Alotta can't waits!

Can’t wait to get home, can’t wait to see my beautiful wife Shayna, can’t wait to get my new Explorer, can’t wait to drive to Wisconsin from California, can’t wait to see my family and friends in Ohio/Kentucky, can’t wait to see Shayna’s family, can’t wait to take a shower without shower shoes and for longer than 3 minutes, can’t wait to walk on carpeting barefoot, can’t wait to play with Mohinder our cat and there are many more “can’t waits” but I don’t think that my computer’s memory would be able to store them! Time is chugging along here, not too busy but not too slow, just perfect. The schedule change that I was complaining about before really isn’t that bad, although it still is a change that didn’t need to be made, but I’m still very happy to be leaving very soon!

The pictures of this week are of me in the duty tent. Thank goodness I had my last overnight duty for the tour the other day. For you that have been here before, we are now manning the hospital with an OR team for 24 hours. Is it a good idea, well put it this way, it would have been a good idea in July and August when we were really busy but unfortunately we did not have the manning in order to be able to do it. Now, on the other hand, it is kind of a waste of sleep for the on call team (because of the jet, helicopter and generator noise) since the workload has dwindled since the summer. I’m sure once it gets busier it will be nice to be right there and walk into the OR when needed.

Shayna is doing great, one more week with the straight leg immobilizer on her left leg and then she’s off and running, well not literally yet, but she’ll be free of all artificial devices on her legs, finally. She has started with a physical therapist that is really putting her mind to ease. She said that it was really funny because before joining the Navy she used to volunteer at the same place and the same therapist is there. I really hope everything goes great for her.

Goodbye and good luck to team number 2 that left last night. I have to admit that I was jealous when I was returning from work at 2230 and they were getting ready to load onto the vehicle to take them to the terminal. Only a small amount of time and I’ll be in their position! Woohoo!

Hours worked:
26 OCT 09: 9 Hours
28 OCT 09: 12 Hours
30 OCT 09: 9 Hours

# CAUSES OF SURGERY AS OF 30 OCT 09
115 GSW
132 IED
8 SVBIED
19 SUICIDE BOMBER
13 ROCKET ATTACK
49 NBI
7 MINE
9 AIR STRIKE (SAME PATIENT 9 SURGERIES)
7 MVA
1 GRENADE INJURY

Shayna I love and miss you very much, everyone else take care and see you soon!

Dave

Happy 90th Birthday Grandma!!

Just wanted to let everyone know that my Grandma is now 90 years old, and doesn’t look a day over 40! That's a huge accomplishment, I hope to be around as long as she has and still look as good! Happy birthday to you Grandma and I hope you have a great day! Last year my dad told me that she turned 90 so I got some flowers for her and the card said Happy 90th Birthday, the problem was that she was turning 89! Needless to say the Davis males are really bad at remembering people’s ages! Haha.

I’ve run over 250 miles since being deployed. To put that in perspective it’s like running from Cincinnati to Cleveland and turning around to start back to Cincy. Not too bad. Speaking of Cincy, I guess we are sharing first place with the Steelers, we’re still in first though! Now we just have to beat the Steelers to retake first, no problem! I’m sure they’ll pull it through.

The first picture this week is of the DFAC Pack, DFAC is short for dining facility. We all started eating together around 2 months ago and found out that we are all football fans, all married, and all without children, so we had a lot in common. It’s been great getting to know the guys and having a ritual at 1730 every day as long as one of us isn’t stuck working! Pictured from left to right is Dr. Sam Gao, CDR Todd Stein, me and HM1 Parris Mason. Sam is the first to be kicked off Survivor Kandahar and should be on his way home now. Next will be Parris followed shortly by Todd and I. Sam is going back to Portsmouth, VA, Parris to San Diego, Todd to Japan and I’m going back to Lemoore California. It’s been great knowing you guys, thanks for making the deployment enjoyable as possible! Go Bengals! The second picture is of the entire OR staff from the US, Holland, and Canada. Some of the people are missing from the photo due to a race that was held this morning. Most of the people in the photo are part of the incoming team, I sure hope they have as good and rewarding deployment as we have. Good luck guys!

Shayna had her left eternal fixator removed on the 23rd and is ready to hit the gym! She has to wear a brace for 2 weeks and then it’s back onto the workout train. She can’t wait and I’m very proud of her being able to deal with me being gone, carrying a 4.0 average in her Master’s studies, and going through the trials of major surgeries. You did great babe.

