emails, meetings and

a migraine the size of Texas.

No really, I don’t have a headache at all, but am probably at risk tomorrow for caffeine withdrawal.

It has been just one of those days where email has flowed in faster than my ability to answer, delete or deal; there have been too many meetings and phone calls leaving little time to think.

The end result is that I have work in progress on all three systems sitting on my desk (plus need to log onto the NATO system on another desk), multiple piles of paper cluttering up the desk and a sense that things are spiraling out of control.

I could come up with several excuses (doing two jobs in addition to my own, staff officers who are trying hard but just don’t get it right the first couple of times, staff in other sections burning out at the 10 month mark) but it isn’t worth it. (Making excuses or complaining too much.) There is nothing any of us can do about self-invited “expert teams” that want to tell us how to manage certain aspects of care in theater (reference previous rants about MRIs) or scheduled VIP senior leadership except make sure that they hear what we have to say.

If you have not seen this site – iCasualties tracks all the fatalities by year, province, country of service member origin. Our (Allies) deaths certainly  don’t match those of the local country, but there is such a high cost.

Meanwhile, there are commands here in theater doing a fantastic job of delivering care, that have more expertise than any civilian facility in the US. No one is particularly happy that our surgeon’s know more about traumatic blast amputations than any trauma center in the US; it is just a fact of war. It is very difficult, but not impossible, to conduct research here. In no case should it compromise care or put additional burdens on an already short system.

I think I am going to take my two cans of Triple Mocha Energy Blend (Shock Ice Coffee) scored from Aviation DFAC home. Probably not for tonight, but one just might be what I need in the morning since their FAQ page reports one can is about = two cups of coffee. Now was that US or European Coffee?

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
This entry was posted in deployment, Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

7 Responses to emails, meetings and

  1. Ron says:

    I can confirm that civilian trauma surgeons do not have a clue on the field care of blast injuries or amputations. This was a big pissing match between people who were lining up their civilian academic appointments on their way out of the Army. None of them ever spent a day in a field OR in a theater of operation, they are now all professors of ortho in big name east coast programs. Civilian traumatic amputation is nothing like a blast injury amputation. Apples and Oranges.

  2. Steve says:

    Uh, makes me think of a couple of M*A*S*H episodes…
    Or maybe just send them out in the field and have all those high priced visitors do some real work….OUT IN THE FIELD and see how well they work after a few days of doing real work…

  3. Holly says:

    Oh, yes. These are the people, civilian and military alike who know everything without having ever experienced fear, cold, hunger or danger. But, since they are an “expert” none of that makes any difference.

  4. Beverley says:

    I just checked out the website. I like the idea of hypercaffeinated coffee! I wonder if it will catch on here? And the chocolate covered coffee beans sound great for those times when you just can’t get a cup of coffee. A real caffeine addict’s delight.

  5. Mary says:

    Sounds like you had a cazy Sat: I take it you didn’t get today off. Hope Sun is quieter for you!

  6. Ron says:

    You might take a look at recent literature on concussion and sports return to play. Hot button issue in sports med now. Just ended Brett Farve’s football contract of 20 million a year. They are are really upping the standards. Get those people out of there ASAP as ambulatory non urgent Air Evacs. The k- pot will hurt until they are healed. You don’t become a neurologist because you want to be a bold leader…

  7. Angeluna says:

    Really interesting newsfeed on that website.

Leave a Reply to Mary Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.