Sample Read - Ghost; The Unseen Disorder of PTSD

 

Updated 11/14/2015

 "First do no harm.  Second, do no harm." ...Old  USMC Corpsman quote.

(Andy was a USMC Corpsman. Nothing more to say.  He's an amazing man and has seen it all. <3JM)

The cold hard fact of war is that our soldiers do kill children. A child, no matter what his or her nationality…a son or daughter….died at the hands of a Marine doing his job.  This pretty much has applied to any war in which we’ve been engaged.  The decision to kill a child is not something a grunt can consider.  He must only consider the survival of the platoon.  Later on in life the gut-wrenching and all-consuming guilt of taking a child’s life emerges in the form of severe PTSD.

After hearing Andy talk about himself, as an American medical professional treating the enemy, I was silent for a moment. I could understand treating a child, even one who was used by the Taliban to detonate a bomb. So why treat the Taliban soldier who took the coward’s way out and put that child in harm’s way for the blatant use of self-protection?  Perhaps I’m too hardened to the facts of war after working on this book, but my first inclination is that I would rather see the adult men die.  Andy has a kinder outlook on the sanctity of life, and was able to see things from his perspective.

“I believe in the good in people, but don’t forget, our guys come first.”

From the eyes of a medical professional, Andy sees humanity first and the enemy second. I get it now.  I understand.  I might not like it, but I now know what drives those in the Military medical field to save lives; even that of the enemy.  Humans equal humanity and nobody deserves to die during war.  Andy felt the obligation to treat the wounded…no matter who they were.

Updated 09/13/2015

"Smiling faces I've been seeing. But not for me.  I sit and watch, as tears go by"--Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Andrew Loog Oldham. 

(Samantha suffered a life changing work related injury, dealt with the pain, was rejected for her W/C claim and was in an abusive relationship as well.  Below is a snippet of only the verbal abuse she endured.  <3JM)

 Sample Read: Ghost the Unseen Disorder of PTSD

“In October of 2007 I had a double fusion in my mid-neck area. The surgeon told me that I would probably lose ten to fifteen percent range of motion in my neck.  I got lucky.  I only lost two to three percent.

 “And at this point surgery is not an option in my mid-back. There is a 50/50 chance that I could be paralyzed from the neck down. Where the bulging and herniated disks in my thoracic spine are located is where all of my muscles and bones and blood vessels are also located.  When someone has that kind of injury, the only way a surgeon will operate is if it bursts.  The insurer continued to refuse to acknowledge that specific injury, even though I did have the x-ray from before I started working there.  My upper back was fine when I started working there.  Now it’s like an ‘S’”

“Did you have someone to help you at home,” I asked, not realizing I was stepping on a sensitive subject for Sammie.

“I was in a very abusive relationship at the time.  I was living with my boyfriend,” she said, her voice a bit more quiet.

“My ex-boyfriend, with whom I lived at the time, would tell me that I was not hurt that bad and I was faking it.  He would say that I just did not want to work anymore.  That is when my blood pressure went sky high.  I had to deal with him, the pressure from my employer and the pain combined. So then I had to go on medication for my blood pressure too.”

“How did you react to that kind of insulting barrage of words?” I asked.

“I told him that I wished he could have my pain for just one day and see if he could function, because I’m pretty sure, he would have killed himself if he felt the pain that I felt.”

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So, did she leave him? What is the normal pattern with domestic violence?    <3 JM

 

 

 

...................Joanne Moore

(Currently in editing corrections are needed) ...as always........ <3 JM