Update From The Virginia Homefront

I thought it was time to update the blog since it has been a while. It will be an update with pictures of being home with the family. (If you want to see a photo album of 29 pictures taken by an embedded photographer that was with us at the hospital at Forward Operating Base Salerno in Afghanistan then click here - there are several pictures of me and my colleagues. By the way, I am in #'s 9, 11, 18, 23, and 28).

I have been enjoying being home and getting used to everything again. It has been great to be around Heather, Gabriel and Cristian. It seems hard to believe that Gabriel is now 19 months old and Cristian is 6 months old. Here are some pictures of them and the family over the last couple of months.

Let's begin with a day at the park...Gabriel loves the slides...
and the swings. Here is Heather with Cristian and Gabriel. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Soon after I got home from Afghanistan we went to Pittsburgh to visit Heather's family and introduce Cristian to his great-grandparents. We stopped at a McDonald's along the way and Gabriel wanted to try my drink because it had a straw (and he loves straws). I had gotten a small Vanilla milkshake and once Gabriel tried it, he did not want to give it back. It was his first milkshake ever (I only got to drink a little bit).
Here is Cristian with his grandmother Anna and his great-grandparents Antonietta and Vincent.

Cristian also got to spend some quality time with his grandfather James.

While grandmother Anna and I took Gabriel out behind the house and into the forest.

Gabriel had the opportunity to explore... ...and then I gave him a ride back to the house.

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Cristian is growing so fast. Here he is in the bath. Just like Gabriel before him - he loves to splash around during bath time.Heather has tried really hard to get a picture of the two of them together. It has been difficult to get the two little boys to sit still long enough. The expressions on their faces in this one made us laugh...I am trying to introduce Cristian to soccer in any way I can. Even if it is just on a pillow to practice "tummy-time".---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Also, after I returned from my last deployment, Heather and I went to Mont Tremblant, Quebec in Canada to go skiing. The boys stayed at home with Heather's mom. Here is a picture of Heather on the Gondola within the resort village. Heather looks as beautiful as ever.We had not been skiing since our last trip to Breckenridge before the boys were born. We decided to go to Mont Tremblant because we will be moving away from the east coast soon and will probably not return just to ski. We really had a great time.It was beautiful and there were very few people on the slopes when we went. Unfortunately, since it was just the two of us it was hard to get any pictures together. Here is one of the few we took that we thought was rather amusing.

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After we returned home to Virginia we were surprised in early March when it snowed several inches. As Gabriel had never had a chance to see and play with snow, I took him outside. He thought the fact that his shoes were covered with all this white powdery stuff was very funny.

Gabriel kept wanting to sweep all the snow away from the house. The broom was a little big, but the brush was perfect for him.

It was lots of fun. I just can't convey with words how truly great it is to be home.

FOB Updates

Time continues to pass here on the FOB and we continue to stay busy...
-One of the very different things about being deployed is getting the opportunity to operate with other surgeons in other specialties and learn new things. I do not do Orthopedic Surgery, but Kerry (our Orthopedic Surgeon) has been very good about letting me help him in the OR and learn some orthopedic techniques. Here we are operating on a guy with tibia/fibula fracture.-For Thanksgiving, the D-FAC (Dining Facility) went all out and had lots of Turkey, Baked Ham, Prime Rib, Stuffing and other traditional Thanksgiving meal staples. It was pretty good. They also decorated the place with lots of ice sculptures, cakes commemorating different services and events and even a paper-mâché Eagle and volcano. It was a very interesting and eclectic decorating scheme.

As we celebrated our Thanksgiving it was important (as always) to remember and give thanks to those that have sacrificed and given so much, including their lives, so that we might all live in a little better world. There was a large arrangement put up in the D-FAC in remembrance of those military members that have died in this area. As I was looking at it, I could not help but think once more that there were way too many pictures on the wall...too many good people that have died.

-We did sit down as a Hospital and try and eat our Thanksgiving meal together. Unfortunately, we did not all get to finish the meal as shortly after this picture was taken we had some children come in as traumas after an IED blast. (Other hospital personnel are at the tables behind us).

