Blast injury update

The lone surviving child from the IED blast last week came back thru our hospital yesterday. He and his father stopped thru from Balad Hospital back to his hometown, Haditha. His entire back and multiple posterior neck/head wounds are stapled. All are healing nicely. He may not have any physical scars after all is said and done with; lets pray the emotional scars are light and quickly adjusted to.
We also had more patients yesterday after an IED blast. One had to be flown to a Level III hospital after an ex-lap and bilateral tib/fib ex-fix. The rest were discharged back to their unit after overnight observation. We have started flying the Army flight nurses with us so they can see the different facilities we can MEDVAC to. Guess it's another sign that the "changing of the guard" will take place soon. Gee, and I just got here....
Other than that, I toured the Army's new Level III hospital today. They still have much preparation left to do. But the facility itself looks great: 12 bed fully capable ICU, and a 20 acute care ward. They plan to have 2 CT scanners (they have one right now, but it needs parts...a lot of parts). Looks like I get to stay a few weeks longer, but still going day to day with a big question mark over my head.

One small request: Would anyone be willing to send out swim goggles? The pool staff here have been incredible, and they are providing a much needed respite to all those at Al Asad. However, they are down to two pair of swim goggles, and are in desperate need of more.