Mother's Day

This morning started with a bang, literally.  Tovar, Col McNeill and I were walking to the gym at 0330 this morning when we heard a loud "bang".  We quickly ran for the cover of the bunkers, only there were no bunkers to be found.  We didn't hear the alarm and no one else was running so we decided it must have been an MRAP backfiring.  Later when we were walking back from the gym, we heard a loud explosion. Col McNeill and I just looked at each other and decided it was a controlled det, and we weren't notified. 

Unbeknownst to us, it was an IED.  Two Air Force members found it this morning while patrolling the perimeter.  They didn't find it without injury.  Both members are ok but both had amputations. A third victim I just learned was the dog.  Apparently, we here at CJTH will also care for the military working dogs if they suffer injuries during battle.

I'm sure PETA would be very proud!

The day was going as normal and then I tried to advocate for my patient because the doc I was working with was much too involved with his phone to listen to me.  A patient we had been monitoring all day for an aortic aneurysm was going to fly unmonitored to Germany.  Not only was he going to fly unmonitored but they wanted to start him on a new cardiac med he had never taken.  I had an issue with that and after going through the gamut of docs passing the buck, one finally said "d/c the Toprol."  So I didn't give it to him.  The original doc was angry and I had to remind him of the conversation we had while he was playing with his phone. 

So I went to dinner and had the usual meal, and the Fluor lady was passing out Mother's Day packages...mine had a box of Kotex in it!  Karma maybe?

I don't think I will forget this Mother's Day in particular.  I did, however, get to talk to the boys and they are so looking forward to snuggles when I get home and that's what I will have on my mind tonight when I close my eyes to sleep.  Happy Mother's Day to all my friends.