-These children (a brother and sister) were riding with their father and older brother when they got hit by an IED. The blast killed the father and older brother. The little girl ended up with just superficial injuries, but the little boy needed a lot of work as he lost his left arm and had multiple fractures. He was in our hospital for a long time and only recently released.

-It is so sad how much violence is an accepted part of daily life here....and the children are among the worst injured. I love taking care of children. I just wish they did not have to get injured and traumatized first.

-The two brothers below (sitting with one of their uncles) lost their father when gunmen broke into their house and shot everyone - including the children. I had to operate on both the brothers and repair intra-abdominal and thoracic injuries caused by the gunshot wounds. Their sister had gunshot wounds to the head and back, but, surprisingly (and, perhaps a little miraculously), did not suffer any long term damage from these injuries. She was discharged in just a few days. Unfortunately, it is not just the physical injuries, but also the emotional scars that remain long after their bodies have healed. Losing parents is never easy - in Afghanistan it happens due to violence to someone everyday. Sadly, the older brother's only wish is that they would not have shot him first so he could have grabbed a gun and killed them all. He is understandably a little upset, but is slowly "perking" up and playing Nintendo Wii with the staff and saluting everyone that comes by. He is doing well clinically, but I am just happy when he smiles at me when I stop by to see him throughout the day. Having an injured child smile at you always makes your day better - at least it does for me.-In between the traumas we continue to try and help children (and adults) with needed surgical procedures - whether it be repair of a fracture, a hernia or something more. This little boy (below) is the same age as my son Gabriel - 16 months old, but he is much smaller because of a chronic illness. We operated on him in hopes of helping him live longer with some semblance of a more normal life. The staff hung Non-Christmas-y (he is, after all, Muslim) lights all over his bed. He liked them a lot (when he was awake).
-The time here has gone by fast, but now that the time to return home is approaching it seems to be dragging by very slowly. I look forward to getting home sometime in January and seeing my family and meeting my new son, Cristian.

I hope everyone has a very safe and Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy New Year.

Moments from the FOB

Finally…
--It has been a while since I last wrote in our blog - so I will provide a generalized update on what has been happening. I am sorry if it seems like a stream of conciousness.
--I am still deployed at Forward Operating Base Salerno, Afghanistan. It is a good place to be deployed (if you have to be deployed). My address is:

Eric Suescun

Salerno Hospital

FOB Salerno

APO, AE 09314

--Things here often feel very much like “Groundhog Day” - the movie with Bill Murray where he seems to wake up every morning to re-live the same day over again. Things just do not change very much – every day is similar in that we take care of patients, await Traumas, see clinic, eat, workout and sleep. In between that - we try to amuse ourselves while waiting for those things to happen. (I love their artificial grass).

A lot of reading is getting done - including by some of our OR staff . --My room is not that bad. Similar to last time - I share it with 5 other people. Everyone has partitioned off their own area. This is a picture of my little area. I pretty much have all I need - a place to sleep, a place to work on my computer and watch movies, and a place to keep all my stuff.--There are occasional days where our routine changes - one such variation was Halloween. Some of our staff actually dressed up while in the hospital – below is SrA Rivas in a typical Afghani outfit that one of the interpreters got for her (hmmm, maybe we can trade her for some goats...)And Major Poynter dressed up as... well, I am not sure what he is suppossed to be… (my best guess is that he resembles a very frightening tooth fairy)
--I did finally decide to get my head shaved. I was curious as to what I would look like bald. My wife, Heather, had previously implied that it would not be a good look for me as my head was not shaped "properly". It was kind of neat to see the scar on the top of my head from when I was 8 years old. I remember needing stitches when a door fell on my head while living in Caracas, Venezuela. It was a very traumatic event - I had to be held down in the ER while they sutured me up. I was very unhappy. It actually healed in a pretty straight line all things considered. Once I finished shaving my head, I decided it was important to make sure I had some photographic evidence of the moment as I am not sure I will ever electively do it again. Here I am posing with a fur coat one of our staff bought at the bazaar. They claim it is beaver, but I have seen no evidence that this country has any such animal. I think I look like a member of the Russian mafia. --Of course, the main reason we are here is to help take care of our soldiers and allies. As has been well described by the media – things in Afghanistan are getting busier. We have had several “Mass Casualty” events, including one very recently in Khost from a vehicle bourne suicide bomber (link for more info). As is usually the case, when we have that many patients all at once things appear very chaotic – but it is actually a controlled chaos. Regardless of how many patients we get, one of the many things I love about Salerno is the way everyone pulls together and helps out. People come from all over the base to offer whatever help they can - from helping evaluate the patients all the way to helping with the litters. It is truly a team effort here – docs, techs, nurses, soldier’s, etc – everyone pulls together until all the patients have received appropriate care. One of the patients I ended up operating on had one of the more interesting things I have removed from someone during this deployment. He was struck all over his body by the debris from the blast. Among his many wounds was a left chest wound created by this solid metallic 5 x 7.5 cm fragment that I removed in surgery. It entered his left chest and struck the left diaphragm so hard that it shattered his spleen on the other side of the diaphragm without penetrating it (blunt force trauma).

