Ramadan - The Sky Is Falling

Well, we had our power point presentation on Ramadan. For those of you who are not Muslim or like me, just not very knowledgeable about it, I can tell you all about it. We already had our first causality from it. It is the Muslim holiday where they essentially fast for about 30 days. They can’t eat or drink anything of nutritional value from sun up to sun down for the whole month just about. ( I wonder if they can drink coffee or pop, I was told that stuff isn’t good for you anyhow but does it have nutritional value?) They also can’t do anything during the day that is pleasurable like, you guessed it, sex. (Hmmm,I wonder if that has any nutrional value, never mind). They also somehow think shooting their AK -47s and mortars into the air is a way of praising Allah. They tend to do that at the beginning mainly, and at the end of the holiday. Occasionally, just for fun, they shoot them off during the middle of the holiday just to remind us they are out there. I guess that works when you have a small place out in the freaking desert, where you don’t have to worry about where it lands. However, when you are in the city, with 1 -2 million other people around who are also shooting off their toys, what goes up eventually comes down. Amazing how that works. Anyhow, our casualty was just walking on our base and caught a ricochet off the T –wall and was hit in the abdomen. Fortunately, it was just a flesh wound, but still, imagine if it hit him in the face or head. It has the potential to do some damage. One of the little mortars hit one of the gyms that I work out at. Fortunately it didn’t do any real damage. I would have been pissed if it was damaged and I couldn’t work out there anymore. I think all it did was scare the cockroaches and scorpions. So, there is a memo out we got to stay indoors as much as possible for the next month, after our cleanup and work is done. Maybe that is not a bad idea.

The pics are from our OR. As you can tell, it is not too much different than our own back home. Maybe just a few years behind the times, but really, not too bad. We do share the room. There are 2 OR beds in the same room. So if we get massive casualties at the same time, both beds are used simultaneously.

The other pic is for the OR people at Condell. The scrub shirt was given to me by the OR people. That’s when I embarrassed myself by putting it on at the party (Boy that was a good party of what I could remember). Anyhow, the OR people enjoyed the comments on the shirt, like “Duck” and other comments.

Tom

Interesting Day

Well, this is officially my 36th day in a war zone, but who is counting. I will have to remember to record that in my baby book later. Anyway, I had a new experience today. I flew in one of our helicopters. At our base here, they use Blackhawks for flying the wounded in. They will be eventually using a new helicopter, but that will not be available for a while. Because the injuries have been down, they haven’t been flying on as many missions as before. The pilots have to log a certain amount of flight time, so they do training missions on the base every so often. I was lucky to go on one of those missions, and it was neat. They go through their preflight checks, (for the pilots in the group you know about that). They stand on it and check everything out. They buckled me inside (they know I am fragile). One thing I never thought of before, but they practiced like “touch and go” landings and take offs. I always thought the helicopters go up or down, then travel to wherever. But these guys were landing like a plane, rolling down the runway, then take off again, just like a plane. They said it is actually easier to land like a planed than the up and down stuff. They even practiced landing on an angle, so they used the side of a hill because not always where they land is it always level. It was a neat experience.



In my last blog, I appreciate Kristin’s comment about her Iraqi cab driver. I just hope it never comes down to invading Iran. It certainly is nice that some people besides Americans appreciate our war efforts.

Found an interesting web site that people may be interested in checking out. (Actually, I bowered it from one of my fellow doctors here). If you goggle “Mosul Airport” or click on the link, it gives some good information of where I am hiding these days. All along I thought it was classified information, so I am trying to be vague and secretive, and now I find out that you could download it from the internet all along. It has a picture of the airway and also quite a few related links. Some of the information is old, like from 2003, but it gives you an idea.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/mosul-airbase.htm


Tom

I Escaped For the Moment

I know I have it easy, much easier than a lot of people. Sometimes it does bother me that I feel like I am wasting time. I guess I am so used to always being on the go at home, not having enough time to get everything done that I need to do. I guess I don’t take the time at home to stop and smell the roses. I feel sometimes I should be working harder, but that would mean more injuries for our troops which would be a bad thing. Sometimes I need to take a step back and ease up.

