Dorsett, success and strange times.

The week started by getting our New Year's card in the mail. Wonderful pictures of the family, including a picture of Naomi and Dorsett, the dog we lost last year. Most people know that was a big loss for us. So, here I am far from home, thinking about that dog and I'm reminded of the following piece from a book I read right before we put him to sleep. The book is written from the dog's perspective and is highly recommended if you are a dog person. Be forewarned, you may cry.

“In Mongolia, when a dog dies, he is buried high in the hills so people cannot walk on his grave. The dog's master whispers into the dog's ear his wishes that the dog will return as a man in his next life. Then his tail is cut off and put beneath his head, and a piece of meat or fat is placed in his mouth to sustain his soul on its journey; before he is reincarnated, the dog's soul is freed to travel the land, to run across the high desert plains for as long as it would like.

I learned that from a program on the National Geographic channel, so I believe it is true. Not all dogs return as men, they say; only those who are ready.

I am ready.”

From "The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein

On to other things. I wrote sometime ago about the little girl who had lost one leg after stepping on a landmine and her family was really hoping we could save the other leg because a female in Afghanistan missing both legs is absolutely shunned (as opposed to the relative shunned world they normally live in!). Well, she came back recently sporting her new prosthetic and was able to walk a few steps without support. The fact that her other leg was able to be saved is a direct reflection of our orthopedic doctors and hospital staff. This is one of those success stories that doesn't end up on the news. If winning wars like this is about changing the minds of individuals, we can only hope this made a small impact. Regardless of the outcome of this war, this will always be a success.

It's a beautiful January day. You and your friends are hanging out trying on the latest in suicide bomber vest technology...and it accidentally blows ups. 8 injured. 2 severely. Those 2 come to our hospital. Well, if this isn't one of those ethical dilemmas that you talk about in basic med school ethics...OK, we never really covered this situation. This is a little different from the injured Taliban that we take care of when they are injured in combat. These guys were planning to die anyway, while hoping to take some of us with them, and now we're supposed to save them? From the medical standpoint, the right answer is what we did - treat them and try to help them. From the military standpoint, we should have just left them out on the tarmac to die, and part of me wanted to do that...because once they enter our hospital we are required to care for them. Yet, also from the military and public standpoint, we are obliged to treat them lest the Taliban propaganda machine turn this into a story of how the American medical system is killing them. What a strange situation.