Christmas- the aftermath

All the hub-bub preparing for the holiday, and as quick as it came, it's now over. Toys litter my house, played with for 5 minutes before being tossed aside to move on to the next one. Scraps of torn wrapping paper found randomly every so often in various rooms of the house??? The electric "choo choo" train wraps in an oval shape around the base of our tree. The first of many years of setting up the train tracks so Joseph can pretend to be the engineer.

Yesterday in our local paper, it was noted that a trauma surgeon who helped out at the hospital where I work in recent years, was killed in Iraq on Christmas day. His name was John P. Pryor, may he rest in peace. I didn't know the guy personally, but had heard him speak about 3 times in various settings on trauma care in Iraq. The last time was October 20th at a trauma conference. He was an excellent speaker, providing a first hand look into his experience as a trauma surgeon serving in Iraq... the gory war pictures of soldiers with blown apart limbs, Iraqi civilians that they helped, children, stories of joy and recovery, and stories of tragedy. One thing I remember him saying is how dangerous it is for our soldiers who ride in the convoys every day. He said to imagine putting on a blindfold and being asked to cross Rt 422 (a major highway in this area). Then he said to imagine doing that 20 times a day. He said it's not a matter of if you will get hit, it's just a matter of when.

I haven't known any casualties of war personally. But hearing of his death made me feel sick- sick for his wife and 3 kids ages 10, 8, and 4. Sick for his parents, sick for the other surgeons and medical team he worked with. I realize he was there for our country, and to help our injured men, but I couldn't help but think of the life that was lost- his in particular. I wonder if he ever thought he would be one of the guys that didn't make it back home, I wonder if he suffered or if he was killed instantly, I wonder if his camera was saved or if it was destroyed in the blast. Maybe his family will receive some of his recent video or pictures, maybe one day I will hear one of the other surgeons talk about their experience with this amazing surgeon in Iraq and they will share some more of his pictures and videos so that it opens more of our eyes to the reality of war. I wish everyone could have seen Dr. Pryor's presentation on trauma care in Iraq. It obviously had a lasting impression on me.