Yum, mmm, yum, yum chomp.......

This hoof is great! Yum, yum yum! Nothing like chowing down on your own foot for an afternoon snack!

It's been a while since I rambled incessantly so I figured I'd better get crackin. Absence does not make the heart grow fonder - it just makes you absent. It's been a really busy week - as in "I'm starting to hear the people talking in my eyebrows again" busy. Work has been off the chain - I think there were 5 million people with broken bones this week and they all showed up at the hospital where I work. I love my job, but sometimes it is sad beyond my ability to explain. I took care of a soldier and his surgery was one such occasion, compounded by several factors not the least of which was the fact that he had been driving after consuming alcohol. In my neck of the woods it's considered tantamount to murder to drink and drive because we see so many deaths caused by drinking and driving. This particular instance was a little bit different as the man involved was home after serving in Iraq and was suffering terribly - at least terribly enough that he wanted to end it all, so he drove his car into some into something that was tougher than his car. I admit that sometimes I "perceive" things that others don't, but I looked at this guy's face and I just couldn't see a "murderer". What I saw was someone who had looked death in the face on a daily basis; someone who had seen so many terrible things that there was absolutely no way that he could reconcile the loss of so much and so many with his continued existence in this world. What can a person do? Is there enough help these men and women when they come back home from trying to kick Satan's ass for a year or more? Is there anything we can do? I think probably one thing we can not do is condemn people out of hand without even looking past the first impression. I was so disgusted with the anesthetist on the case, because even though he is someone I usually like and respect, he didn't even look past the first tier of the situation - he just went straight to, "He was drinking and driving - he deserves what he got." The hell you say.

I talked with his precious wife and my heart just went out to her - they have been through so much since he's been home. I could hear that she loves him, and I could hear the fear and confusion in her voice. Where do they go after this? She sounded as though she is made of the kind of stuff that will see them both through..... I hope. Ironically enough, when it was time for me to go home from work, I was relieved out of the case by one of my very dearest friends and coworkers, who also is a soldier and also served over "there". I told her that it must have been Divine Intervention that she was my relief that day because I thought of her that morning as I started the case and I wished for her even though I knew it was a case that would be hard for her to do, but I knew she would understand how I felt about this patient. And she did.