We saw some of the people we trained with in Ft. Jackson on their way home form Bastion. They are lucky that they are going home early, but they were unlucky in a sense that they had it a lot worse than we did here in Kandahar. They were in tents the entire time and the food was terrible. I guess from what I’m hearing the working environment was not friendly at all working with the British, that’s too bad. We’ve had great surgical teams throughout this deployment, regardless what country the personnel were from. Welcome back to Anne, Spencer, Toth, Trudeau, Schneider, etc. I hope you have a great trip home.
Hours worked:
18 OCT 09: 7 Hours
20 OCT 09: 7 Hours
22 OCT 09: 12 Hours
24 OCT 09: 13 Hours

# CAUSES OF SURGERY AS OF 24 OCT 09
115 GSW
132 IED
7 SVBIED
13 SUICIDE BOMBER
13 ROCKET ATTACK
49 NBI
7 MINE
9 AIR STRIKE (SAME PATIENT 9 SURGERIES)
7 MVA
1 GRENADE INJURY

That’s about it from Kandahar, only a couple of weeks left, woohoo! Shayna I love and miss you very much and I’ll see those sexy legs soon! Everyone else take care and I’ll be seeing you.

Dave

Another Week Down

That’s it, I guess I’m officially Dutch! Thanks to Linda DeJager and team NOODLES for sending out the Dutch wooden clog slippers, they don’t quite go with my Army ACUs though! They are actually coming in handy, it’s getting pretty chilly in the rooms now that the weather is cooling off outside, it’s only 85 degrees during the day now, brrrrrr. Thanks again Linda from Jere and I both, the candy is great!

The second picture this week is of the second Dutch team that I’ve worked with while deployed. We have our heads in the middle of the CT scanner, no it’s not a giant doughnut! Haha. The white swirly things on the picture could be one of two things. 1) could be ghosts of CT patients past, or 2) could be the reflection from the flash on the glass ring in the CT scanner. I’d like to think that it’s the previous, because that would be just way cool! The names of everyone starting with me and working clockwise is, Me, Mike, Sanne, Esther, Jere and Jolanda. It has been a great team to work with, as with the first Dutch team and the Danish. I’ll certainly miss all of them, they’ve taught me a lot and made me laugh.

I was sitting with Mike, our Dutch anesthesiologist, and he asked me if I could name all 50 states that the stars represent on our flag. I said sure, so he challenged me. I got 47 and he got 43 correct! It really made me feel bad because not only did he get 43 correct, he also got a majority of the capitals correct also. I was really embarrased because I couldn’t even tell him where Netherlands was located on a map! I have always been terrible with geography and it definitely showed during that conversation!

Bengals in first place in their division, wow! It’s been quite a while since we were able to say that, go Carson Palmer, you rock! Sorry to all of you Steeler, Ravens, and Browns fans, well not really! Haha. Hopefully we can hold out until we make it to the playoffs. We’ll see.

22 days left. That felt pretty good typing that, I think I’ll do it again, 22 days left! It’s been a great ride so far, hopefully everything continues to go smoothly for the remainder of the time. We have been getting a little busier, which is bad for the patients but good for us because time is flying by. I’ve been spending a little more time in the horizontal time accelerator (the bed)! It seems to work really well, I actually stole that name from Chad Deaton who I was deployed with to Ramadi. He was the master of the accelerator!

Shayna gets her left external fixator off on 23 OCT, and she is really excited with a little nervousness thrown in there. She hopes that the surgery will do the trick and help her get around a little better. I just told her that there will be some aches and pains associated with the surgery but they will pass over time, especially with her working out so much. She’ll probably be able to bench press me soon!

Hours worked:
11 OCT 09: 12.5 Hours
14 OCT 09: 17 Hours
16 OCT 09: 12 Hours

# CAUSES OF SURGERY AS OF 16 OCT 09
111 GSW
126 IED
7 SVBIED
13 SUICIDE BOMBER
13 ROCKET ATTACK
48 NBI
6 MINE
9 AIR STRIKE (SAME PATIENT 9 SURGERIES)
6 MVA

Well that about does it for this week in exciting Kandahar. I can’t wait to see you Shayna, everyone else take care!
Dave








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Morality ends....

