Epiblog

Hello and welcome to my blog. It is a blog about an Air Force Physician that was reluctantly deployed to Kabul, Afghanistan for 6 months.

I have to admit, I did not exactly volunteer for the deployment, and I was a little anxious about how it would all turn out. I ended up making the best of it, and surprisingly, I actually had a pleasant, life changing, experience.

I decided to keep the blog up and running because I kept on hearing, "Why is it that you only hear the bad news coming from Iraq and Afghanistan." I figured that I was helping spread a positive message about what we are doing over. Even more important, I wanted to continue to spread the word about the plight of the Afghan people, 99.9% of which are the most incredibly friendly people that you will ever meet. The title picture is a great example of that. I have never encountered such genuinely warm and friendly people. It was so strange to see so many people with so little material objects, yet at the same time, filled with so much of the joy that comes with close family ties, abundant friends, and a close knit community. We could definetly learn a lot from them.

You may notice, as you read the blog in its entirety, my arc. I shift from focusing on myself and my personal comforts, to shifting my focus on the Afghan cause. It is very easy to get distracted by the hustle of daily life and the comforts that the U.S. provides. It is really a challenge to awake from that coma and to start to care and think about the welfare of other people unrelated to you. I think it really took me about 4 or 5 months before I really opened my eyes and became personally affected by what I was experiencing. I hope I was able to recreate it.

I have tried to keep the blog squeaky clean so as to not offend anyone (or get me in trouble-I am still in the military). Even though I am a political junky with very strong personal opinions I have been steadfast in keeping this site free of any politics. I was called to do a job and I tried to do it to the best of my ability regardless of my political stance.

I recreated the blog to read more like a book, or should I say blook (get used to the corniness it only gets worse from here) just to make it an easier read. I have removed some names and pictures just to keep it more anonymous. I hope that it helps in making it less about me and more about the cause.

Lastly, in the spirit of the blog, I decided to include the Chipin Widget that I used to raise money for Nazia. If I get any additional money I will send the funds to The Women of Hope Project and someone over in Kabul will discretely give it to her (unless I hear otherwise). You can also contribute directly to the Women of Hope Project website. They are a wonderful cause. If you enjoy this blog then feel free to contribute. I am sure that once you read her story you will be very moved.

So kick back. Get ready to hopefully laugh and definitely cry.
If you like what you read then post a comment. I will be continuously editing this site in an attempt to improve it. Who knows maybe one day it will become a book!

Enjoy. Thanks for reading.

-Shazdoc

Today Show Clip

Chipin Widget

Monday, April 28, 2008

Hemoglobin Juice

"The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease."
-
VoltaireFrench author, humanist, rationalist, & satirist (1694 - 1778)

Today we visited a supply depot that is located at the National Military Hospital (NMH). I am really impressed by the size and appearance of the hospital. From the outside it looks like one you would find in the states.
Visiting the supply depot was kind of fun. It was very interesting for me to go through all of their different meds. Take a look at a few of these.

How about a nice warm drink of Hemoglobin juice- yuck!


I did not know that you could detoxify your liver. I had a lot of friends in college that could have used this.



I am not sure that I would take a medicine with this picture on it.


How about replacing your morning coffee with some of this.


We stopped off at a little shop that we affectionately call 7-11. I bought some soy nuts.


The reason we were visiting NMH was so that one of our preventative medicine techs could pick up some vaccines. He was making a point of personally delivering something like 15,000 doses of different vaccines, such as, hepatitis B, meningitis, polio, etc. He is delivering them a smaller city outside of Kabul. The person delivering the meds is doing it by his own initiative. I was thinking about what he was doing earlier today and it just struck me what a profound impact that his efforts will be having. If through his efforts he prevents just one case of polio or one case of meningitis then I believe that he will have more of a significant impact on Affghanistan then most people have during their entire deployment. What a wonderful thing he is doing for the people, most importantly the children, of Afghanistan.

I will continue my discussion of Afghan history and culture. I copied this right out of a travel book.

The King

King Zahir Shar returned to Kabul from Italy in April 2002 after 29 years in exile. For many Afghans, especially the older generation, the king’s 40-year rule from 1933 is regarded as a period of peace and stability when women were educated and a free press encouraged. Zahir shah was born Oct 15th 1914 and educated in Kabul and Paris. He became king in 1933 just hours after his father’s assassination. But his cousin and a former prime minister, Mohammad Daud, deposed the king during a coup in July 1973 while he was receiving medical treatment in Italy, bringing to an end the rule of the Durrani dynasty and a monarchy in Afghanistan. Daud declared himself president of a new Republic of Afghanistan. In 2002 the king returned to Kabul from Rome expressing no political ambitions. Later that year he opened the June Loya Jirga grand assembly at which there were moves to have him reinstated.
I think I am officially over the deployment hump (I have reached the half way point). I can feel a light breeze on my face as I begin my initial coast down the hill. I hope that these next few months go by just as fast.
A Soldiers Angels buddy of mine sent me this great link to her website. Take a look. They are doing a lot of really great things for the troops.
Thanks for reading.

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