Hospital Happenings

Happy St. Patrick's Day! It was a good day here at Bagram. We were able to enjoy the irish holiday as much as possible half a world away from home. My sister Mary sent me a kelly green felt golfer's cap (like the ones Payne Stewart wears) which I wore at work. It was a hit. I even wore it while working on a chest tube procedure. I figured that I needed the luck of the irish on that one! The nurses had green beeds, top hats, and crowns. It was fun. We made the best of it. And, I was able to have some pretty good corned beef and cabbage over at the chow hall. Perhaps the funniest moment was when I attempted to explain the significance of St. Patrick's Day to a patient from India. I told him that St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland, then admitted that I really did not know if that was true. We googled it of course. Wikipedia says it's all a myth, but deep down I want to believe it.

Another fun thing we are doing is "Mustache March". It is a contest that frequently goes on during deployments. Here at Bagram, all of the doctors are growing mustaches. At the end of the month, there will be prizes. Cash will be given out for the sleaziest, the cheesiest, and the most pre-pubescent mustaches. 17 days into it, I am a little surprised with mine. The hair is almost all blond and it is not nearly as thick as I expected. Nevertheless, I kind of like it. I feel like my brother Pat back in the eighties or something.

March of course brings the college basketball tournament. We are all excited for March Madness. Our brackets were turned into today for our pool among the professional medical staff. I have Ohio State winning it all. It's a long shot, but I figure that you have to choose a long shot to run away with first place. We'll see. The games will be on during the middle of the night here, so we'll have to watch highlights and tape delayed games.

Of course all of these "happenings" are simply a distraction from the job at hand. The mission goes on every hour of every day. The hospital has been and will continue to be extremely busy. We have seen over twice as many trauma patients this year as we did last year at this time. It seems that the stream of blown up soldiers (mostly Afghans) is never ending. Each day we have to do our best to deal it and whatever fun distractions we can find helps to keep us all sane.