From Afghanistan...

As we start our final year....I wanted to share a story that was just emailed over from my best friend, whose sister is serving in the Airforce in Afghanistan as an ER Nurse. Wow, truly amazing. Good luck and happy studying to all in our final semesters!

From Afghanistan...

The last few days have been very exciting here. Not only b/c we are allgetting ready for the end of August, but our patient tempo has picked upalso.We've been busy since I have been here. I have touched a lot of lives, butI have to tell you about one story in particular that literally made my deployment worth it this week!!

Friday (17th) we were pretty busy in the ER. We had normal ER patients,but we also got a few traumas in. One patient we were waiting on was an American who was severely injured when a sniper hit him with a bullet. The story is this soldier was wearing all his protective equipment, but the sniper picked the one spot that wasn't covered by his kevlar vest. Thebullet pierced the R side of his chest and played pin ball with his insides until it exited out his back. We were expecting him for many hours. We had to extend our time b/c we were told that at the place he was at, he began to crash (b/c of internal bleeding) and they had to take him back into the OR to save him. We weren't even sure he was going to make it here alive.

A few hours later, we got the call that he was coming and he was extremely critical. He had already received 32 blood products down range, he had 4 chest tubes, already lost a kidney and he was bleeding from his liver.

As soon as the medevac landed, we rushed him into the trauma bay. The directions were, "get blood and get him to the OR!" I was working at thebedside and he looked awful. He was intubated, had blood all over him andhad so many tubes coming out of him. He was in and out of our department in 10 minutes and onto the OR. I held 15 bags of fluids/blood etc andraced to the OR with him and the OR staff. At the doors of the OR, the labtech came to me and said, "do you think he is going to need more blood?" Isaid "definately!" He told me that we only had 8 more units of O+ blood in the hospital and he would need to make a call for blood donors. I told himto start making the calls.

Once I got back to the ER, I looked down at my scrub top and I had some ofhis blood on it. I was praying he would make it through the surgery, but Iwas worried b/c he was pretty bad!

A few hours went by and I finished up my shift. Chris (that's his name)was still in the OR. I had already been called to donate blood, but I wasstill working so I told them I would be down once I got off shift. So, Igot off work, went over to the blood donation area expecting only a few folks to be there. There were at least 20 people in line to donate blood.My eyes began to swell with tears. I stood in line and started filling out my paperwork just as a soldier came in to the hospital. He said he was amedic and would like to help. The blood donation folks were overwhelmed with patients, so they had him take vital signs.

I waited for 2 hours until I could donate my blood. I was #125. Once Iwas finished donating, I checked on Chris. He was still in the OR andstill alive. I passed one of the OR nurses on the way out and asked how he was doing. She told me that he was still holding his own, but had more damage than what the surgeons expected. That one bullet did so muchdamage! i asked her how much blood product they had gone through and she told me they were up to 40+!

I left the hospital and as I was walking home, I heard over the "loud voice" 'all available blood donors to the hospital.' I wondered how many people would come. I found out the next day that there was a line out thehospital driveway and down to the street. The blood donation folkscollected over 60 units of whole blood! All for one soldier...amazing!

I woke up on Saturday praying that Chris had made it through surgery. Iwalked into the ICU for my shift and saw him in bed 1. Whew...I thought.Now, I just have to keep him alive until we can get him to Germany. Iasked if I could take him since I saw him in the ER. The charge nurse wasa bit leary b/c ...well, lets face it, I'm an ER nurse working in an ICU.BUT I told her that I could handle it, but would let someone know if Ineeded help. He was the most critical patient in the ICU.

As the day progressed, we did well together. I found out that the surgeons stopped all the internal bleeding after they found major damage. I gavehim 6 units of more blood product and found out that the OR ended up giving him 54 blood products during his surgery. that was in addition to the 32 he received down at the FOB (forward op base). As I was looking through his chart, I found multiple blood transfusion sheets and then I found blooddonor #125. I smiled b/c I realized that he had received my blood.

He went back into the OR that day to make sure that everything looked good and the bleeding was stopped. The good news was yes, everything looked fine...he was flight ready for Germany. the bad news was that the bullet demolished his T12-L1 spine...chances were slim that he would ever walkagain. Chris is 21 yo; he is married with a baby on the way.

As shitty as that is, at least he is alive; at least he will be able tohold his baby when he/she is born and at least he'll be home.

At change of shift, I reported off to the night nurse. Everyone commented how much better he looked. yes, he was still intubated and still had an open belly wound and chest tubes...but he made it...he was alive!! On my way home, I replayed the last 24 hours in my head. I reflected onthe blood he shed on my scrub top and the blood I shed to help save him. It was the most rewarding 24 hours I have ever experienced. I reallyhelped save a life!!

Until next time....