Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Another child hit

Yesterday morning I was working on the flight gear I brought from Al Asad. Impact ventilator checks, monitor checks, re-supplying my flight bag and medications. When all was laid out, an IP patrol truck dropped off another young child after he was hit by a vehicle. Pelvic and femur fractures, including a left thigh filled with blood. (no compartment syndrome, but that was the least of his/our problems at the time). He was barely conscious, and we had to intubate him. He also suffered obvious head trauma, so we splinted his left femur fracture, applied an abdominal binder to tamponade (prevent bleeding into an open space) his pelvic area, started giving blood, and flew him to Balad (neurosurgeon on staff).
The afternoon held promise for yet more excitement. It was a little after 1 PM, and sure enough an explosion rattled our hut door. This was followed by another 30 seconds later. We rushed over to casualty receiving and waited for word from the Army tactical operations center (TOC)-after 20 minutes we figured out the explosions were outside the front gate. We also came to the broad assumption that nobody knew nothing else. Whatever it was, we didn't get any patients.

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4 comments:

Bag Blog said...

Yesterday, I could not get the pictures to work, but today they worked great. The big vehicles are amazing - I thought the Darth Vader mask was a nice touch.

Elizabeth said...

I just discovered you on the Sanbox last night. Very good writing and it helps to better build understanding of what our men and women are dealing with on a daily basis. Thank you!
You all are continuously in our prayers. Stay strong.
PS....Pink flamingoes, tiki torches or some little gnome men would look good outside those huts you live in!

Anonymous said...

Cool video-awesome music! Thanks for sharing!

Carl said...

Elizabeth, I think anything would be an improvement on those huts we live in!

Thanks for the feedback on the video...more coming!