A Special Kind of Person

This poem was written by one of my ICU technicians.  He has been in the Air Force for 10 years and this was her first deployment.  She's planning to separate in a few months.  Actually, she extended her enlistment so she could come here.  And as proof this is a small Air Force, I worked with her sister in Japan!  Her poem captures a sentiment shared by many.  She read it on rounds one morning and then again in front of the whole ICU during what I called a "signing ceremony".  I asked her to read it and then sign it and then we hung it on the wall in the ICU.  There were very few dry eyes in the room when she was finished.
They are all heroes.  What they do in our hospital is amazing... an overall 98% survival rate- about 70% of out patients are Afghan and have horrific wounds and would die if we were not here.  Americans have a 99% survival rate.  The fact that we are here enables them to go out and hunt bad guys every day, knowing will be here if they get hurt.  Their helicopter flies over the big red cross on our roof and they know they will most likely live.  Our nurses, techs and docs take care of the worst of the worst wounds every day and rarely complain.  Sometimes we have to make them take a break to take a day off.  They amaze me.

A Special Kind of Person…

(A special dedication to all who served w/ me @

Bagram AF, Afghanistan:  

Dec 2 - Apr 21, 2010)

It takes a special kind of person…to think of someone else,

It takes a special kind of person…to put SERVICE before SELF.

It takes a special kind of person…to wear our blues and greens,

It takes a special kind of person…to work together as a team.

It takes a special kind of person…to handle all the stress,

It takes a special kind of person…to put forth their very BEST.

It takes a special kind of person…to look our enemy in the face,

It takes a special kind of person…to medically take care of them, 

especially at this place.

It takes a special kind of person…to make the decisions that we do,

It takes a special kind of person…to follow through and through.

It takes a special kind of person…to give our medical attention and care,

It takes a special kind of person…even though life sometimes isn’t fair.

It takes a special kind of person…to work long hours every day,

It takes a special kind of person…to accept the challenge,

 even without the pay.

It takes a special kind of person…to deal with blood, guts, and tears,

It takes a special kind of person…to ease somebody’s pain & 

take away their fears.

It takes a special kind of person…to help our soldiers, sailors, 

and airman to get better,

It takes a special kind of person…one fight, one mission –

 we all work together.

I salute you fellow co-workers, for everything you’ve done…

You’ve helped me make a difference, in my deployment #1.

Written from the heart – SSgt Andrea’ Mosca

Happiness is in the Little Things

I had a great run this morning (finally!) and as I was laying there in my favorite yoga pose called Corpse pose (because you lay there on your back looking like a corpse and it's the only yoga pose I know), I could see steam coming off my body.  It made me smile.  I love it when the air is cold and I'm hot and the steam comes off me- makes me feel like a warrior or something.

Then I got to thinking- it doesn't take much to make me happy.  A nice coffee mug, some steamy skin, the look of the mountains this morning as the rain was clearing and the clouds were moving on, dodging mud puddles....  those things all make me happy.  And it doesn't take all of them.  It only takes one.  And I think that is the key to a happy fulfilling life.  If I can be amused or happy from small things, and recognize them when I see them, then I can be happy a hundred times a day.

I wonder if it is the non-recognition of the small happy things that makes people unhappy and constantly looking for big thrills.  Maybe that's why some people do drugs- looking for that feel-good, when they could just look around and feel good all day long.

It's the Little Things that make me happy.  I like that.

Boring is Good

Nothing too exciting lately.  Last week flew by- I think because I spent the first half in a coma.  Ten I got real busy the last half- that's usually good for making time pass quickly.  I had an awesome Sunday yesterday- sleep in Sunday, I call it.  Slept in till about 0800, then went for a run- my first workout in a week. It was horrible.  the first 2 miles was OK, the 3rd was kind of bad, the 4th was awful...I was counting steps!!!  Run 300, walk 100.  When walking I was all lightheaded. I got back, laid on my cold floor, drank some Accelerade, and then did 3 min barefoot on the treadmill.  That part was great.  I did it again today- no calf or foot soreness WHATSOEVER!  When I started at 5 min, I was sore.  I'll stay at 3 min this week and advance to 5 next week and see how it goes.  Anyhow, on rounds on Saturday I got really lightheaded too and had to sit down.  Then it happened again today and I had a nurse check my blood sugar.  Crap!  I hate medical people!  She jammed this lancet practically down to my bone on the side (!) of my finger (supposed to be the edge of the pad, not the very side where I have no meat!).  Anyway, it was 100.  Not low enough to explain lightheadedness.  I had already had a cereal bar and a bottle and a half of water, so I drank some more water, ate some fruit and eggs for breakfast and felt better.  Then went and did 75 min in the gym followed by 3 min barefoot running and I felt fine.    Tomorrow is another 4 miles.  I'm drinking now and will do some gel at the beginning of my run- see how that goes.

