On a lighter note, yesterday I went to the annual Wurstmarkt at the town of Bad Durkheim. It's billed as the world's biggest winefest, and the town has the world's biggest wine barrel with a restaurant inside. Pictures take forever to upload, so I'll post them later...
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Weekend
Not much letup in the unit on the weekend. There are both incoming and outgoing patients. Some are sent back to the States still on the vent but otherwise pretty stable. It seems like most of the incoming are from blasts (IED's) rather than GSW. I've seen a couple of vascular injuries that have already been fixed with vein grafts downrange. Today, Sunday, I explored a guy with an horrific leg injury from IED who lost his pulses during an ortho wound washout. His tibia and fibula were so badly comminuted that I exposed his T-P trunk from his lateral leg wound. Luckily his vessels were not thrombosed, but in extreme spasm - he may need an amp anyway because of the huge soft tissue defect.
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Jay,
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to hear that you are finding time to relax and see the area too. Can't wait to see the new pictures.
Hey jc,
ReplyDeleteThis just occurred to me....did you actually plan this trip for the upcoming Oktoberfest....or is this a BIG coincidence? Hmmmmmm.
It sounds like you are doing some amazing work over there...not your run-of-the-mill vascular surgery. These guys really need you and it is so very kind of you to be there and give them the help they need. It puts what tends to be an often forgotten effort back into my mind. Thanks for doing this Jay and for reminding us there are many ways we can help and remember what is going on during this occupation.
Hang in there...don't drink to much beer...and remember, weinerschnitzel is not a weiner.
Proste!
-Sophia B.