Last night I treated myself. We pass around a lot of DVD’s to each other. The guy before me left his TV and DVD player so I had something to watch it on. I also got a care package that had a box of Girl Scout cookies (note I said “had”). I got this old movie with Dean Martin and James Stewart called “Bandolero”. It also has Rachel Welch, which definitely helped. It was probably made before a lot of you were born, but that is the type of movie that I grew up on. So last night, I put the movie on, turned off the lights and nearly eat the whole box of Shortbread Girl Scout cookies. It reminded me of when I was a little kid. For a moment I mentally escaped. I even forgot that there was a war going on outside those T –walls that protect us. When the movie was over I turned on the lights and then it was like “WOW”. Then I realized I was back from my mental escape and back to reality. It was like waking up from a dream that seemed so real at the time, but when you wake up, you realize it was just a dream. I guess I still need that little mental break once in a while.

The pic is different trucks and vehicles lined up for chow.

Tom

Another Day in Paradise

Just another day in paradise. Another bright sunny day. Not a cloud in the sky except for occasional smoke billowing up from a blast or fire. It is definitely cooler now. High about 106 today. I actually enjoy the later nights or early morning around sunup, it is actually cool then. Daybreak is about 0500. The sun sets about 7:15 PM. The only bad part is that you get sweaty outside, then go into an air conditioned room, then I freeze a bit. Hey, it could be worse, like no air conditioning at all.

I talked to my son, Mike this morning. It was a good conversation. He will be deployed in about a week. He will be in Al Asad area, which is maybe a few hundred miles from here. I don’t know if I will be able to get together with him while both of us are here. I will have to see what the commanders say.

The Army is doing a good job keeping us busy. I know the load is down for the troops, but they have sponsored a lot of activities. The gym sponsors a lot of sporting events in the evening. About once a month, they put on tournaments for 3 or 4 days. Things like basketball, volleyball. I joined a 12 inch soft ball team. We came in 2nd out of 9 teams, so not too bad. ( I think I was more of a help than a hinder. We will see if they ask me to play next month or not.) As you can tell by the photos, it is truly a sand lot baseball game. There is nothing but sand, rock and hard ground. You have to wear sunglasses, because when the wind blows it really gets tough to see.

I started to take a Spanish class 2 evenings a week. Interesting that I travelled 8000 miles to learn Spanish, when I never bothered at home. So far it is going pretty good. I don’t know if I will ever be able to say those “rr” words. We will see how much I retain.

Go Cubs and Bears. What a cute family. I predict a cross town world series for Chicago in October.

Tom

Big Ones in Iraq

The other day they found 2 poisonous scorpions. One was outside our Cho’s, the other was inside the EMT (ER). They were each about the size of my fist, so pretty good size. One of the SF guys (Special Forces) told me that they were big enough and had enough neurotoxins in it that if it stung a small child, he or she could be dead in 45 minutes if not treated. He thought the creature was not fully grown yet, that they can get bigger. I don’t know if he was trying to just scare me or impress me, but now I sleep with the light on and make sure I shake out my boots in the morning before putting them on.

I had an interesting experience the other day. They have these security guards all over the place. They are at the defac, the gym, every entrance and exit place. They are just about all from Uganda. Apparently, they are part of the multi-national Coalition Forces here. Besides the Americans and British, I see some Ukrainians and occasional other forces that I don’t recognize. I guess the other forces are friendly since they are walking around amongst us and no one gets too excited about it. Anyhow, I was walking into the gym and the Ugandan guard says to me something like “Mozaise” or something like that. So I ask him what that means and he says “Old Man”. Well that didn’t make my day. I worked out a little harder that day. Then I got to thinking, was it a compliment or not. In some of their tribes back home, the old men are like the tribal leaders and they are looked up to. It is a form of respect. Basically, if you lived long enough to get grey hair over there, that was looked upon as an accomplishment. Or, did he mean like what am I doing here with all these 20 something year olds. After all, I guess I am as old as most of these guy’s fathers. Just wait and see if he shows up in my clinic someday and see how long he waits.