Tomorrow I have something fun to do.... at 0800 I'm going to do a "signing ceremony" with one of my Sergeants.  She wrote a poem called "Someone Special" about how it takes someone special to take care of the sick patients we see.  She is a Staff Sergeant who works in the ICU and she read me the poem yesterday- it made me cry a little bit.  I asked her if it would be OK to print it out and hang it in the ICU and she said it would be.  So I printed it, and tomorrow I will take pictures of her signing it and then do a little ceremony of hanging it in the ICU where people will read it after she leaves.
Interesting what a small Air Force it is....she has an unusual last name- Mosca- I mentioned to her that I knew an Airman Mosca at Yokota...it's her sister!

Campylobacter!!!

YAY!  Today was my first day back in the land of the living.  I actually slept through the night.  I was surprised at that because I had HORRIBLE gas all day yesterday. OMG- it was BAD!  And the abdominal cramps got worse all day.  Normally, when I lie on my back my tummy caves in- yesterday it was all bloated up about an inch and a half- yuck!  And the night before- well...  I kept count and it was about 26 trips to the bathroom in 18 hours and my room smelled like something died in here.  No wonder I couldn't sleep.  So I looked up my symptoms and I think I got Campylobacter from some undercooked chicken eaten about 36 hours before my first inkling of a fever thinking about starting.

Remember when I woke up with a headache on Sunday and decided to go do laundry at 0530?  Then about 3 hours later my skin was sensitive?  Really tired and crummy feeling all day.  Joints achy.  Feverish.  Next day- diarrhea!  Still fevering, sweating (soaking the bed sheets), headache.  Next day (yesterday)- I was the Hindenberg with all that gas.  Today, back to normal except lightheaded due to late dehydration.  Drank 2L of water and POOF!  I'm back to my normal self.  

Campylobacter is the most common cause of food poisoning in the US, caused by undercooked poultry in most cases.  (way better than getting cholera in a third world country and getting what they call "rice water stools"- yuck!  Of course, I AM in a third world country, but our food is American.)  My chicken was a bit pink and my friends warned me......but I said- NO PROBLEM!  I have a third world stomach- I can eat anything!  I actually said that.  I HAVE eaten anything- bugs (cooked and raw), snakes, all kinds animals, fish eyes, balut (look it up- you'll barf).  Never ever ever had a problem.  Well...leave it to our DFAC to burn the crap out of a perfectly good steak and under cook chicken.  This was not my first piece of pink chicken in the last 6 weeks.  And they have no idea how to boil an egg either.  You'd think dropping an egg into boiling water for 12 minutes and then TAKING IT OUT would not be that hard.  I don't know what they do, but after they do it the eggs sit in the hot water on the serving line for who knows how long and they are impossible to peel.  We have left Easter eggs out for days, so I'm pretty sure they could leave them out for a couple of hours without killing us.  I thought I could eat pink chicken, too, I guess.

Anyhow, I survived to look up my disease.

Then I got a massage today (rescheduled from 2 days ago)- it was wonderful.  From a nice young girl named Olga who told me to take every thing off but my underwear...  It's now nearly midnight- so that will have to wait for another day.  It's a funny story, though- stay tuned.

Aerovac and Combat Dining in

https://newafpims.afnews.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-100409-002.pdf

Check out the first two stories in the Bagram News!
The first is about our aerovac (AE) system.  The actual AE squadron does not work for me.  They work for across base on the flightline.  Our role is that we accept pts from them every day and send patients to them virtually every night. We have a Contingency Aeromedical Staging Facility (CASF) that prepares the paperwork and does all the tracking for the pts and then loads them on the plane.
The second is about our combat dining in.  It was a lot of fun and this article gives a bit more info and some photos.

