I've made contact with one of the members of the US Special Forces team which looked after me in Sulaymaniyah. Although I remember the accident and the hours immediately after it, my memory goes blurred at the point I was given my first shot of morphine. That's probably just as well but it leaves a big gap in my picture of what happened.

Now that picture's being sketched out.

The nurse writes:

"When you came to us, you had been seen and x-rayed at a civillian hospital.

"While their x-rays helped we repeated them and saw pretty much the same.... Your whole heel was gone. I was shocked that you could move your toes. Also your circulation there was pretty good. That is one thing in your favor even now. I have seen a lot of below the knee amputations that need revised one or two times before they start to heal.

"While you were there we debrided (cleaned dead tissue off of) your foot. Both of these were surgical procedures so you were anesthetized. While we were very concerned about your foot, your vitals remained very stable. The mine cauterized your foot so you never lost lots of blood.

"You were there about two days. Your whole time there, you were very pleasant. The last I saw you, I put you on a helicopter headed out."

I've been promised photos of the operation. Should be something for the family album.

Discuss "Beyond Northern Iraq"