21 DEC 2007 Suicide Bombing

21 DEC 2007 Suicide Bombing

It’s a little after midnight, and I’m spent. I’ve operated for about 18 hours today. We had a sudden rush of patients after a suicide bombing in a city near us. http://www.abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=4032612 We received several injured US troops, and they had us busy in the OR for a while. I also helped put an IV in to a baby who had been shot in the head. How did it happen? All I was told was that it was an accident. There are no accidents. Another troop was treated for intentionally hurting himself. He said he only wounded himself because he couldn’t drum up the nerve to kill himself. He was waiting in line for the OR, surrounded by the other troops who had been wounded while patrolling. Later when he was tucked into the ward after surgery, the commander visited the other troops to give them their Purple Hearts. They all have a period of recovery ahead of them.

Earlier in the morning, today, there was a USO Christmas concert featuring Kid Rock, Robin Williams, Lance Armstrong, Miss USA Rachel Smith, Lewis Black, and others. The morning started out quite cold. I was wishing I had worn my gloves as I walked into the hospital. By the time the show started, the sun had taken a little of the chill out of the air. Unfortunately I missed the show because I was operating on the little boy who had to be brought back to our hospital after he had vomiting at home. As people heal, they form scare, inside and out. For him, his internal scars had caused a blockage of his intestine. We had to operate to release those scars so his intestines would work again.

A few of the surgeons made the show, and they said that it was a good time. They were surprised to see that Robin Williams joined Kid Rock for one of his encores to play the harmonica. This crew is doing eight shows in six days. They have quite a busy schedule. They got stuck on one base because of bad weather and had to sleep in barracks. All the men ended up in one tent while Miss USA had her own. Apparently Lance Armstrong related that Robin Williams and Kid Rock snore. Kid Rock retorted that Lance was flatulent in his sleep, but he expressed it in more colorful verbiage. They all agreed that Robin Williams was the hairiest man they had ever seen. They haven’t met my friend M. from back home!

I’m sorry that I missed the show, but I know I wouldn’t have enjoyed it knowing that the boy was waiting for his surgery. Some of the celebrity visitors to our base tour the hospital, but they were moving too fast today to stop. A few of the wounded soldiers who were well enough to make the trip were bussed to the stadium, so that was good.

Well, it’s nice to take a break, but that’s about all I’ve got. I think that some Pringles, Gatorade and more cowbell will be just the prescription I need. Take care, sleep tight.

C