Dr. Bohlen's Blog: June 16th, 2010 - "Hospital - Part 2"

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by Julie Tork

Story Created: Jul 21, 2010 at 7:46 PM CDT

Story Updated: Jul 21, 2010 at 7:46 PM CDT

The days are continuing to tick away. I had a member of my party leave us the other day. Dr. Braswell has went home and we have a fill in surgeon. Braswell was a great guy. He is an active duty general surgeon based there in Ft. Benning, Georgia. He has already spent 6 months in Afghanistan and had a fairly interesting tour. He has finished his 2nd 6 month tour in 3 years. I think I alluded to it earlier but he spent his first 4 months here working at the large detainee hospital ouside of Baghdad. It is interesting b/c they have a complete separate hospital for 4000 detainee's there. He was there doctor and he had some interesting stories. He was a great friend to me here and I will miss him. We are lucky to have him working for us.

This part of the hospital tour is about the beginning half of the hospital. The first picture is of what is looks like when we first step in the door.



This picture is interesting b/c you have Waldo over on the right peaking around the corner at us. Sometimes he spends his free time scaring people by jumping out at them from around the corner. The more interesting part is how this place is one long hallway with tent built on tent. At each intesection there is a break in the tent with a hallway that leads to a side tent where each entity of the hospital is kept. This is a cement floor. The tent is a very thick plastic like structure and they have been foamed. I will show that to you later.

The first hallway to the right and left have very important functions to the hospital. This image is the first hallway to the right.



This is obviously the Women's clinic. I think it is pretty cool that have a whole section set aside for this clinic. There are actually two ob/gyn doctors here in regular general care doctor activity but cover this clinic on a regular basis. The army has a significant amount of females deployed now compared to previous wars.

The next picture is of the turn to the left.



This is the immunization clinic. There is certain amount of immunizations that you must have to be deployed we went through this early in my deployment but they have a large number of soldiers that show up here and need to finish there deployment requirements. I find it funny how they decorated this area. It is almost like they forgot that Christmas was over. We have a pretty pelican to divert your attention from the multiple of shots. The worst shot was the Anthrax one. I think that sucker lasted for 3 weeks. The other part is that there has been someone diligently putting puzzles together and then glue then together. They then hung them up everywhere. I am not an art critic but in my experience the pictures made from puzzles are not necessarily the coolest ones in the world. My sister Janice did this when she was younger and then submitted it to the fair for judging. I always found that interesting b/c there really isn't that much skill or talent putting a puzzle together. It just takes patience. There are techniques but really if you stay with it, it will get done. I think she did it so that our mother would get off her butt about submitting a certain number of things to the fair. The best part of that fiasco was the constant mental trauma that was every spring and summer before the fair fasion show was completed. I just remember that I was so glad to be a boy b/c I did not have to participate in the constant battle b/n my sisters and mom about getting their project done. I think I am correct to say that she did not like it in particular. I wonder if any of those beautiful footloose outfits are still around. Privately I used to just laugh about the battle all the time. I bet there was a greater then 70% battle county wide b/n mother and daughter to get there outfit done in time for the fair. I personally made models and shot rockets. I had a chance to be the kid from October Sky but chose a different line of activity. I did make cookies but had help. That is why I always got reds instead of purples. If I could of used my artistic heart the cooking aspect could of been my life. I have a great deal of passion and fun making my 3 specialities. Spighetti, grilled cheese sandwich, and oatmeal. Dreams of wearing that funny little hat and making dishes in a kitchen were quenched with the repetitive failures at the fair. What a stiffling entity that was to make my dreams go up in a puff of smoke. My question is who judges those things. What do you have to do to be a judge for the food section? Maybe I will try when I get home.

We are proceeding down the hall and then we get to my home away from home.



I am proud to have my name on a piece of paper for the clinic and this is the place for physical therapy also. I find it somewhat humerous that I am charge of the physical therapy clinic here. They have a nice guy from the Phillipines that now lives in California that runs that section. We might meet him in the future.

The next picture is of my door.



I know this is all exciting but I will stop here for the moment. I take it for granted b/c I'm here but I think it is interesting on how this place was put together. The tent has the side tents and then they just made these doors to fit the holes in the tent that they framed up so that you could lock off the side tents more securely. The next days we will continue down the hall. I think it will give you the interesting structure that we work out of.

The only interesting thing that has happened lately is another case to drain an infection in a forearm. What I think is obvious is the conditions of heat and sweating and having to wear the ACU's leads to these subcutaneous infections in bursas and skin. A huge challenge for these soldiers is just staying clean. Can you imagine working everyday completely covered head to toe in 130 degree heat. Amazing what these guys have to do.

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