Tom

There Still Is A War Going On Over Here

I can see how easy it is to get complacent over here. I got used to the bombs going off in the distant, the gun fire and seeing smoke on the horizon. Since we haven't had much trauma lately, which is a good thing, it’s easy to let your guard down. You forget some of your training and precautions that you are trained to take when you hear it all the time. I admit sometimes I forget that I am in a war zone because we are so protected here. The other day I got a reminder. The bad guys shot 2mortar rounds into our base. When you feel your chair move because of the vibrations from the ground, you know it was a little closer than usual. Fortunately, they were just random, shot in the dark mortar rounds that didn’t hit anything significant. But,it is a reminder we still have to take precautions once in a while.

The morale of most of the troops is still pretty good. Things have been quite until today. A group of insurgents were shooting at one of our helicopters. Obviously, they returned fire. They killed all but one, at least from the report I received. He was shot up pretty good, though. He had multiple wounds everywhere. So they packaged him up and brought him in for us. Fortunately, we don’t make decisions on whom we treat or don’t treat. Anyone who comes into our place gets treated. Of course, they are checked and searched before they come in. So our trauma team went to work on him doing everything we possibly could. We put in chest tubes, transfusions and took him right to the OR to do everything we could to help him. We worked on him for quite a while, but nobody quit. I was very impressed how our medical staff pulls together help all comers no matter whom.

I received a gift the other day. I was so proud to have it. I put it up in my room. I thought about outside, but I didn’t have proper lighting and it’s so dusty outside that I didn’t want it to get ruined. I took a picture, so that is the “picture of the day” that I included.

I want to thank everyone who supports me in my efforts. Thanks for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers. Thanks for letting me know that you are behind me. I really do appreciate it.

Tom

Happy Anniversary

Do you know what today is? Exactly 1 month ago today, I reported for duty at Fort Bennings, Georgia. I know they say that when you join, it is like marrying the Army. Oh well, happy anniversary. Today is day # 24 that I have been over here, which means only 66 more days to go. But who is counting anyway. Time is starting to slip by and I will be home before you know it, sort of.

We got a new general surgeon today. The bad news is that we usually have 2 anyway. Last week they took one to move to a forward surgical team east of here. It is kind of like the front lines. So that means that they are planning on something that will need medical support, so things potentially may get busy there and here. We may need the second general surgeon.

The good news is where he came from. He came from Ramadi area where my son, Mike, was last year. He said they are downsizing the medical unit. It is going from a 100 person unit to 25. Since last year the trauma and violence is down so much, that they just didn’t need that much medical support anymore. This is the same providence that the bloody battle for the city of Fallujah in 2004 -2005 is in. If you recall we lost a lot of American lives and had a lot of American injuries there. Before the battle, the media had written the providence off as an insurgence fortress that we would never control. The people of Anbar providence have made a complete 180 degree turn. They got tired of the insurgency and started to work with us. The Iraqis have really taken control there and are protecting themselves.

It is similar here in Mosul, only not as advanced as Ramadi. Unfortunately, there are still areas that need to be cleaned out. The good part is that the Iraqis are doing more and more of the fighting, so that means less American injuries. That is a good thing.

I was walking down the hall, and saw some modern equipment. I had to take a picture of it. Now that was an example of somebody using his head or has too much time.

Happy Anniversary

Tom

My Farmer's Tan

I am working on my farmer’s tan. About the only sun I get directly to my skin is when I walk to the gym in my PT uniform (my shorts and short sleeve shirt). They don’t allow you to go around without your shirt on here. That should keep my daughter and wife happy. A few years ago, my daughter had some friends over at the house. It was late, say about 11 or so. I was already in bed. So I went downstairs to have them turn the music down, but I didn’t bother to put a shirt on. My daughter complained to my wife about not having a shirt on, saying “Any man over 40 should not be in public without a shirt on”. I told her she should be grateful at least I put my pants on. Yes Dear, I will start behaving. Anyhow, my arms and legs are getting tanned, but the rest of me is pasty white.

There is amazing art work here. The Army has some talented soldiers. On the T-walls, different soldiers have displayed their artistic talents. Some of it has faded, but still quite impressive. This is a lot better than what is displayed on the bathroom walls. I guess I am not the only one with some free time.

