Today has been a pretty emotional day. It started out like a typical Sunday- no patients on the ward, no surgeries scheduled. I was running our Wounded Warrior Clinic so I went over to the other side of base where they stay and did muster (roll call) and to check and see if they had any issues. It was quick and easy. When I got back, my supervisor asked if I wanted to go to the Fallen Warrior ceremony in a few minutes. I didn't write about it before in the blog- but I've been to one and it is such a moving experience. It is a way to honor and pay tribute to our fallen soldiers as they pass through this base and on to Germany and ultimately to their families. While none of the Wing leadership has to go, almost all of the group and Wing and Vice Wing commanders go even on their day off. Today it was my Commanders day off and he came and picked us up at the hospital to go out to the flight line. Everyone goes and boards the Cargo plane that they arrive on and the Chaplain says a prayer. Then we form up in two single file lines and as the pall bearers bring each casket off the plane we salute them. Then as the vehicles carrying the bodies drive away, we turn and face them and salute them. Today it was one American and two Coalition forces.

When I got back from the ceremony, two of the nurses I am working with were starting a movie. It was "Taking Chance." This movie is based on a real story about a USMC Lt Col who volunteers to escort a fallen PFC (E-3) home and how all along the way from Dover to Montana, he is moved by how people respond when transporting this marine. The beginning of the movie showed a fallen warrior ceremony that was nearly identical to the one I had just attended. I cried almost the whole way through the movie. I definitely recommend seeing it, just have tissues.

On a lighter note, my Grandmother sent the best chocolate chip cookies. And she is 2for2 on getting them to arrive intact- no one else has gotten intact cookies. She also sent homemade apple sauce which I don't think I have ever had before and is much better than the store bought kind.

Thanks to everyone who has sent packages, I have gotten several from Erin and Sara and my mom and Rick have sent me two. It is a lot of fun and feels like Christmas every time.

I will have to write after I go downtown again on Tuesday. I get to spend more time there and will get to see more of Doha.

Love, Megan

Freedom felt at last

I got to take a trip off base last week with one of the other nurses I work with and a couple of civilian contractors. We went to one of the off base malls in the capital city of Doha. Doha is only about 25 min from the base and is an easy drive down highways that look very much like American highways. The mall we went to is not the biggest one here but it was very big and beautiful. The ceilings were all painted to look like the sky and looked almost 3D. The first two stores I saw in the mall were a Starbucks and Sephora. I was so excited. We only had a few hours as we went in the evening and curfew is 10pm for the medical group. We ate at a South African steakhouse that was very good and not too expensive. We wandered around the mall and watched all the people. Lots of Europeans vacation in Doha so there were a variety of cultures. Maybe 30% of the people were wearing traditional Muslim clothing- the males in white "mandresses" that look like dress shirts that go to their feet. The women were wearing all black over regular clothing and most had their faces completely covered with a burka. They would walk around in groups of just men and groups of just women. I couldn't help but feel bad for the women, especially since their are so many Western people walking around. An ice skating rink was located in the mall so we sat and had Cold Stone ice cream and watched the children ice skate. The Carrefour is a French store very much like Walmart located in the mall. You wouldn't know the difference between this store and a typical Walmart except some of the products are from Asia or Europe. They did have plenty of American brands there as well. I have a picture of me and my friend posing with Bathing suits that cover everything from your wrists to your ankles. A muslim woman walked up while we were posing and I felt bad, like we were making fun of her culture.

It was a breath of fresh air to wear civilian clothes after 75 days of PT uniforms or ABUs. We joke though that we were in our civilian uniform- collared shirt and khakis. You can only wear certain things off base. I am very much looking forward to going again and getting to spend more time shopping. I also want to go to the museums as well, I hear they are very cool. I'm planning on getting my hair cut today, I got it cut last week but I was nervous about letting them take too much off and so she only took an inch off. It is barely short enough to wear it straight with my uniform so I am taking a picture in of how I want my hair cut- we shall see what happens. I guess I can always pull it back until it grows out if it doesn't work out.

100 days today left of my deployment. I am starting to get homesick although I am still enjoying myself. I am getting to save a lot of money because there isn't much here to spend money on.

Megan

Definitely a good week

I did it! I completed my first half marathon this morning. I came in at 2h22m which is just under an 11 min mile. After taking some Motrin this afternoon, I'm feeling pretty good. There were a lot of people out there but most just participated in the 10K that they held at the same time. I got a nice medal and t-shirt out of it as well. They took a lot of pictures that I need to get my hands on; Iwill try to post them when I get them.
We took care of a patient last month who is a Weapons system operator on the B-1 Bomber. We asked him if he would give us a tour and he took 3 of us out to one of the planes. It is a very cool jet that isn't much more than 4 engines, fuel and bombs. All of the bomb storage bays were open in the plane and we got to get up on a ladder and sign a bomb that will eventually get dropped in Afghanistan.
The other great thing that happened this week was finding out I won the CGO Desert Medic of the month. Now my picture is hanging just inside the front door of the hospital.
Altogether, this week was a pretty great week. This was following on the heels of a crazy busy week where I was the A/E nurse running two of our largest missions where we brought in 10 patients and filled all of our outpatient beds and then turned around a few days later and sent 10 patients either on to Landstuhl or to their forward operating base (FOB).
We also said good bye to one of the nurses who had finished his 6 months. We had a fun going away get together in which the CC and Vice CC showed up. It is really cool knowing everyone in the hospital and having the group CC know your name. Our entire hospital is smaller than my unit back home 86 vs 100.
Check back for pictures of both the B-1 tour and the half marathon.
Love, Megan

