An update. Events of 17 Dec 2006 through today and beyond.
Ok I will give a basic rundown of the situation thus far. My gun truck was hit on December 17 at night near Bayji, Iraq. I was the truck commander, riding in the passenger seat. We were at the front of the convoy, and seemed to have hit an anti tank mine. I was injured, sustaining a broken right femur and a fractured (think shattered) calcaneus (heel bone). I was medevaced to Speicher, where I was taken care of by the 399 CSH. In the wee hours of the morning of the 18th, the surgeons went in and put in an exofix to stabilize my femur for travel. It consisted of 4 narrow self tapping threaded rods that were screwed into the bone, then attatched to a larger carbon fiber rod that ran parallel to the bone, thus holding the femur in traction, and keeping the bone fairly lined up.
Late on the 22nd I left Speicher, on a C130. It flew North to Mosul, to pick up more casualties, then south to Balad. I waited a few hours there, then, early on the 23rd was loaded on a C17, which took me to Germany. I was taken to Landstul, Germany, where I spent the night in the hospital. Basically, that consisted of waiting hours for morphine, only to get small doses.
On the morning of the 24th, I was carted outside, where I smoked a cigarette on the litter in the chilly air, then was put on a rack on a bus to be driven back to the airport. Now I was stuck on a litter. The C17 was outfitted with a row of litter racks on each side. The racks are designed so the litters stack one above the other, 3 or 4 high, with only a couple of feet between the litters. Not the greatest comfort for a 9 hour flight to Washington DC. In DC I was brought a Christmas Eve dinner, which I barely picked at, because I didn't have much of an appetite at first.
The next morning, I was woken up for my flight to Texas. I was loaded on the litter, a nurse took me out a back door so I could smoke a quick cigarette, then headed to load on the buses to go back to the airport. We were turned around though, the flight had been delayed... So back to the room to wait a few hours, and we repeated the process. Covert cigarette, to the buses, wait for a bit, load up, head to the airport. I loaded up on a C17 headed to Ohio I think. There I was hauled to a C130 headed to Texas. For non military types, a C130 is a smaller cargo plane, with cargo net seats. For myself, the litter rack consisted of 2 hooks on the bars in the center of the plane, and 2 straps with adjustable hooks on them on the other side. The lighting is bad, so its hard to see whats going on. Anyway, we flew to Ft Hood, Texas, where we dropped off some passengers, then continued to Ft Bliss, Texas, which is where I am now.
I arrived here after dusk on Christmas. When I arrived at the hospital, taken by ambulance, I was carted to a room with the rest of the casualties brought in. One by one doctors showed up to assess each patient, then get us moving to wherever the next stop would be. I was taken directly to get a CT scan of my heel, then up to my room. My nurse heated me up a microwave dinner, since it was so late, and we talked for a bit. Later on I was called back down for Xrays, so I had those taken, then got to go to bed.
The next day, on the 26th, my Mom and brother were flown down from Utah. They arrived late, and they showed up at my room at about 1am the morning of the 27th. It was great to see them.
I had my next surgery that day, the 27th. It was a simple operation on my femur, they removed my exofix, and then ran a rod down the center of the bone, the entire length. They put 2 screws in at the top and 2 at the bottom, and it was good, ready to bear weight. When I woke up from that operation I was in incredible pain. At that point, it was the most severe pain I had ever felt. The doctors were quick to respond, even though it seemed like ages. They gave me a bunch of narcotics, and I quickly was able to start calming down. I ended up experiencing a lot of pain through the night and into the next day. In the morning my doctor decided that the splint was probably too tight, and decided to cut it off and call the cast guys to redo it. They came up in the afternoon to re splint the foot, which hurt pretty bad for a minute (Jess, you should recall this day). That night they changed the medication in my pump, and almost immediately I started getting drowsy.
Through the days, physical therapists started coming to work with me. At first I was on a walker, and could only make it to the door and back to my bed at first, winded and light headed. Soon, I started walking out into the hallway, then eventually around the ward. The Physical Therapists started bringing me crutches, and I was making a few trips around the ward at least 3 times a day, and I was spending most of my days in a chair out of my bed. Eventually, for the last few days before the next surgery, I was barely even using my pain meds. I felt great.
