After working harder than I ever have for six months in Afghanistan, I am now enjoying some much needed vacation time. Home feels the same in many ways. My dog still loves me. The ocean is still refreshing. Charleston is still a fabulous place to live. Nevertheless, everything seems different as well. I am enjoying the little things in life a lot more. Things like a hot shower, quiet nights, and a comfortable bed are more appreciated now. I am more grateful for our country. We truly have more blessings than most of us can imagine. I am also trying to live in the moment. However, more often than not my time in Afghanistan is on my mind. It was an unforgettable, life changing experience for many reasons.
Who could forget the 19th of May? At 3 in the morning I was sleeping in the on call room when I was awakened by BOOM, BOOM, BOOM. We were told to get our weapons and stay put in our duty sections. As we huddled together in the hospital, the fighting seemed like it was just outside the door. Apache helicoptors were hovering above us and were raining rounds down on the base perimeter. The army took position with their armored vehicles and quickly gained firepower superiory. The firefight lasted maybe an hour although it seemed much longer. 20 terrorists attacked our base that night with a myriad of weapons. None of them survived. They managed to kill one person and wound 5 others. Their actions put our base into lockdown for several days. Security was increased. Several of my colleagues were shaken by this experience and would not sleep well for the remainder of the deployment.
Who could forget our six year old patient with brain trauma? Modaser sustained an injury to the right side of his head. He was a victim of war related violence. He was also one of the cutest and most entertaining kids you ever want to meet. His hospital course was complicated by an infection that required long term antibiotics. He actually had a wound vacuum on his head. Modaser also had neurological damage which caused his right leg to not work properly. No problem. His solution was to simply walk more. Modaser did countless laps around the hospital. His walking improved greatly over weeks. His infection eventually was eradicated. He was quiet at first, but then he came out of his shell big time. Modaser had the great gift of gab. He would talk practically non-stop in his native tongue. Then, he would smile and laugh. Modaser single handedly raised the morale of our staff every day. I hope that he is safe in his village right now and that he is able to help his country become a better place.
Who could forget the baby faced marine with the leg amputation and the open abdomen? He spent several weeks guarding a prisoner who was hospitalized. His unit had captured the suspected terrorist. He was a nice kid that was well liked by everyone. Eventually, the prisoner left the hospital and the baby faced marine returned to Helmand Province. This is one of the most dangerous places on earth right now. Shortly after leaving us, he returned as a critical trauma patient. It was so difficult for us to see someone we actually knew get torn up by yet another IED blast. It was hard to stomach even looking at him as he lay motionless on a ventilator in the ICU. He was stabilized and sent on to Germany. His wounds will likely heal, but he will never be the same.
Who could forget working with extraordinary people? Dr. Mike Greene became my closest friend in Afghanistan. We both did our residency in Family Medicine at the University of Nebraska and Offutt Air Force Base. Mike was two years behind me in his training. He was an intern when I was the chief resident of the program. We barely knew each other then. But now we have shared a difficult experience together. Mike is very dedicated to his work. He showed up every day to see his patients at oh dark zero. I would make it in at oh dark thirty. He always went the extra mile even when the sheer number of patients was practically unmanageable. We often needed time away from the hospital just to talk about the insanity of it all. We leaned on one another to make it through the deployment. His work ethic, patience, and integrity inspired me every day to be a better doctor.
There are certain experiences in life that shape us. Some even change us for the better. Many of the events of the past 6 months are burned into my brain. My world view has changed. The little things in life are more important now. The small stuff is not as stressful now. I feel very grateful for my many blessings. Friends and family matter more than ever before. I am more connected with my spiritual side. I want these feelings to stay with me indefinitely. Without a doubt, life goes on after Afghanistan. It is important to compartmentalize the memories in order to move forward. But, I hope to never forget all that happened. I hope to never forget how it felt to take care of the wounded. I hope to never forget all the people that prayed for us. I hope to never forget those that were severely injured. I hope to never forget the hard work of the troops. I hope to never forget those that paid the ultimate sacrifice. I hope to never forget those that are serving our country at home and abroad. I hope to never forget all the difficult lessons that I learned serving our country.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Coming Home
Military travel is almost always long and arduous. The trip home from Afghanistan certainly qualified as such. I spent 3 relatively peaceful days in Kyrgystan at Manas Air Base. It was absolutely necessary to have some down time before the long trip home. To the credit of the military, they have built in this time at Manas as part of the deployment. I felt a lot of the deployment tension easing over those 72 hours. It was fun to shoot the breeze with people and have some laughs. I was able to hang out with my good friend Geoff Cooper. He is a family doctor I know from residency who was deployed to Manas. His time there was very different than mine at Bagram. Horseback riding and kayaking are just a few of the things the folks at Manas are able to do in their time there. Now that is what I call a good deployment! Before leaving Manas, I was able to get a fabulous back massage from a local lady named Lena. It cost me $10 for 30 minutes. I tipped her $15 which apparently is a lot of money there. Lena gave me a kiss on the cheek. Oh Lena! I felt the best I had in probably a year.
