Dr. Bohlen's Blog: July 7th-8th, 2010 - "The Clinic - Part 2"

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Story Created: Jul 21, 2010 at 6:38 PM CDT

Story Updated: Jul 21, 2010 at 6:38 PM CDT

We are in the 120's now and my record is 133. The clinic has been slow but we had another rocket attack. This one could be serious. Everything is Ok but it seems like the activity is ratcheting up as we tend take more people away. I don't understand the motivation or lack of courage it takes to fire at people who just want to leave. We still have a mission but it is obvious that we want to leave and have a plan to do so. This rocket landed a quarter mile away and on this day stood in waiting at the hospital b/c of a large fire in a housing area. We were lucky but we are missing one soldier. We will wait to find out. God be with him/her at this time.


The clinic we serve in provides an asset to the soldiers of this base. Sometime you are preoccupied by the fact of missing home and family. You are bored and unchallenged. We still want to be motivated to do the best we can. Today I am showing you the back of the tent. This is where the physical therapy is done. As a group we are averaging 200-300 patients a month through here. It has gotten closer to the 200 mark here this last month. This first picture gives an idea of the area.




The young man in the middle to the left is the physical therapy tech that runs the show back here. He is a nice kid from California and I think has done a wonderful job with the patients. I am not sure the rest of the bases have this capability outside of Baghdad. He has some of the same equipment that you have at home just not as a comfortable environment.


We an elliptical machine and treadmill here in the back.




This is an image of the storage area.




This is the typical appearance of what we have at home in a clinic. We have a regular supply of splints, casting material, walking boots, and other stuff. This is a little room between the front and back tent where we keep all of it.


This another image of the physical therapy working area.




Plenty of open space. On the left you can see a reversal board. The PT's probably have some fancy name for it but what it does is you strap in and it flips you upside down. It is used to decompress your spine. Vicera is the pt tech's name and he likes to play darts. So he has that dart board there to challenge his patients. Everything you do around here is to pass the time. I like that better then sitting in bunkers.


This next picture is of his modality treatment area.



This is where the back patients come and they can get ultrasound and electrical stimulation to help with the spasms. Like I said we are pretty functional around here. Probably a third of the patients we see are back patients. Remember when I chipped my tooth in the rollover exercise. Well I had a kid come in today who has pain from his lower back down to toes in his left leg b/c they flip you over then you let your seatbelt go so you can learn to get out. Well he fell awkwardly and has this pain down his leg. We will treat him with physical therapy and medications and hopefully he will get better.


The last picture is to remind me of how serious of a place this is.



This is in the back corner of the treatment area that I showed you in the picture before this. This is the place where a mortar rocket landed 9 months ago in the back of our tent. No one was injured but they obviously had holes in the tent and this crater in the cement floor that you see in the image above. The destructive part of these things is the fragments that fly off of them that tear through people. There is actually still holes in a stereo that they have and a few other things in the back from this rocket attack. This keeps you grounded and on guard. It is almost over and I am glad for that. We are all proud to be here to help but Dean and I are done and ready to come home.


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