Back to the Land of the Living

In my last post I said I hoped I would wake up healthy.  HA!  That would imply sleep.  I was awake all night after midnight.  26 trips to the bathroom in under 24 hours- wow!
But now I'm at work and things have stabilized.  Fever is gone.  Guts are less rumbly.  I was hungry this morning and ate TWO bowels of oatmeal and now I'm looking forward to lunch.
I'm baaaaaaaaaacccccckkkkkkkkkkkk!
Oh yeah- I finished my book at about 0600.  It was Lone Survivor- about a Navy SEAL team that lost all but one member in a brutal firefight.  Tells all about SEAL school before hand and then his rescue afterwards.  An excellent read- highly recommended.

Still sick

Man, I hate being sick!  Today I actually went home from work early.  I left at about noon and went home to bed.  The last time I went home sick was in 1998!  I laid in bed most of the day, freezing to death for most of it, reading my book.  With a bad headache and the artery in my left temple all bulging out.  Usually when that happens, Jack presses on it and it feels a lot better, but he's not here, so I had to press on it myself.  My back was killing me from laying around all day.  Someone brought me some soup for lunch.  At about 1730, I was hoping someone would come ask me if I wanted some dinner and sure enough- they did!  That was so great.  She brought me some spaghetti, fried scallops, and dirty rice and cucumbers.  I had asked for bland white stuff.  I ate a bit of it because I knew I needed to, but in one of the only times in my life I can remember, I had no appetite and just didn't feel like eating.  She also brought me a movie that I just finished watching called Whip It- about roller derby.  I took 400mg Motrin with dinner and next thing I knew, instead of being freezing, I was sweating to death and hot....I guess my fever broke!  At some point today, I got gassy- HAHAHAHAHAAA!!!  It sounds like low thunder when my tummy rumbles.  It would make me smile if weren't so danged uncomfortable!
While I was watching my movie, after my Motrin kicked in, I got hungry again and supper actually tasted good. I picked the scallops out of the fried breading, though.  I didn't think all that greasy stuff would be very good while my guts were rumbling.  At some point, my movie and dinner benefactor came back with some vanilla ice cream- yum yum!
I'm actually feeling pretty good right now. Think I'll check my email, read, and hope I wake up healthy.  They keep trying to attribute this to barefoot running.  I just don't see how that's possible. I think I need to get healthy so I can get back to it and prove them wrong!
 

Sick!

I woke up yesterday with a headache at 0430.  At 0530 I finally had a plan for my day so I got up.  Went in to work, did my laundry, went to the 0645 church service at the hospital.  Then went to breakfast.  Figured I would go for a run even though I was feeling a bit worse- my head hurt a little, but my skin was sore and my muscles were achy.  About 5 steps into my run, I had a horrible pain in my rt calf.  Tried to run again- NOPE!  Not happenin'.  So went back and cleaned my room, feeling worse by the minute.  I took a 2 hour nap after that!  I did manage to eat a decent lunch because I wasn't miserable yet.  Then I went to the Post Office and then I went to a movie.  They were showing the Shining- the original Stanley Kubrik with Jack Nicholson.  holy Crap!  I forgot how scary that movie was!  I had though about going to the 0100 version, but I was too tired.  Good thing!  I would have been looking for Jack around every corner!

By then I was quite miserable.  I went back to work and wrote some letters home to my troops' parents and watched some of my TV shows on the DVD Jack sends me.  Then at 1700 I had to go get my computer set up.  So I went there and got it set up with my new (hopefully faster) internet service) and took another 1 hr nap.  Got up and walked slowly to the dining hall and got some oatmeal and cereal.  Then brought it back and ate some oatmeal, but I only got half way through before my stomach was killing me.  Finished the Amazing Race and went to bed at 8pm.  Tossed and turned all night feverish with my stomach hurting.  Thought about going to the ER- but it felt like cramps/gas, not surgical, so I figured no point.  At midnight I got a page and I sat up and I sweat was dripping off me like I had just finished a hard workout in the gym!  My jammies were soaked through.  But I felt a lot better and was able to sleep until the morning.

Now I am still hot, still have a headache.  But I think I feel well enough to go to some meetings.
Pray I get over this quick!

