Read Online Angel of Mercy by Jackie McCallister - Free Book Online
Authors: Jackie McCallister
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know that you’ll be happy for me as well. I love you, Chelsea, Mom.”
Chelsea read the letter twice and put it on the table beside her bed with a happy smile. She was happy for her Mom. The speed bump, significant as it was, that was created by Chelsea’s father seemed less daunting now.
Summer came to Afghanistan again, and with it a heat that seemed to punish the landlocked country for the winter just past. Searing heat that appeared to have a personality of its own rolled through camp. Temperatures that topped a hundred degrees Fahrenheit pummeled Kabul. As much as possible, the scheduling clerk tried to set the medical staff up with tours that were four hours on and four hours off because of the dreadful conditions.
Any longer than four hours and the mind didn’t work as quickly as these finely tuned, highly trained, minds needed to work. Chelsea was two hours into a tour in surgery. Six soldiers were brought in by helo after taking fire from the side of the A01 just outside of town. The casualties were evenly split between minor shrapnel wounds, severe injuries from fire or non-lethal gunshot wounds, and critical cases.
Chelsea had been tasked with caring for one of the casualties that fell into the middle category. She was treating Staff Sergeant Joseph Cole, who had suffered second degree burns over about a third of his lower body. Unlike medical centers in the outlying areas, Kabul Air Base had a burn center.
Upon admission to the burn center, severely injured patients are admitted to a private area known, somewhat euphemistically as intensive care, which is managed by a team that comprises a burn surgeon and ophthalmologists, as well as Chelsea and other nurses, respiratory therapists, and nutritionists. Everyone on this team must collaborate. Chelsea was in charge of doing most of the main debriding of the affected area. SSgt. Cole had been given an anesthetic to keep him as comfortable as possible while Chelsea trimmed the dead skin away in hopes of saving the presumed healthy skin underneath.
When she was finished, Ssgtt. Cole was wheeled away. In a stateside hospital, a burn unit included a cooling unit that helped with the immediate retardation of the burn. Unfortunately, at Kabul Air Base there was no such relief area to be found. The burn unit was just a different area of the central facility.
Second Lieutenant Dr. William Bradford was new to the base and to this particular unit’s method of operation. He had already proven himself to be more than a competent doctor. The nursing staff was instinctively responsive to his needs, and he to the needs of the many patients that came through the medical facility. Chelsea saw that one of Dr. Bradford’s nurses was showing telltale signs of reeling a bit in the heat. It was Wendy Shafer who was struggling a bit. She had been on duty for a little less than five hours and was showing the mileage in her body language.
Chelsea stepped over to the table and quietly spoke to Lieutenant McKay. “I think Wendy is about done in. Do you want me to step in?”
Lieutenant McKay glanced over at Corporal Shafer and saw the same thing that Chelsea had seen. Wendy Shafer’s face was ghostly white, and her hands, usually firm and sure, had a small quaver that only another nurse was likely to notice. “Why don’t you, Bannister? Thank you.”
Chelsea stepped over to the table just as Lieutenant McKay spoke up. “Shafer! Go home for a little bit!” Then more gently, “Bannister is going to step in. You’ve done your share today.”
For a moment, Wendy Shafer looked blankly at her superior officer. It was as if Lieutenant McKay spoke a different language. Finally, and only when Chelsea touched her elbow, Corporal Shafer stepped away. Three steps toward the makeshift doorway of the burn unit area of the medical facility, Wendy Shafer collapsed to the floor.
Lieutenant McKay secured the new dressing on the patient in front of her and stepped away. She took
Chelsea read the letter twice and put it on the table beside her bed with a happy smile. She was happy for her Mom. The speed bump, significant as it was, that was created by Chelsea’s father seemed less daunting now.
Summer came to Afghanistan again, and with it a heat that seemed to punish the landlocked country for the winter just past. Searing heat that appeared to have a personality of its own rolled through camp. Temperatures that topped a hundred degrees Fahrenheit pummeled Kabul. As much as possible, the scheduling clerk tried to set the medical staff up with tours that were four hours on and four hours off because of the dreadful conditions.
Any longer than four hours and the mind didn’t work as quickly as these finely tuned, highly trained, minds needed to work. Chelsea was two hours into a tour in surgery. Six soldiers were brought in by helo after taking fire from the side of the A01 just outside of town. The casualties were evenly split between minor shrapnel wounds, severe injuries from fire or non-lethal gunshot wounds, and critical cases.
Chelsea had been tasked with caring for one of the casualties that fell into the middle category. She was treating Staff Sergeant Joseph Cole, who had suffered second degree burns over about a third of his lower body. Unlike medical centers in the outlying areas, Kabul Air Base had a burn center.
Upon admission to the burn center, severely injured patients are admitted to a private area known, somewhat euphemistically as intensive care, which is managed by a team that comprises a burn surgeon and ophthalmologists, as well as Chelsea and other nurses, respiratory therapists, and nutritionists. Everyone on this team must collaborate. Chelsea was in charge of doing most of the main debriding of the affected area. SSgt. Cole had been given an anesthetic to keep him as comfortable as possible while Chelsea trimmed the dead skin away in hopes of saving the presumed healthy skin underneath.
When she was finished, Ssgtt. Cole was wheeled away. In a stateside hospital, a burn unit included a cooling unit that helped with the immediate retardation of the burn. Unfortunately, at Kabul Air Base there was no such relief area to be found. The burn unit was just a different area of the central facility.
Second Lieutenant Dr. William Bradford was new to the base and to this particular unit’s method of operation. He had already proven himself to be more than a competent doctor. The nursing staff was instinctively responsive to his needs, and he to the needs of the many patients that came through the medical facility. Chelsea saw that one of Dr. Bradford’s nurses was showing telltale signs of reeling a bit in the heat. It was Wendy Shafer who was struggling a bit. She had been on duty for a little less than five hours and was showing the mileage in her body language.
Chelsea stepped over to the table and quietly spoke to Lieutenant McKay. “I think Wendy is about done in. Do you want me to step in?”
Lieutenant McKay glanced over at Corporal Shafer and saw the same thing that Chelsea had seen. Wendy Shafer’s face was ghostly white, and her hands, usually firm and sure, had a small quaver that only another nurse was likely to notice. “Why don’t you, Bannister? Thank you.”
Chelsea stepped over to the table just as Lieutenant McKay spoke up. “Shafer! Go home for a little bit!” Then more gently, “Bannister is going to step in. You’ve done your share today.”
For a moment, Wendy Shafer looked blankly at her superior officer. It was as if Lieutenant McKay spoke a different language. Finally, and only when Chelsea touched her elbow, Corporal Shafer stepped away. Three steps toward the makeshift doorway of the burn unit area of the medical facility, Wendy Shafer collapsed to the floor.
Lieutenant McKay secured the new dressing on the patient in front of her and stepped away. She took
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