050612 Don't get sick in Kabul

050612  Don't get sick in Kabul

I work night shift here in Kabul and generally there are 1-2 other people in the office from midnight on.  Last night, one of the other guys told the lead that "his chest wasn't feeling good".  So they went to the 24-hour clinic here on the base.  The '24-clinic' is really just an Army E-3 medic who sleeps in the medical building overnight and is authorized to hand out ibuprofen (but not aspirin*).  He quickly determined that the patient needed to go to the hospital at KIA (Kabul International Airport).  So...Kevlar vests and helmets were rounded up and the convoy team was woken up and after about an hour or so they finally arrived at KIA (a whole 1.5 miles away!)  Robert (the patient) got hooked up to the EKG machine and fortunately it was not a heart attack but evidently there was enough concern to keep him overnight.  The next day Robert gets picked up by the convoy for the 1.5 mile return trip to HQ ISAF.  His diagnosis - low potassium. 

Simply put, the food here isn't the best and there is little one can do to change that.  And it doesn't help that Robert sits and drinks Fanta orange soda all night long on his shift.  Recently a woman in NZ who drank nothing but coke all day long died of cardiac arrhythmia or hypokalemia caused by a lack of potassium in the blood.

http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/11982409-woman-dies-from-too-much-cocacola

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10800055

I'm been here almost 6 months now and I've seen bananas in the DFAC maybe twice.  I've seen strawberries maybe 5-6 times.  The fruit of choice in the DFAC is grapefruit and pineapple but the pineapple is always under-ripe so I never eat that. 

The point is that whether you're in the US or in Kabul, Afghanistan one should be conscientious of what you eat.  Or maybe it's better said just don't get sick in Kabul.

R/Chris

* - About a year ago the Army decided that aspirin was too strong and it was then pull from the shelves of the PX and no longer administered.  Ibuprofen is now the pain-killer of choice.