Even though I am not very busy with the big traumas, I still am taking care of our troops. I see people in our clinics almost every day. There are a lot of sports related injuries I see. The gym is big, has a basketball court, lots of machines and weights. I see a lot of things that I would see in my practice back home. I have seen ruptured tendons, lots of strains and tendonitis. The only problem is I can’t do a lot about it now. If it is bad enough, then I send them to Germany. If not too bad, then I give them some anti-inflammatory meds and they tough it out.

Tom

Life is good

We are having a cool front move in. It was only 109 today. I could actually tell it was a little cooler than the usual 115-117 range. The trade off is the dust. When the dust flies, it is thick enough to actually block some of the sun, but then you are left with that sandy taste in your mouth. Oh well.

I had a really great day yesterday. Probably the best I had since I left Chicago. Another doctor and I went shooting last night. We shot the 50 caliber gun that sits on top of the humvees. Man, just the size of the bullets is amazing. They’re huge. I was mowing down bushes and trees. If John Wayne used this instead of his rifle, his movies would have been over in 15 minutes, with no one left standing. No trees or buildings either. You can’t stand too close because just the air pressure from when it is fired can almost knock you over. Those are some big guns. I also got to play with the night vision goggles. Those are really neat. I can’t believe how well you can see at night with those things on. It’s almost like Superman looking through things with his Xray vision only it is night time. I felt like a real Army man last night.

I was so wand up after shooting, that I found an old package of microwave popcorn. I shook off the dust (everything is dusty over here). I went over to the hospital, used their microwave, half burnt it, but that’s ok, it still tasted pretty good. I picked up a cheap movie, “Hancock” at one of the local shops. The quality wasn’t t too bad. It didn’t quite fit on the TV screen and occasionally you see a head stick up once in a while, but hey, for 2 bucks I can’t complain much. Anyhow, I got some NA beer (that’s the only type they sell down here) and I watched the movie with my burnt popcorn and NA beer. I didn’t know that Becks makes one, but it wasn’t bad. I enjoyed it so much that I actually stayed up past my usual bed time of 8 PM, all the way to 10:30 PM. Watch out, I am starting to become a real partier now. Life is good, it is the simple little things that counts.

The other good news is that the violence is down.I don't know if it is the surge, or maybe just the fact that people are tired of all the bombs and violence. Probably just a multitude of reason. When I talk to the soldiers who go outside the wire, they say they see the difference. They used to have 15 -20 incidents a day of snipers or IEDs or whatever. Now it is down to just 2 or 3 a day. I guess that is one reason why I am not so busy, but that is ok. It gives me more time to post on my blog site.

Tom

What's New in Iraq

I tell you, the first I do when I get to my room at night is check my emails and for any comments on my blog. I really appreciate all the notes and mail.

I know that a lot of people ask for my address to send care packages. I really have just about everything here that I need. It’s the old foot soldiers as they used to be called, the infantry men and women who have it a lot worst than me. They are the ones who could really use the support. There are some very worthwhile programs who support them. Fisher House at Hines VA Hospital, Wounded Warrior Foundation, Marine Parents Organization, and where Nancy volunteer’s, OSOTIL (Operation Support Our Troops, Ill). Anyone interested in supporting the cause, I would appreciate donating to one of them instead of sending me packages. Thanks.

There has been a lot of noise around here lately. Every day I hear at least 3 or 4 times a day, blasts and gun fire. Sometimes it is the Army just shooting things off. Sometimes it is the real thing and a battle is going on. So there is still a war going on outside the my little Disneyland place. Sometimes we get see some of the injured. A lot of times they take the injured Iraqis to a local hospital.
The funny thing about the Army shooting things off is that about 2 or 3 minutes after the blast, then the PA systems announces that they are doing a controlled blast. Not sure what that is, I think they find an IED which they can’t disarm, so they blow it safely.

The medical system here is really self-service. I am told that when we transfer the Iraqis to one of their hospitals, they really don’t have much of a nursing staff. If the soldier doesn’t have family, he is screwed. It’s the family who changes the dressings, bathe them, even have to bring in food for them because the hospital doesn’t feed them. We usually only keep them a few days before they are shipped out. I try to get as much definitive care in as possible before they leave. We only keep them a short time because we are a small facility and don’t want to be tied down if American soldiers need us. I never want to hear complaints about nurses in America again. If someone complains, they should try recovering over here and see how they like it.