This last Thursday, the 11th, I went under the knife again, this time to repair the heel bone as much as possible. This time, to control the pain, they put in an epidural, which numbs the nerves from the waist down. At first it worked great, but the next morning it started wearing off. I realized the bag of sedative for the epidural was empty, and we got the Anesthesiologist there to replace the bag. He also gave me a couple of syringes of a stronger sedative, straight into the epidural catheter. That numbed me again, but after an hour, the strong sedative wore off, and I was back in pain, redefining my definition of severe pain. Finally, later in the day we got an anesthesiologist who determined that my epidural catheter had been pulled out a tiny bit, likely when I was being pushed and pulled back into my bed. He put in a new one, and I got a stronger mix for it, it was the sedative, with a narcotic mixed in. That did the trick, and I spent the next days with my legs completely limp. On the morning of the 14th, after having the epidural in for 3 1/2 days they removed it. I found a lot of my joints and muscles were sore, because that entire time I couldn't feel what position my legs were in, and they stayed stationary. Since then I have become more and more mobile, and the pain has gone down. Finally now I am walking a bit on the crutches, and will continue advancing and improving.
That surgery lasted 8 hours 15 minutes, and the bone reconstruction went quite well, considering what they had to work with. The only complication was the skin. The entire time my heel was broken, the skin had started to contract around the heel, since the bone was crushed and pushed up. Because of this, they had to pull the skin very tight to get it around the heel, and there is a chance that it will have trouble, perhaps start tearing at the stitches. Tomorrow, on the 19th, my doctor will unwrap my foot and take a look, and if there are problems I will need a skin and muscle graft to fix it.
If the skin is fine tomorrow, then as soon as I'm stable I will be able to go home on convalescent leave, which I am hoping will be about a week away. If the skin and muscle grafts are required, I am not sure how much longer I will be here in the hospital before I will be able to return home. I hope it doesn't take long.
I have had a lot of support from my friends and family through all this, my mom and brother came down right when I got here for a few days, then my uncle came down for a bit, followed my an aunt and cousin. Also another aunt was visiting my cousin, her daughter, in the Austin area, and they drove down with my cousins family to visit for a weekend. I have really appreciated the support, and its been great to have everyone show up.
To everyone still in Iraq, you all know I miss the hell out of you all. I think I have had a harder time with leaving you all over there than with being injured. I really look forward to April, when I will be able to see you all again. I will find you guys at Carson, and when I do, drinks are on me.
Late on the 22nd I left Speicher, on a C130. It flew North to Mosul, to pick up more casualties, then south to Balad. I waited a few hours there, then, early on the 23rd was loaded on a C17, which took me to Germany. I was taken to Landstul, Germany, where I spent the night in the hospital. Basically, that consisted of waiting hours for morphine, only to get small doses.
On the morning of the 24th, I was carted outside, where I smoked a cigarette on the litter in the chilly air, then was put on a rack on a bus to be driven back to the airport. Now I was stuck on a litter. The C17 was outfitted with a row of litter racks on each side. The racks are designed so the litters stack one above the other, 3 or 4 high, with only a couple of feet between the litters. Not the greatest comfort for a 9 hour flight to Washington DC. In DC I was brought a Christmas Eve dinner, which I barely picked at, because I didn't have much of an appetite at first.
The next morning, I was woken up for my flight to Texas. I was loaded on the litter, a nurse took me out a back door so I could smoke a quick cigarette, then headed to load on the buses to go back to the airport. We were turned around though, the flight had been delayed... So back to the room to wait a few hours, and we repeated the process. Covert cigarette, to the buses, wait for a bit, load up, head to the airport. I loaded up on a C17 headed to Ohio I think. There I was hauled to a C130 headed to Texas. For non military types, a C130 is a smaller cargo plane, with cargo net seats. For myself, the litter rack consisted of 2 hooks on the bars in the center of the plane, and 2 straps with adjustable hooks on them on the other side. The lighting is bad, so its hard to see whats going on. Anyway, we flew to Ft Hood, Texas, where we dropped off some passengers, then continued to Ft Bliss, Texas, which is where I am now.
