The Unseen Wounded

Obviously our goal is to have no one hurt ever, but truly SPC Weiler is not critically injured. I know it sounds like a lot, and numerically she does have a lot of wounds, but she was never in danger of dying, loosing any limbs or use of limbs, or anything like that. She is very bruised up, has a huge number of minor cuts and punctures along with a few more serious cuts, and the broken leg and all, but I saw her when it was the worst and I know she will be back at 100% soon.

Right now is probably the worst time for her, because she will be extremely sore and hurting, but I will bet within two weeks she’ll be much, much better and giving the doctors hell about her cast and the rest of it.

We have a very strong family readiness group that is always willing to help, and someone should be calling you today. If you do not hear from anyone tonight please let me know tomorrow.

Jessica is a really great trooper and we all like working with her. Again, please let me know if you can’t work out a way to make a trip to Fayetteville work.
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I just got off the phone with the duty nurse on Jessica’s ward. Unfortunately she will not be on the flight tomorrow, and it looks like the next flight will be
Tuesday.

There were two separate reasons she did not get on the flight. First is the blood count I wrote about before. Due to the injuries and the surgery she had a bit of blood loss anemia, and her red blood count was not high enough this morning to qualify her for a high altitude flight. They gave her blood this afternoon, but did not do a new test for her “H&H” count until about four hours ago. The results of that test have not come back, so when the manifest closed she was not eligible to fly.

Second is the fact that the hospital in Germany is very full right now due to a surge in injured soldiers over the last week. The manifest is based on a combination of “First in – first out”, and on seriousness of injuries; Jessica was low on both criteria so even had she been qualified would most likely have not got on the flight tomorrow.

It is possible they will request another air evacuation mission before Tuesday based on the number of patients, but Tuesday is the next one going for sure.

I asked the nurse specifically is this was basically an administrative decision or represented a downturn for her condition, and the answer was administrative. She is still doing well. The nurse said she was eating and talking several times today and was still upbeat. Her condition has improved, she is still stable, and her prognosis is still for a full recovery.

The hospital orthopedic surgeon also examined her today. They now think
that her left arm may be only sprained and not broken. She has swelling, pain,
and weakness in the left arm and hand, so there is clearly some damage of some
type, but based on the improvements today they think it may be less than a
break. Because she was initially expected to fly tomorrow they did not schedule
further treatment for her leg and arm, but tomorrow morning she should be
re-evaluated by the orto specialist.

I will continue to call at least once in the morning and once in the afternoon until she flies for the United States. Please let me know if there is anything else I can help, questions I can answer, or coordination you need.
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I just talked to SPC Weiler and to her nurse in Germany. She is doing well and sounded better than yesterday. She says so, and the nurse says so too. Nurse said she was much more alert and responsive today and seemed in better spirits.

Right now she is receiving some blood to make up for the overall blood loss of the last three days. All her drainage tubes are out, and she remains stable and in good shape. Her broken leg and arm have not been set or treated yet
(three days after she was wounded. Why? Because the available doctors were busy with more serious casualties. How did she deal with this? She was on morphine.); most likely course of action is that they will move her back to the U.S. and she will receive definitive treatment at Womack Army Hospital on Ft. Bragg.

Right now the next flight is tomorrow. They working to get her on it and are hopeful, but her blood count needs to come up a bit before they will let her fly from Germany. The manifest for that flight will be available in a few hours, and I
will call back in four to five hours to confirm if she is on it or not. If her
blood count and potassium level is not high enough and she does not make it,
they may set her leg in Germany while she waits for the next flight, which at
this point looks like Tuesday.
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I just spoke to the floor nurse on night duty in Jessica’s ward. She has
just arrived back in her room from post-operation recovery. The nurse said that
her prognosis was still good and that everything seemed to have gone well. At
this time she was awake but still feeling the affects of the anesthesia and
medications.

The surgery this afternoon was to ensure all the wounds had been cleaned out, that all debris was removed, and that all bleeding was under control. It looks like she had some(previously undiagnosed) abdominal injuries that did need to be treated, and should be fixed. The nurse said she was not in pain and had asked about eating something. Also they confirmed that she does have some type of fracture in her left arm as well as the lower right leg. To my knowledge these have not yet been set.

I asked about her eventual destination, and found out that they have begun to prepare a movement request with the destination of Ft. Bragg / Womack Army Medical Center. This is very preliminary, but there was a form in her chart that had been started as a working document. From what I was able to find out the next medical flight from Germany to the US is likely to be on Sunday, and it is possible she could be on that flight depending on the doctor’s assessment over the next day.

I will call again tomorrow in the late morning or early afternoon, talk to her, and let you know anything I find out about her condition or her movement plan.

So we are waiting but not patiently. Plans are being made to get the family to the girl when she reaches the states. We aren't the Rockefellers so it's crunch time. The family is a good group, we'll get there!