Princess Postscript

Kandahar, Afghanistan

The princess is still with us.  The good news is that we think we have located her dad, and it's taken awhile to get him to Kandahar.  In the meantime, Jane has taken a liking to the ICU.  She is our starlet and gets lots of attention.  Before I had wondered aloud whether she would ever smile again.  She has made it to that point and then some.  She likes to bounce "volleyballs" made of blown up rubber gloves, take walks around the hospital and to the flightline, and has developed a sweet tooth for cookies.  She is a Stranger in a Strange Land, for sure.  I imagine what she is experiencing is analogous to an American being abducted by benevolent aliens.

What will she tell her friends and siblings when she gets back home to her mud hut?  What will she discuss with her father? (who, by the way, looks a lot more like Osama bin Laden than Hamid Karzai... We have a picture of him that we have shown her: he has a long black beard with streaks of grey, a less than full complement of teeth, and stands in front of some decrepit mud huts).

This morning one of my colleagues brought her to morning report to give a first hand report on her excellent condition.  She seemed to enjoy the attention.  Dad arrives Thursday and we anxiously await that reunion.

Sidebar:  I had spoken of a child I admitted on my last night of call who had been bitten in the face by a viper.  I was able to extubate him the next morning (remove the breathing tube).  He did quite well and has since been discharged.  The morning after my call I was informed that the story of his air evacuation was covered in the NY Times.  Catch it here:  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/29/world/asia/29viper.html