I arrived here after dusk on Christmas. When I arrived at the hospital, taken by ambulance, I was carted to a room with the rest of the casualties brought in. One by one doctors showed up to assess each patient, then get us moving to wherever the next stop would be. I was taken directly to get a CT scan of my heel, then up to my room. My nurse heated me up a microwave dinner, since it was so late, and we talked for a bit. Later on I was called back down for Xrays, so I had those taken, then got to go to bed.
The next day, on the 26th, my Mom and brother were flown down from Utah. They arrived late, and they showed up at my room at about 1am the morning of the 27th. It was great to see them.
I had my next surgery that day, the 27th. It was a simple operation on my femur, they removed my exofix, and then ran a rod down the center of the bone, the entire length. They put 2 screws in at the top and 2 at the bottom, and it was good, ready to bear weight. When I woke up from that operation I was in incredible pain. At that point, it was the most severe pain I had ever felt. The doctors were quick to respond, even though it seemed like ages. They gave me a bunch of narcotics, and I quickly was able to start calming down. I ended up experiencing a lot of pain through the night and into the next day. In the morning my doctor decided that the splint was probably too tight, and decided to cut it off and call the cast guys to redo it. They came up in the afternoon to re splint the foot, which hurt pretty bad for a minute (Jess, you should recall this day). That night they changed the medication in my pump, and almost immediately I started getting drowsy.
Through the days, physical therapists started coming to work with me. At first I was on a walker, and could only make it to the door and back to my bed at first, winded and light headed. Soon, I started walking out into the hallway, then eventually around the ward. The Physical Therapists started bringing me crutches, and I was making a few trips around the ward at least 3 times a day, and I was spending most of my days in a chair out of my bed. Eventually, for the last few days before the next surgery, I was barely even using my pain meds. I felt great.
This last Thursday, the 11th, I went under the knife again, this time to repair the heel bone as much as possible. This time, to control the pain, they put in an epidural, which numbs the nerves from the waist down. At first it worked great, but the next morning it started wearing off. I realized the bag of sedative for the epidural was empty, and we got the Anesthesiologist there to replace the bag. He also gave me a couple of syringes of a stronger sedative, straight into the epidural catheter. That numbed me again, but after an hour, the strong sedative wore off, and I was back in pain, redefining my definition of severe pain. Finally, later in the day we got an anesthesiologist who determined that my epidural catheter had been pulled out a tiny bit, likely when I was being pushed and pulled back into my bed. He put in a new one, and I got a stronger mix for it, it was the sedative, with a narcotic mixed in. That did the trick, and I spent the next days with my legs completely limp. On the morning of the 14th, after having the epidural in for 3 1/2 days they removed it. I found a lot of my joints and muscles were sore, because that entire time I couldn't feel what position my legs were in, and they stayed stationary. Since then I have become more and more mobile, and the pain has gone down. Finally now I am walking a bit on the crutches, and will continue advancing and improving.
That surgery lasted 8 hours 15 minutes, and the bone reconstruction went quite well, considering what they had to work with. The only complication was the skin. The entire time my heel was broken, the skin had started to contract around the heel, since the bone was crushed and pushed up. Because of this, they had to pull the skin very tight to get it around the heel, and there is a chance that it will have trouble, perhaps start tearing at the stitches. Tomorrow, on the 19th, my doctor will unwrap my foot and take a look, and if there are problems I will need a skin and muscle graft to fix it.
If the skin is fine tomorrow, then as soon as I'm stable I will be able to go home on convalescent leave, which I am hoping will be about a week away. If the skin and muscle grafts are required, I am not sure how much longer I will be here in the hospital before I will be able to return home. I hope it doesn't take long.
I have had a lot of support from my friends and family through all this, my mom and brother came down right when I got here for a few days, then my uncle came down for a bit, followed my an aunt and cousin. Also another aunt was visiting my cousin, her daughter, in the Austin area, and they drove down with my cousins family to visit for a weekend. I have really appreciated the support, and its been great to have everyone show up.
To everyone still in Iraq, you all know I miss the hell out of you all. I think I have had a harder time with leaving you all over there than with being injured. I really look forward to April, when I will be able to see you all again. I will find you guys at Carson, and when I do, drinks are on me.