Tom

More Fun Things

Things are still going well. I am learning a lot of how they do things in the Army. Some are good, some ways are archaic, so I just go along with the flow and do OK.

I am learning about the Iraqi culture. A man is allowed to have more than one wife. I am not sure how they can afford it, but even some commoners have more than one wife. The other day, one of nurses was telling me about one Iraqi policeman who had 5 wives. If say 2 of them were fighting, he would call all 5 of them in, and hit them all to correct things. Man, imagine that going on in America. He would have been buried a long time ago.

The next little story I already emailed to some people, since it was funny, I thought I would put it here.

In category of "Lessons learned in Iraq" we have a pager system here that is pretty much next to completely useless. There are no phones here, very few cell phones. There is no phone in the ward, nor in my hut. There are phones in headquarters and main office for transferring patients and administrative things. So if they need me they page me and I have to go to the hospital to see what’s up. If I am at the gym or dining hall, a half mile away, they send somebody because the pagers don't go that far. So one night about a week ago, a nurse needed me for something. I didn't have a pager because I lost my original one, which they were real happy about. It wasn't too late, 10 PM, but then, I was in bed by 7-8PM. So the nurse comes over to my hut, she knocks on my door. I answer it, but forgot that the door opens out, not in. So when she opens the door out, I don't have a door to stand behind, so I am standing there in my boxers talking to this nurse. Funny thing is she has never knocked on my door since. Oh well, chalk that up to lessons learned.

Somewhere up the chain of command, I guess we are part of the Air Force command. Still not sure how that works, but I guess since we get a lot of soldiers flown in and we next to the airport, we are some division of the Air Force. The groups nickname is "Eagle Medics". The pic is right in front, first thing you see off the airfield. The other pic is my room.

Tom

Follow Up in Iraq

It has been a good week. I got a lot busier, mainly taking care of Iraqi soldiers and policemen. There was an IED bomb that I heard, kind of like the big white bangs that you hear at the 4th of July fireworks. Well, I got busy that day. The amazing thing is the character of these soldiers. When they first wake up after surgery, they first ask me if they still have their leg (the injuries usually involve their legs much more frequently than the arms).Fortunately so far I have said yes. The second thing they say to me is “thank you”. Man, that makes my day. Just hearing them say that knowing I helped them out is medicine at its finest. We do have limited equipment, but we get by and do Ok. Sometimes, I have to think on my feet because they don’t have what I am accustomed to working with, but hey, that’s life in the big city. Right? It’s a good day when I know I helped someone when they were having a bad day. Life is good.

Tom

Second week in Iraq

My sleep cycle is still out of whack. I usually fall asleep about 7-8 PM. Then wake up about 3 or 4 AM, and then I go work out. The temperature is usually 115 during the day. It cools off to 80 or 85 at night. Never thought I would consider 85 cool, but it really feels that way.

Unfortunately, I had to take care of my first US war casualty. He was touch and go for awhile. He finally pulled through and now he is on his way to Germany for further treatment.

These soldiers over here are simply amazing. In my clinics I see a lot of support personal, like either contractors or soldiers who do the supplies, repairs, staffing, etc. They are ok, but the real heroes are the infantry or troops who go out on missions every day, outside the wire as they say. They go out where it is not safe and do their jobs. When I see them in the clinic, I can’t keep them down to treat them. All they want is something to get them back on patrol. They won’t leave their battle buddies out there without them being out there with them. They will just suck it up, live with it and go back to their mission. The dedication of these guys is awesome. They are the real heroes who make a difference. I am one of the luckiest guys in the world to be privileged to help them. I am so lucky just to be among them. God has been so good to me. I thank Him for the honor.

For those of you in the OR, the picture is really what I wore on my first case. I can wear, and frequently do, wear my combat boots in the OR. I also wear my ACU pants. A lot of sterility and precautions seem to go out the window here. Quality control has not been invented here yet.
Tom