When does morality end and reality start? That was a big discussion between some of the newbies and us. I am of the firm stance that the “detainees” are pieces of you know what and they should be treated that way. Of course that got the attention of a lot of the people around me and I was immediately blasted by them stating that deep down inside they are people also. Obviously they have not seen the carnage that we have been exposed to thus far caused directly by the “detainees who are people deep down inside“, we’ll see how their attitude is about halfway through their deployment. I’ve been in many cases where a coalition fighter has passed due to the piece of crap that is sitting in the trauma bay awaiting treatment. Don’t get me wrong, I will do everything humanely possible to save a life and have done so, no matter who’s it is, but who they are and what they stand for is always in the back of my mind. Much like Ramadi, Iraq when we had two higher ranking US individuals brought to us with massive gunshot wounds to their heads, dead. The person who was responsible for their wounds was on our OR table, that is a very tough thing to go through. Hopefully the new team doesn’t have to deal with situations like that and they can go on believing that the Taliban are good people deep down inside. Woohoo! Sorry about that, I just had to get that off of my chest, it was bothering me! Haha.
The pictures this week are of me sitting and waiting on a trauma in the background, we ended up bringing him to the OR to treat a gunshot wound, basic washout, no big deal. The sign is of Trauma Baywatch, I guess I’m David Hasselhoff, sp? Haha. The OR team always stands in this area and watches the bays to see what surgeries we will be doing, thus Baywatch.
Shayna is doing great. She is going to have her first meeting with the USAF officer recruiter this upcoming week. Hopefully all goes well. She wants to start communicating with them now to get herself recognized and on the front page of their minds, smart move. She will be finishing her Master’s degree mid-next year and the qualification test for the USAF should be complete by then. After that it should be just a waiting game to see if she gets in or not. If she is not selected then she is going to turn her sights on the Army. Either way she will have a rewarding experience, and not in direct danger which is a good thing!

Hours worked:
5 OCT 09: 7 Hours
7 OCT 09: 11 Hours
9 OCT 09: 16 Hours
# CAUSES OF SURGERY AS OF 9 OCT 09
108 GSW
122 IED
7 SVBIED
13 SUICIDE BOMBER
12 ROCKET ATTACK
45 NBI
6 MINE
9 AIR STRIKE (SAME PATIENT 9 SURGERIES)
6 MVA
Another week down, about 4 to go, piece of cake. Shayna I love and miss you very much, can’t wait to see you. Everyone else take care and keep in touch.
Dave








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Don't fix what's not broken.......right!

I really wish more people lived by that motto! With the new US team coming on board, changes came also. We hoped it wouldn’t happen but it’s typical for a new team to try to re-invent the wheel. Everything in the OR has been running smooth as silk since May, through two of the busiest months ever recorded in Kandahar, and yet the changes are happening. Needless to say the OR and a majority of the hospital is pretty ticked off right now. Some of the changes will be beneficial, but all of the changes were instituted without input from all of the key players, OR nurses, Anesthesia, etc. One person had the ideas and the freedom to put them in place and everyone else has to play along. It’s too bad. All I keep saying to myself is 34 days left, 34 days left, 34 days left! Haha.

The number of OR cases has definitely dwindled away, to nothing on some days. It’s really strange to go from 100 miles an hour to 0. It’s really good because people are not getting hurt, but boring for us unfortunately. Many people are saying that it’s the calm before the storm, boy I sure hope it isn’t! The new teams have been going through a lot of training exercises so hopefully they’ll be ready to rock when the time comes.

This week, Wednesday, we had our Hail and Farewell for the US Navy coming in and the Canadians leaving. It was a great party, non-alcoholic beer for everyone! Haha. The picture is of me and HM2 Diaz, he works in the trauma bays, his grass skirt was strangely turning me on! Just kidding! It was a nice get together, time to kick the heels up and relax with good friends, food and music. Welcome Navy and we’ll definitely miss everyone that is leaving soon, it’s been one hell of a ride! I tried loading a picture that is a take on the Brady Bunch, instead we called it the DUTCHUS Bunch! Haha. It wouldn't work because it's a power point picture, I'll try to put it in the picture gallery. The second is of me and Bryan Fox, I worked with him in Portsmouth, VA, it’s nice to see him again.

Shayna has about 3 weeks left with the external fixator on. She’s doing great. Her second semester of Master’s classes is just about over and she is still kicking butt! Way to go hun. Everyone that I work with from the Dutch team is hoping that Shayna gets stationed in Germany when she joins back up so we can go up to the Netherlands to visit, also to hit Denmark to see the people from the Danish team. That would be fantastic. We’ll see.

The totals for September are in, as I stated earlier we have been doing less cases but spending about the same amount of time in the OR. August we did 201 surgeries, September we did 117! What a change.

I’ve got my averages for runs and weight for September. I averaged 4.45 miles per run at an average pace of 8:36 and the weight was averaged at 144.4 pounds, not too bad, holding steady!


Hours worked:
27 SEP 09: 7 Hours
29 SEP 09: 7 Hours (no cases again!?)
1 OCT 09: 12 Hours
3 OCT 09: 12 Hours

# CAUSES OF SURGERY AS OF 3 OCT 09
106 GSW
119 IED
7 SVBIED
13 SUICIDE BOMBER
10 ROCKET ATTACK
42 NBI
6 MINE
9 AIR STRIKE (SAME PATIENT 9 SURGERIES)
6 MVA

That’s about it for this week, only about 4 entries to go and them I’m homeward bound, can’t wait! Shayna I love and miss you very, very much, everyone else take care and I’ll be seeing you soon!

Dave








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