A couple of statisics...

Well, since I don't have any updates to give you guys, I am going to give you all some information that I received at a forum yesterday at the hospital. What we so casually call the "burn unit", is actually called the USAISR (United States Army Institute for Surgical Research). This is where everything from the ICU and step-down units are located as well as the rehab gym and case managers. Yesterday, Dan and I went to a meeting/ forum that the director, Dr./Col. Renz (I call him Dr. Renz, but he is active duty Army). Every now and then they have these meetings to get all the burn patients and their families on the same page. Sorry for my long-windedness, but at the meeting we heard some pretty interesting statistics. You all always hear me talk about what great care we are receiving here at BAMC, but no details.

There are over 250 staff members in the ISR. This includes doctors, surgeons, nurses, physical and occupational therapists, case managers and a host of administrators, who are a mixture of active duty, reservists and civilian.

Since 2003 there have been 760 burn patients (that's all the ISR deals with) admitted. Of those, there are varying degrees of burns, from 2% total body surface area (TBSA) burns to 100% TBSA burns. (Dan is 47.5% TBSA, all 3rd degree) Of those 760, 40 have not survived. Dr. Renz did not spin this any certain way, but looking at this mathematically, that is a 95% survival rate. Of those 760, 65% are Army, 23% are Marines the the other 12% are Navy, Air Force, and National Guard. There are also civilians admitted to the ISR, but I didn't get those numbers. If you are admitted as a civilian, you do not get your outpatient care at BAMC. You are admitted b/c BAMC is a level 1 trauma center, but it only provides outpatient care to military, (active or retired)

We are so thankful to be here at BAMC. We are absolutely thrilled and satisfied with the care that we have received and that we see others receiving.

Speaking of doctors, we found out that Dan's plastic surgeon, (who after 20+ years in the Army, joined the reserves) will not be deploying. This is great news for us, b/c we won't have to rush these next two surgeries. We have an appointment on Friday and hopefully we can get a date on when those will be happening.

Thanks again for all of your prayers!! Leave a comment and let me know you were here.