Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Having a Blast

C-CAT (critical care air transport) brought in 3 new guys this afternoon with unstable spine injuries from IED blast. I've already operated on 3 others in the past week for anterior spinal fusion at the same L1 level. Apparently all these types of injuries have occurred when a heavily armored vehicle is blown up - the soldiers are wearing body armor and are strapped into their seats, but the force of the blast catapults the vehicle up into the air and the spine is crushed on their return to earth. The docs here say that we've been much busier than in recent memory. I'm in the OR almost every day, and have also put in 1 IVC filter with another scheduled tomorrow (thanks to PEMC IR staff for my training!).

I sneaked out for a couple of hours today for a hike up to the town castle, located on top of a steep hill above town. Photos to follow in next posting.

2 comments:

  1. Sounds like you are having one crazy time there. Love the photos!

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  2. The pics are great - glad to hear you're having a great time. I'm jealous.

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