Earthquake! A tiny one

I was laying in bed last night about about 10:25PM and felt the bed shake.  I thought it was a rocket, but I didn't hear a noise.  And my pager didn't go off.  No giant voice.  No sirens.  So then I thought maybe it was a truck or something.  Then I thoguht maybe it was an earthquake. 

I just got on line just now and sure enough, Kush had a little 4.6 earthquake.  And I felt it!  We lived in Japan for 2 years and there was an earthquake about every other week.  I'd come to work and people would talk about how their house shook or their glasses jingled or something fell off the wall.  I only ever felt one in the 2 years I was there.  I was sitting on the couch it was a for sure earthquake!  Just a small one though.

Anyhow- it's not too exciting, but I felt it.  And it was much better than a rocket!

Random Stuff 7 Apr at 2200

It's been a week since the last update, but not really much going on.  Some discipline stuff that I can write about later when it's all over- 1 damaged career and 1 ruined career.  Bummer.  Easter was nice, but boring.  No Easter basket for me.  One easter egg that I snatched off a display at the DFAC- they would fed it to me later as macaroni salad or something anyway.  No Easter bunny with gigantic chocolate ears.  No jelly beans.  I did find some peeps soem one had. But they were too fresh. I prefer them stale with plastic grass stuck to them.  I am not making that up. 


We had a bad day this week for traumas- 10 in one day.  Another bad one with a young man who lost both of his legs high up and 2 mangled hands.  I went to a purple heart ceremony for 4 men last night.  I make a point to always shake their hand and I like to say something to them.  I usually manage to croak out something like "Thank you for what you do for us", but it always seems inadequate.  These guys constantly amaze us.  they go out every day not knowing if they will come home or not.  Every time I see them in their MRAPs leaving base I say a little prayer.


We had a couple more rockets- one the night before Easter and one Easter night.  No one hurt either time.  I heard the second one- first thought was that I wondered if it was a rocket.  Second thought was maybe it was just a dumpster or something.  It was a rocket.  Since I live in a hardened dorm, I don't hear them as well as some people.  Maybe a good thing.  I heard a story about a guy waking up wtih someone in his dorm room prowling around.  The creep came through the window.  My window is closed and locked.  But now I sleep with the gun in the drawer by the bed- out of the holster.  A lot of the women here seem to be freaked out by the fact that there have been some rapes on base.  And even some male on male sexual assaults.  I’m not really sure what to make of that. I stay in well lit areas. I have my knife and a gun on me at all times. But I can’t live my life in fear and live sheltered. I still run in the AM (but it’s light by then). I still walk to the DFAC and back by myself. And I’m a little conflicted about even writing about this stuff- the husband and the parents read this. So probably tales of rockets and rapes freak them out. But I’m not very good at censoring, so you will get it all. Plus, Jack told me not to keep stuff from him. Now, if I were out in the country-side, going on missions and getting IED’d and shot at on a weekly basis- I’d probably keep that to myself and publish after I got home! My concerns are piddling compared to what some people are doing.




I started something new today- barefoot running. I have been thinking about it for about 6 months. I read an article in the Air Force Times about a guy who got faster in the marathon and a guy who got faster on his PT test. I hate shoes. I ran barefoot my whole childhood on rocks and stickers and whatnot. I did some internet research and it turns out that feet and bones get stronger, calves get stronger and look better and the gate is more efficient. My run form is already horrible- this can only help! I’m a little concerned about my bunion, but I guess I’ll see how it goes. I read that you should start very slowly, so today I did 5 min on the treadmill. Yikes- my calves were screaming as I was walking later! So I went and did my 3 mile walk with my 30 pounds of IBA on at a 14:49 per minute pace, then came back and did another 5 min barefoot on the treadmill. BIG MISTAKE!!!! Should have left that one alone. Spent the rest of the day achy and sore. Still that way. I’ll do 5 min every day until it is not painful. Then 10 min per day, then 15. When I can get to 15, I’ll change to 5 outside and 10 on the treadmill and work up to 15 outside (on the relatively stone free concrete around the hospital). Then see how it goes and work my way up from there. If the big rocks prove to be too much, I may order some special shoes made for this sort of thing (don’t worry, Jack, they cost the same as regular shoes!). And if this really works out, I’ll save a boatload of money on running shoes! We’ll see.



OK- gotta go to bed. Got another groundhog day to attend to tomorrow.