Power on.....Power off!

The new place we are staying in is fantastic, but all places here are at the mercy of the generator. The great thing is that the barracks were built to withstand a direct hit from a 105mm mortar round, the walls are between 6 and 12 inches thick, so the cold air from the air conditioning actually stays in the rooms while the power is out. Very nice. The windows are about an inch thick, looks like bullet proof glass, so needless to say I’m sleeping much better since moving into the NATO barracks! Shayna had her surgery on one of her legs on Thursday, it went very well. She said that she really didn’t have any pain afterward, just a lot of nausea, not fun. I’m glad the surgery went well, I was more worried for her than I was about being here! Haha. I told her that she had a host of nations thinking about her on Thursday and wishing her well, I guess it worked. I’m finally back in full swing and able to run without pain from my ankle that I twisted in training. I’m hitting between 6 and 8 miles every other day and feeling good. My weight is between 145 and 150 depending on which scale I use, not too bad. I’m on quit smoking day #11 as of the 7th of June, it’s going good. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHAYNA, you’re getting more beautiful every year, I’m very lucky! I also ran a 10K for the Canadian Air Force this past week, went well, finished it in 55 min. Well here is a brief synopsis of what we encountered this past week:
2 Jun: A local national died in the trauma bay, motorcycle accident, 9-line message 7 Afghans wounded, sent to another base.
4 Jun: 5 hour case, close abdominal wound, incise and drain other abdominal wounds, amputation right big toe (it actually fell off when we removed the bandage!), washout both legs (removed shrapnel), amputation left index finger, washout and close the neck wound. The next case was an anal condyloma (anal warts) case, don’t ask don’t tell! Haha.
6 Jun: 4.5 hour case, I scrubbed! Same as above without the amputations! Called in at 2330 (11:30 PM) for an appendectomy, got home at 0230.
That brings the Danish surgical team total to 35 surgeries since 16 MAY, not too bad.
Well that’s about it for this week, enjoy the pictures and I’ll be writing more next weekend. Shayna I love and miss you very much, happy birthday again, take it easy and heal well, everyone else take care and keep in touch.
Dave