365 Days (27 page)

Authors: Ronald J. Glasser

“I can’t think of anything,” David said, closing his eyes again.

“He’s been confused for the last hour,” the medic said.

A moment later, the ward master came back with the antibiotics already drawn up into two syringes. While he shot the drugs directly into the IV bottle, Edwards said, “We’d better put in a central venous pressure. How’s his urine output?”

“Down 60 cc in the last two hours.”

“Does he have any blood cross-matched?”

“Four units.”

“Respirator?”

“There’s one down in central supply. We can get it any time.”

“What about his monalisis titers?”

“Still normal.”

“White count?”

“The lab technicians are doing it now.”

“Let’s see his electrolytes.”

“Doc.”

Surprised, Edwards turned around. David had stopped shivering.

“Doc!”

Edwards hurriedly bent over the frame.

David stared up at him, his eyes strangely clear and deep. “You didn’t have to come, not all the time.”

“I wanted to,” Edwards said.

“They told me about your brother and your taking him home.” David was about to go on when, gasping, he suddenly bolted upright and, struggling against the restraints, vomited up a great flood of bright red blood.

Dying in the burn unit is not normally that dramatic. There is usually very little blood; burns die inside out, down at the cellular level, where the billions of struggling cells just simply give up. It is for the most part a kind of gentle going; breathing becomes labored and distant, circulation falls apart, hearts dilate, livers and spleens grow to twice their size, lungs gradually fill with fluid, and there is always a certain period of confusion. But after it, a comfortable time of unconsciousness, where nothing is done and everything—even the last breath—is a rather leisurely giving up.

Suddenly, with the blood still welling out of his lipless mouth, David went rigid and, arching backwards, collapsed against the frame. Edwards grabbed the suction off the wall and, pulling open David’s jaw, began sucking out his mouth, trying to clear the blood and vomit out of his airway. The gasping stopped and there was the more comfortable sound of air moving in and out.

“Get the blood,” Edwards ordered, reaching for the oxygen mask. He was turning up the oxygen flow just as Cramer came running back with the blood.

“Call Johnson. Set up a cut-down tray and get a tracheotomy set.”

The ward master unhooked the IV from its bottles. “The blood is still ice cold,” he said.

“Just hang it,” Edwards ordered, holding open David’s jaw, trying to get out more of the blood. “Just goddamn hang it. And call the general surgeon...David, David!” He pressed the oxygen mask over the boy’s mouth and he could feel the new skin slipping away under the pressure of the mask’s rubber edges. “David! David! Can you hear me? OK, listen, you have a stress ulcer. We might have to operate tonight. You have a lot of blood and stuff in your lungs. I’m going to have to put you on a respirator. It will help you breathe, so I’ll have to make a little hole in your windpipe. It won’t hurt.” He looked up, checking the blood running down into the IV tubing. “It’s just to help you breathe. Honest. Just to breathe.”

The corpsman had set up the tracheotomy, and Edwards held the oxygen mask in place while the ward master quickly cleaned David’s neck as best he could. The noise coming from inside the lungs was getting louder again. Even with the oxygen David was having to fight to breathe.

“I’m going to make the hole now,” Edwards said, removing the mask. Little bits of skin came away with it.

“Doc,” David gasped. “Take me home, too...please, Doc...I don’t want to go home alone.”

GLOSSARY OF MILITARY AND MEDICAL TERMS

AK-47 Communist 7.62-mm semi-automatic and fully automatic assault rifle.

AK-50 The newest version of an AK-47. Some have a permanently mounted “illegal” triangular bayonet, which leaves a sucking wound that will not close.

Angel track An APC used as an aid station.

AOD Administrative officer on duty.

APC Armored personnel carrier.

APL Barrack ship.

AR Army Regulation.

ARVN Army Republic of Vietnam.

Bandoliers Belts of machine-gun ammunition.

Big Boys Slang for tanks.

Boonies The countryside.

Bouncing Betty A mine with two charges: one to propel the explosive charge upward and the other set to explode at about waist level.

Bravo Army designation for the infantry man.

Burr Holes Surgical holes drilled through the skull so that the brain and its surrounding vessels can be operated on.

CA Combat assault. Term applied to taking troopers into a hot landing zone.

C and C Chopper Command and control. The helicopter the unit commander rides and from which he directs the battle.

