So I’ve been in the hospital for the last few days with what is called a Non-Battle Injury. In other words, I was not wounded in battle, I had an urgent healthcare matter that required surgery.  I got a whirlwind tour of the medical evacuation system for Iraq and Kuwait in the process.  I have to say it works pretty well, especially if you are litter bound.  I was medevac’d from my FOB to the Combat Surgical Hospital, CSH, in Mosul.  They did an evaluation and decided I needed surgery. An hour or so later I was in surgery.  Can’t really say too much about how that went as they gave me some really good sedatives and a spinal block.  I woke up shortly after the surgery in the recovery room numb from the belly button down.  Strange experience trying to get up and walk when you can’t feel anything below your umbilicus.  I was placed in the ICW for monitoring and was treated pretty darned well.  They gave me civilian clothes to wear on the ward, brought in food, and made sure I was a comfortable as I could get for the pain I was in.  I took some pain meds at first, but I hate the feeling they give you so I pretty much just dealt after that.

The surgeon told me I was headed to Kuwait for recovery, which didn’t seem to make sense to me, but I went along with it.  It wasn’t like I really had a choice.  So the next morning I boarded a Mercy Flight bound for Kuwait with a bunch of other soldiers.  It struck me that there was only one litter patient on the entire C-130, and he wasn’t a Battle Injury.  In fact, there weren’t any on our flight!  I guess that says something about the way things are progressing here.  The flight medic gave me a blanket to sit on for comfort, and we spent the next several hours flying through the theater picking up and dropping off patients.  It wasn’t until we reached Kuwait, and somebody read the orders that were in my packet, that I was told I could have ridden the stretcher due to my surgical wounds. Anyway, we arrived and were unloaded straight into the CASF in Kuwait.  The CASF is U.S.Air Force controlled, like the mercy flights, and they were really efficient in getting us bedded into the ward and comfortable.  Since everyone with me was considered ambulatory, we had to walk to chow, but we were given the freedom to go anywhere we needed.  I was in a lot of pain, and walking was just not in the cards for me, but I did manage dinner.  The CASF was about 200 feet from the DFAC so I shuffled over there and actually ate dinner with real plates and silverware!  I had almost forgotten what that was like.  Anyway, after dinner I took a shower, cleaned my wound, and proceeded straight to bed.

The next day we were bused over to Arifjan and the Navy Hospital there.  After checking in they gave me an appointment and another bus ride to the “Recovery Unit.” The reason that is in quotes is that it was basically a warehouse where they filed away patients until they had appointments.  They had Navy Corpsman there, but if anything serious happened, or you needed meds, they had to carry you back over to the hospital.  The chow hall, showers, etc were at the very limits of my walking ability, and I had to walk to the bus stop to make my appointment the following day.  There were no non-ambulatory patients there, so don’t think the unit is uncaring or badly managed, but at this point I was kinda wishing I had known about the Litter option!  After speaking with the Navy Surgeon, he agreed I could come back to my FOB and recover with light duty in our BAS.  After all I am a medic, and I can work there and avoid such painful things as humvee rides and wearing armor for a few days.

So I boarded another bus, rode back to the airport on the non-patent side, bunked up, and started the long process of getting back. It took two days and two stops, finally getting in this morning about 0600 on a chopper. All in all, I would have to rate the theater medical evacuation system as good.  I got where I needed to quickly, and patients were cared for appropriately.  True emergencies go even quicker by dedicated means straight to hospitals, FSTs, etc.  The only real complaint I have, is that nowhere in the system did anyone contact my unit and update my status.  I gave them the right info, but it just didn’t happen.  In fact, no one knew exactly where I was till I was headed home and could finally get to a working computer and email the unit.

This has been the most excruciatingly painful experience I can ever recall.  Not because of the care, but because of the surgery location and having no real comfortable way to sit, lay down, or walk. Its not that the pain itself is that excruciating, its just constantly there. I thought I was doing pretty well with it until a little while ago.  I hadn’t been in any real serious pain all day, but then it hit me like a wave.  I even became nauseous.  I thought I’d be able to get back into patrol rotation in a few days, but now I am not so sure.  Maybe I ought to just cool my jets and “recover” properly, but I hate sitting around twiddling my thumbs, especially with my guys still outside the wire daily.  I feel sort of like I am letting them down by not being there, whether its my fault or not. 

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