Very interesting (at least to me).

--We have had some amusing moments too - one day we went to the firing range and had to pause in the middle of our practice for a group of local children to cross the range with all their goats. On another occasion we had to use a Humvee to herd some cattle off the firing range – ha!

--We have managed to continue with our Local National Clinic and help the local people with needed surgical procedures – hernias, gallbladders, thyroids, colostomy takedowns, splenectomies, etc. One such case is this 5 yo boy with Beta-Thalassemia. He was very small for his age - 12 kgs (~26 lbs.), but had one of the larger spleens I have removed, it weighed over 1 kilogram (>2.2 lbs). You can see how big it was by looking at its outline on his abdomen prior to surgery.

Also, below you can see how large it is when viewed next to his body as we are in the process of removing it.

The Local National Clinic has been an important resource. My colleagues and I have had the opportunity to see some very interesting cases. I enjoy the idea that we are helping the people in this country that need actually help the most.--Dr. Rasool continues to work very hard helping us with the Local National Clinic. It has been a pleasure seeing him again. He still has the orange clogs that I gave him last time I was here. Now our footwear matches - ha-ha! Dr. Rasool's outlook is incredible - no matter how many injured we take care of, or how bad things seem to get in his country, he always seems to be in a good mood.

--We are always looking for something fun and interesting to do. With that in mind, one of our staff agreed to be the "target" of some military dog training. He dressed up in a big padded sumo-type suit and they released one of the dogs. Here of some pics of him getting attacked. If you knew him you would realize how very amusing this really is. Before...

and during...

--Probably the best meal I have had (sadly enough) during this deployment was made by one of the local physician-interpreters and his mother. They made us a typical Afghani lunch one day to mark the departure of one of the base’s very well liked EMT/Training coordinators. The food consisted of shredded meat in a sauce, large grain rice, beans (larger bean with a different flavor than we are used to) and a spiced piece of tenderized beef. It was excellent! --We had official "class picture day" - I will post our Hospital class picture next time, but here is me trying to look cool next to one of the Blackhawk Helicopters...Oh well...

Cristian's Birth Announcement

Here is a our Birth Announcement for Cristian Eric Suescun. Although his eyes may change in color as he gets older, we are surprised by how deep blue they are now.

The Newest Arrival

I am extremely happy to announce the arrival of Cristian Eric Suescun. He was born on 27 September 2008 at 5:30am. He weighed 7 lbs 5.6 oz and measured 19 3/4 inches. Here is a picture of a happy and glowing Heather right before he was born.
Unfortunately, I am deployed in Afghanistan so I missed being present for the birth. Luckily, I was able to be on the phone with Heather and the delivery room as Cristian was being born. I heard the whole thing - including his first cries. Here are a couple of pictures of Heather on the phone with me as Cristian is put in her arms for the first time.

And here are Cristian's first close-up pictures... Although, his nose is a little crooked, he does not look too bad considering what he just went through. His hair is darker and he has more of it than Gabriel did when he was born. He also weighs one pound more and is a inch longer.
In Mom's arms...
Mom's first kiss...
A very happy Heather and Cristian. In my humble opinion - they both look just great!I will post more pictures as soon as I get a chance, but wanted to put the few pictures that I had up fas soon as possible. I am so happy that all went well with Cristian's birth and that both he and Heather are healthy and doing well. I can not wait to eventually get home and meet my new son.