Gettin' some tail

(Now that I have your attention....!)

Tonight began with the weekly ritual of walking across base to the Aviation DFAC for Surf 'n' Turf. The first week, I got both the "surf" and the "turf", but the "turf" wasn't all that great, so I've been sticking to the "surf" since. Usually it's 2 crab legs and 2 lobster tails, some yams, and a small bowl of lobster bisque. Often I'll cap it all off with some Baskin Robbins ice cream (available at all of the DFACs on base), which is a treat as I try to maintain my girlish figure.

I left the DFAC a little earlier than the rest of my group in order to walk to the medevac hanger for their weekly lecture. (My flight surgeon friend brought me along last week, and the medics were so friendly that I got hooked.) Today I learned about the pre-hospital care of burn patients, which was very pertinent since I am still caring occasionally for the little girl in the ICU. There was also a talk about extrication of patients from the new armored military vehicles (HMMWV and MRAPs). It was eye-opening! I hadn't really considered the challenges inherent in designing a vehicle strong enough its occupants from IEDs, while at the same time allowing rescue squads to quickly extricate injured occupants.

Before or after the lecture, there's usually a patient presentation by one of the medics. It always details the timeline of the run, the challenges, the patient's status, and the ultimate outcome. (This is usually the most interesting part of the evening, since often I know the details of a patient's ICU course, but not the circumstances which landed them in the ICU.) A term I learned today is the "tail-to-tail" or "T2T" exchange, which literally means that two birds are placed tail-to-tail to transfer the patient from one bird onto the other.

So my evening was full of tails .... :-)