Sutures

A nice thing about being a medic in the army is that we often get to do things that we wouldn't in the civilian world. As civilians, our scope of practice is dictated by laws that limit what we, as EMTs or paramedics, can do. In the army, the supervising doctor determines a medic's scope of practice. If he is willing to sign-off on a procedure, then we may procede with it. For example, I had the opportunity to perform some suturing for my first time recently. Posted below are some before and after pictures. They're not perfect, but it was my first time after all.

After. 

Before. 

What Medics Do In Their Spare Time...

Today we did a 12-lead EKG on me. We were playing around with the automatic blood-pressure machine when someone noticed that my pulse rate was lower than normal. We didn't really need to do an EKG, but its fun to practice these things. The readout said that my ticker was beating normally.

"It says you are dying!" 

Sunrise

After seeing the sun rise and set everyday for nearly six months, one can become a little desensitized to the beauty of it. Sleeping-in begins to be far more appealing than watching this fleeting spectacle. Every now and then, however, one comes along that can still inspire awe.

The sun shines on a dog's behind sometimes. 

This is going to be fun to clean up 

I Thought This Was a "Desert"

Its been raining now for about two days now with no signs of letting up. The average annual rainfall in this area is 5.5 inches/year, and I'm certain we've surpassed that by now. Everywhere are puddles and mud. Of course, business goes on as usual, but is a bit messier. The guys on patrol apparently get stuck fairly often and come back caked in mud. Half of the clinic floor is under an inch of water. Alas, I don't think there will be any mud-wrestling.

Unexpected Mission

Last week we went out to the range to test-fire and set the sights on our new M-4 rifles. The M-4 is similar to the M-16 but shorter and lighter with a telescoping stock.

While we were out there we got a call from our command that we needed to set up a roadblock somewhere. After we'd sighted our weapons, we went to the location.

I was riding in the Armored Security Vehicle (ASV) pictured below. It is quite a nice vehicle. Its got a very smooth ride and comfortable seating (at least for the passenger). There are only 77 of these in Iraq right now, but there are plans for more soon.

Once our block was set, quite a crowd amassed down the road. We didn't stray too far from our vehicles, as some in the crowd were armed (for protection). Civilian semi-truck drivers are especially well armed, as they are often the target of insurgents and bandits. Fortunately for us, the vast majority of the Iraqi people wish us no harm.

Getting ready to go. 

Iraqi National Guardsmen... somehow always happy. They came by our roadblock. 

This is the infamous camelspider. Someone brought it in to the clinic to have it identified. Camelspiders are not actually spiders, they are "psuedoscorpions." Their bite is not venomous and they are not a threat to humans (as long as you don't try to pet them). This one was about an inch and a half long. 

Living Conditions

You can see from the pictures below how we're living. The floor is usually not that dirty, but it rained the night before I took that picture. When the clay-like soil around here gets wet it sticks to everything. Because of this we have covered the majority of our camp with pea rock.

Soon new trailers will be arriving. Rumor has it that they will be divided up so that there will be two people per room. They will also be climate controlled (heat and AC) and much easier to keep clean. Everyone is looking forward to the upgrade, but it will be a lot of work. I believe the effort will prove worthwhile once the heat of summer hits.

It's ugly and it's dusty, but it is home for now. Newly rewired. 

I never thought I'd use my loft-building skills again after college... 

Convoy

These pictures were taken a few weeks ago when I went out on a convoy.

You can see a little of the traditional muslim attire in the first picture. Note also that not all of Iraq is desert. In fact, much of it is very green. The area of land between the Tigres and the Euphrates rivers is very fertile. This is where most of the population resides.

The mosques that we saw in Baghdad were awesome. They all have the onion-top and one or two minarets.

Some Iraqi children waiting for the schoolbus. 

A mosque in Baghdad that we passed. 

The Clinic

Below I've posted some pictures of the clinic that I work in. I spend the majority of my time here, and I'm sure it will become like a second home. We see a large variety of illnesses and injuries. We treat most everything here, but once in a while we get something that we are not able to. These cases we medevac (short for medical evacuation) via Blackhawk helicopter to a larger facility.

This is our humble clinic. 

The front desk of the clinic. 

The treatment area. 

This is part of our pharmacy.