain and said, “Wow, isn’t it beautiful.” It was dark and all you could really see were little muddy puddles, but I know what he meant. The rain helps to clean the dust out of the air. Soon after it stopped raining this morning, however, the passing MRAP’s stirred up clouds of dust that returned me to the atmospheric reality of life at Bagram. Despite three semesters of college physics, I’m not exactly sure how a road can be muddy and dusty at the same time. This is a miraculous place.

Instead of operating this morning, I was “excused” out of the OR by the other Head & Neck Surgeon here at Bagram. We did a pretty challenging mandibular and facial reconstruction yesterday on an ANA patient who had been shot in the jaw. It was the third patient we had treated with a similar injury in the past three days, so he told me to take off and do something “Sunday-like.” Besides, the case was “only” a tracheotomy, maxillary-mandibuar fixation, and repair of a facial Leforte I fracture. Rather commonplace in these environs, and he could certainly handle it without me. So, instead of operating, I went on an 8 mile, muddy, grunge-run. If you would have told me 5 months ago that I would elect to go on an 8-mile run as a form of relaxation, I would never have believed you.

I have posted a link to a series of pictures compiled by CNBC. The pictures show trauma patients being treated at the 8^th FST (forward surgical team). The 8^th FST is based out of Hawaii and is comprised of nurses and techs stationed at either Schofield Barracks or Tripler. I have had the fortune to spend some time with this unit at their FOB (forward operating base) and it was memorable. The pictures portray some of the feelings, emotions, intensity, and blessing of spending time in our medical units here in Afghanistan far better than words ever could. They also show one of the most intense experiences encountered by the health care providers at the 8^th. They were forced to treat one of their own medics who suffered an IED blast while riding in an MRAP on a mission outside the wire. This would be akin to treating one of your own family members, as the bonds that are formed in this environment are often stronger than a traditional co-worker relationship. I should also mention that the two surgeons mentioned in the article have since redeployed, and the senior surgeon at the FST is now a recently-graduated, former general surgery resident from Tripler. Those of you at Tripler who know him should be proud- he has done some amazing work.

One of my favorite memories of this deployment is sitting next to a bonfire comprised of burning wooden pallets, smoking a cigar with the nurses and surgeons of the 8^th right in front of the hospital tent shown in one of the pictures. As we smoked, UAV’s and helicopters buzzed overhead and 155 mm howitzers would occasionally be fired from the artillery battery not far from the tents. I asked one of the surgeons if it was wise to light a bonfire at night since no other lights were allowed at night at the FOB due to Taliban activity in the region. He responded that “sitting next to a target is the safest place to be. Their aim sucks.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33305590/ns/news-picture_stories/displaymode/1247/?beginSlide=1

Bagram is kind of a-flutter today because the FOX Sunday NFL pre-game show is being televised from here this evening. Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, Jimmy Johnson, and crew are roaming around, signing autographs, and taking pictures. Actually, they’re not roaming around, but they’re here, and I'm glad. It provides a welcome distraction, if even for a little while, and it’s just nice to know that this place will be remembered by some of the millions of Americans sitting on their couches, watching Sunday football. As they should. That’s why we’re here.