The trip home began abruptly. We had a show time at the terminal of approximately 0500. But, 130 marines had a different agenda. A small group of us Air Force guys were sharing a tent with these fine gentlemen. At 0230 their sergeants began screaming at the top of their lungs. The lights were turned on and chaos ensued. Apparently, it was important for them to act like they were in Times Square at this crazy hour. There was no reason for this at all because they were not getting on the same plane as us and to my knowledge there were no other planes taking off that morning. Oh well. I thought about pulling rank on one of their sergeants. But, the fact that they had a plethora of semi automatic weapons readily available was the deciding factor. I kept my mouth shut up, packed up, and left with the rest of the Air Force guys.
Our first stop on the way home was in Turkey at Incirlik Air Base. We were there for a few hours refueling and picking up more passengers. The summer is a busy time for moving in the military. Various families joined us on the way to the states. We were able to eat some turkish food there which was nice. My belly was full as we headed off to Germany. The flight across Europe was pretty easy. I could not help but notice green trees as far as the eye could see as we descended into Ramstein Air Base. This is something none of us had seen for months. The stay at Ramstein was a bit odd. We were allowed to stroll through the terminal for about 10 minutes. Then we had to hurry up and get back in line. It was yet another security screening. Our identification was checked about a half dozen times. The German security agent took away my deoderant because it was 4 ounces. It was the only way for me to control the overwhelming body odor that happens on a transcontinental flight. Too bad for the passenger next to me! We were then quarantined like animals in a large room for 2 hours which is standard procedure for some reason. A large amount of families also joined us for this flight. Screaming babies were abundant.
The flight across the Atlantic was smooth. However, about 5 hours into the trip I noticed a woman in distress at the front of the plane. I approached her and immediately noticed her gravid uterus. She stated calmly that she was contracting every 2 minutes! What? Excuse me? Holy -----!!!!! This is not a trauma patient I told myself as I tried to remember what to do with a contracting 34 week pregnant lady. After all, it had been over 3 years since I delivered a baby. 6 months of shattered bones, amputated limbs, and open abdomens had not prepared me for this. I asked her a few questions. Luckily, she did not have any major abnormalities that were red flags for disaster. The head flight attendant then asked me point blank if we needed to divert the aircraft to Nova Scotia. After all, we were still over the Atlantic! 250 people wanted to get home that day. I was not about to stop this unless absolutely necessary. My answer was no. We had several other family doctors on the plane to help with this crazy situation. Also, we had a labor and delivery nurse named Lieutenant D whom I worked with for the past 6 months at Bagram. She had not dealt with a pregnant patient in a long time. Now was her chance.
Lieutenant D had the patient lay down and drink lots of water. She was able to calm the patient in a way that I could not. 30 minutes later the patient was still contracting every 2 minutes. I suggested checking her cervix for dilation. Lieutenant D talked me out of it. Her instincts told her that this would pass. She was 100% correct. As we descended into Baltimore, the contractions slowed down to every 5 minutes. Our 34 week pregnant patient was feeling good. There would be no delivery at 30,000 feet! Crisis averted. The plane landed. The paramedics came to the gate. The patient was immediately taken to the hospital. I proceeded to baggage claim thanking the good lord the entire way.
Arriving back in the United States of America after a deployment is an amazing feeling. Euphoria is the best word to describe it. I had to stay the night in Baltimore which was fine by me. I took multiple showers in my sparkling bathroom, had a belgium waffle for breakfast, and went for a jog through a suburb of Baltimore. It was relaxing. By mid morning I was ready to continue on to my home in Charleston. I could not help but notice the busy people at the airport talking on their cell phones and rushing through the day. They were all blistfully unaware that I was on my way home from the most difficult experience of my professional life. After the plane landed in Charleston, I walked slowly through the terminal. My knees were weak as I hugged my sister Annie. There was a group of my friends and colleagues there to welcome me home. It was emotional. It felt great to be home again after this long deployment. I felt immensely grateful. Coming home after a long deployment is like nothing else.