Camies World War II term for camouflage uniforms.

Chicom Mine A Chinese Communist mine. It can be made of plastic.

Chopper Helicopter.

Claymores Anti-personnel mines containing thousands of little steel balls that blow outward, covering an arch of about 120 degrees.

Cobra Heavily armed assault helicopter.

CP Command post.

CP Pills Anti-malarial pills.

DEROS Date of Estimated Return from overseas.

Dust Off Medical evacuation mission by helicopter. The term refers to the great amount of dust thrown up by the rotors as the med evacs come in to land.

Enucleation Surgical removal of the eye.

ENT Ear, nose, and throat.

EOD Explosive ordinance disposal.

FDC Fire-direction control center.

Fifty-one (51) Heavy Communist machine gun.

Fire Base An artillery battery set up to give fire support to surrounding units.

Fire Track Flame-thrower tank.

FO Forward observer.

Fours (4’s) F-4 Phantom jet fighter bombers.

Grids A map broken into numbered thousand-meter squares.

Grunt Originally slang for a Marine fighting in Vietnam, but later applied to any soldier fighting there.

HALO High-altitude, low-opening jumping for insertion of troops behind enemy lines. The jump is begun from 15,000 feet, with an average free-fall time of approximately seventeen minutes.

H and E High explosive.

Horn Radio microphone.

ICU Intensive-care unit.

Intubate To thread a hollow tube down into the windpipe to facilitate breathing.

IV Intravenous injection.

KIA Killed in action.

Lager A night defensive perimeter.

Laparotomy Surgical exploration of the abdomen.

Lego Infantry unit.

LOH (pronounced “loach”) Light observation helicopter.

LRRP Long-range reconnaissance patrol. Now called LRP (long-range patrol). Initially four- or five-man teams that would go out for recon; now ten- to twenty-man ambush patrols.

LST Landing ship tank.

L, V, X Different types of ambush setups.

LZ Landing zone.

M-16 American 5.56-mm infantry rifle.

M-60 American 7.62-mm machine gun.

MACV Military Assistance Command Vietnam.

Med Cap Medical civil assistance program for Vietnamese civilians.

MOS Military occupational specialty.

Moose Mistress

NCO Noncommissioned officer.

Nephrectomy Surgical removal of a kidney.

NPD Night perimeter defense.

NVA North Vietnamese Army.

OR Operating room.

Point The lead man in a patrol.

Pseudomonas Bacillus resistant to most antibiotics.

Recondo School A training school in country (Vietnam) to train LRRP’s. The largest is at Na Trang, where the training action is taken against the 17th NVA Division.

Red Legs Slang for Artillery. In the Civil War Union Artillery men had red stripes on their pants.

RPD A 7.62-mm Communist machine gun with a 100-round, belt-operated drum that fires the same round as the AK-47.

RPG A Communist self-propelled rocket.

RTO Radio telephone operator.

S-2 Designation of intelligence staff for a unit.

S-5 Designation of civic staff officer for a unit.

Salvo Firing a battery in unison.

SF Special Forces.

SI Seriously ill.

Slick Helicopter for transporting troops.

SOP Standard operating practice or procedure.

Stryker Frames Hospital beds set up so that a patient placed between two large metal arches can be easily turned over.

TAC Tactical air strikes.

Tango Boat Armored landing craft mounted with 50-caliber machine guns; also 40-caliber anti-aircraft gun used for direct fire.

Thorazine A tranquilizer.

Tiger Suits Camouflage fatigue uniforms.

Titers Amount of anti-body in serum.

TOC Tactical operation center, usually battalion level and above.

Track Any vehicle that moves on treads instead of wheels.

Triage The sorting out of patients according to the criticalness of their needs, i.e., those who need immediate surgery versus those who need only minimal care.

USARV United States Army Republic Vietnam.

VC Viet Cong.

Vena Cava The large vein draining blood back to the heart, the superior vena cava draining the whole upper half of the body, and the interior vena cava draining the lower extremities and trunk.

Ventricular Shunts Tubes, surgically placed, which drain excessive fluid from the ventricles of the brain.

VSI Very seriously ill. Army designation for those troopers who may die without immediate and definitive medical care.

WP White phosphorous.

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cover design by Mauricio Diaz

978-1-4532-9039-2

This edition published in 2013 by Open Road Integrated Media

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