Work Conditions

It has been well documented, both by me and by previous surgeons, that we are completely underutilized here at this location. Although that is always a good sign for the troops around us it does give one the sense that their time could be better spent in other ways (or at least in other locations). The trauma location at Bagram does more on a daily basis than I have cumulatively over the 3+ months I have been here - having only 2 orthopedic surgeons there they could really use the extra help. But the wheels of beaurocracy roll very slowly and it doesn't look like they will be able to reassign me somewhere where I would be more useful, so we do what we can to help the time pass. This blog is part of that process.

I thought it would be interesting to show some pictures of my office and some random stuff around our EMEDs unit. Below you can see the space that multitasks as an office/ clinic/ warehouse/ ICU (if we had some really sick patients).


A close up of my workspace shows my countdown calendar as well as pictures and letters from the kids on the wall.


And here is a picture of my desk. I change the desktop background picture on my computer once a week and you can see that the week I took this picture was a "Clara week" for the background.


Here is one of Greg at his desk, hard at work (as usual :). I enjoy sharing an office with him, due in a large part to the fact that we have very similar interests and have a lot to talk about in the times that we spend in the office (since neither of us have a lot of patient care to do). It is no surprise that some people have a hard time figuring out which of us is which. We are both the same height, same build, incredibly handsome (obviously) and talented. We are also both supremely humble (me more than him :).

In all seriousness, I feel extremely well blessed to have two roommates (Greg and Levi, and Glen before Levi) that are family men of good character, enjoyable to be with and who are committed to working to live Christlike lives. We have a great time "working" together and spend most of every day, from our morning runs to our evening card games, hanging out as a group. Here is one of us at the KRAB island signpost showing how far it is to our repective bases.


There was a while where we were watching an episode or two of MASH every day to pass the time, and here is one of me (and a patient in the MSU) during our MASH time.


The extra time also lends itself to many time consuming projects to "better our environment." Here is one of the crew hammering the decking down for the pool area (with a 3 foot wading pool) that we constructed behind the EMEDS.

All in all I would have to say that things are pretty good here - and they could certainly be a lot worse! I've got great people to be with, we find activities to occupy our attention and pass the time, and the food is pretty decent (I'll get a picture of the dining facility in here later). The only true hardship is the separation from family, and fortunately we have the phone, email and Skype to better keep in contact while I'm away. Even with all of that technological help and as good as things are, I'll be glad to put this deployment behind me in another three months!