The trip home began abruptly. We had a show time at the terminal of approximately 0500. But, 130 marines had a different agenda. A small group of us Air Force guys were sharing a tent with these fine gentlemen. At 0230 their sergeants began screaming at the top of their lungs. The lights were turned on and chaos ensued. Apparently, it was important for them to act like they were in Times Square at this crazy hour. There was no reason for this at all because they were not getting on the same plane as us and to my knowledge there were no other planes taking off that morning. Oh well. I thought about pulling rank on one of their sergeants. But, the fact that they had a plethora of semi automatic weapons readily available was the deciding factor. I kept my mouth shut up, packed up, and left with the rest of the Air Force guys.
Our first stop on the way home was in Turkey at Incirlik Air Base. We were there for a few hours refueling and picking up more passengers. The summer is a busy time for moving in the military. Various families joined us on the way to the states. We were able to eat some turkish food there which was nice. My belly was full as we headed off to Germany. The flight across Europe was pretty easy. I could not help but notice green trees as far as the eye could see as we descended into Ramstein Air Base. This is something none of us had seen for months. The stay at Ramstein was a bit odd. We were allowed to stroll through the terminal for about 10 minutes. Then we had to hurry up and get back in line. It was yet another security screening. Our identification was checked about a half dozen times. The German security agent took away my deoderant because it was 4 ounces. It was the only way for me to control the overwhelming body odor that happens on a transcontinental flight. Too bad for the passenger next to me! We were then quarantined like animals in a large room for 2 hours which is standard procedure for some reason. A large amount of families also joined us for this flight. Screaming babies were abundant.
The flight across the Atlantic was smooth. However, about 5 hours into the trip I noticed a woman in distress at the front of the plane. I approached her and immediately noticed her gravid uterus. She stated calmly that she was contracting every 2 minutes! What? Excuse me? Holy -----!!!!! This is not a trauma patient I told myself as I tried to remember what to do with a contracting 34 week pregnant lady. After all, it had been over 3 years since I delivered a baby. 6 months of shattered bones, amputated limbs, and open abdomens had not prepared me for this. I asked her a few questions. Luckily, she did not have any major abnormalities that were red flags for disaster. The head flight attendant then asked me point blank if we needed to divert the aircraft to Nova Scotia. After all, we were still over the Atlantic! 250 people wanted to get home that day. I was not about to stop this unless absolutely necessary. My answer was no. We had several other family doctors on the plane to help with this crazy situation. Also, we had a labor and delivery nurse named Lieutenant D whom I worked with for the past 6 months at Bagram. She had not dealt with a pregnant patient in a long time. Now was her chance.
Lieutenant D had the patient lay down and drink lots of water. She was able to calm the patient in a way that I could not. 30 minutes later the patient was still contracting every 2 minutes. I suggested checking her cervix for dilation. Lieutenant D talked me out of it. Her instincts told her that this would pass. She was 100% correct. As we descended into Baltimore, the contractions slowed down to every 5 minutes. Our 34 week pregnant patient was feeling good. There would be no delivery at 30,000 feet! Crisis averted. The plane landed. The paramedics came to the gate. The patient was immediately taken to the hospital. I proceeded to baggage claim thanking the good lord the entire way.
Arriving back in the United States of America after a deployment is an amazing feeling. Euphoria is the best word to describe it. I had to stay the night in Baltimore which was fine by me. I took multiple showers in my sparkling bathroom, had a belgium waffle for breakfast, and went for a jog through a suburb of Baltimore. It was relaxing. By mid morning I was ready to continue on to my home in Charleston. I could not help but notice the busy people at the airport talking on their cell phones and rushing through the day. They were all blistfully unaware that I was on my way home from the most difficult experience of my professional life. After the plane landed in Charleston, I walked slowly through the terminal. My knees were weak as I hugged my sister Annie. There was a group of my friends and colleagues there to welcome me home. It was emotional. It felt great to be home again after this long deployment. I felt immensely grateful. Coming home after a long deployment is like nothing else.
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