Happiness is a rotator plane headed West...

Don't worry, it's not me worried about going home it is the 3 suicide attempt patients we had this week that will end up being Airevac'd to the States. 2 of these were a Romeo and Juliet scenario except both are doing fine now. We are giving them this disgusting medication that smells like rotten eggs that is supposed to save their liver and kidneys from the meds they overdosed on but I don't really feel sorry for them since they did it to themselves. It's been a crazy week as we've had many more patients than usual, one of these was a Aussie who had an emergency appendectomy.

I decided I was eating entirely too much junk food and sugar so I have cut it off completely. I have gone two days without sugar and am hoping that it will help me lose weight. I will of course have to lift the ban when my Grandma sends me the Chocolate Chip Cookies she promised. I have to get stricter on my training for the half marathon- I took a class last week that took me a week to recover from so I haven't run much this week.

I don't have much else to say tonight and I am pretty tired so I am going to bed early.

Megan

The wet bulb says 99

I still distinctly remember, even though it has been 13 years, leaving the airport after first arriving to Guam and feeling like I was in a Sauna. That doesn't even compare to the last 2 days here. I have never felt anything like it; my sunglasses fog up as soon as I walk outside and I am drenched in sweat after only a couple minutes. The wet bulb normally hits 85-89 degrees and today it reached 99. This takes into account the humidity level and the actual temperature which was probably in the 1teens. It being my day of today, I felt the heat more as I walked around base going between the pool and movie theater and the gym.

I was supposed to see Star Trek today but they hadn't gotten it in yet, so everyone in the theater voted on Wolverine. I hadn't seen it yet so I stuck around to try it out, but after 20 minutes the pool was calling my name. At least I had already seen Star Trek.

If you haven't heard, the Air Force Marathon is coming to Al Udeid on Sept 11th and another nurse at work convinced me to run it with her. I have been trying to train for it so yesterday I managed to run 8 miles. I was feeling it today and then I went to this class called Body Pump led by a British guy. I am hurting, I have not worked my whole body this hard ever. A few weeks of this class and I should be much more toned. I hope.

Tomorrow is a base wide exercise and the next two days after that are full of Wingman's week activities. It will be a busy next three days.

Good night!

Sorry everyone that it has been so long since my last time writing.  While my actual work (taking care of my patients) doesn't take all that much time, it is my extra duties that have been keeping me busy.  I was asked by my Squadron commander if I would be the Medical Group's representative for Wingman's week and I said sure.  At the time I didn't know what I was getting myself into and since then it has been crazy.  This is wing level project which means that it involves the entire base and I am the coordinator for the medical people of the base.  I have been planning activities and sporting events and breakfast for the med group with the commander and such.  I have also been involved in writing OIs (operating instructions, which are guidelines for everything we do, from our visitation policy to our PCA pumps (Patient controlled analgesia).  All this extra stuff got started because I wasn't busy with my patients so I would read my book or work on a puzzle book and feel guilty about it (Not that anyone else was working any harder).  So I would volunteer to do something and finish it and then help with something else, it has been a great learning experience.

I got nominated by my Squadron Commander for the Desert Medic Award, which I am not entirely sure what it is, about but I have to go in front of a board and answer questions.  These questions are picked from current events, both non-military and military, base rules and off base policies.  Such random stuff and I will have to read the "Stars and Stripes" which is the newspaper for the region to be able to answer the questions.  They will also see all that I have been involved in and then judge. I guess I shouldn't complain but it is just more stuff I am working on.  After next week, when wingman's week is over, I will feel much better.

I was trying to join one of the off base trips this week but I got busy with other stuff today and never submitted my paperwork and now it is too late.   Ramadan starts on the 21st and after that we can't go off base during the entire period which lasts a month.  So I will have to make up for my lack of visits off base in October.

Hope everyone is doing well and I will write more soon.

Love, Megan

My LIfe in Pictures

 This is the gym closest to my dorm that I work 

out at.  It is really new and nice and has an indoor pool.

 

This is the "BPC."  It stands for Branford-Preston Complex which is the area of base that I live on but in this building is the BX, movie theater, Starbucks, free wireless internet, and the game room.  It is a great place to hang out on my day off when I want to get out of my room.

Sorry this picture isn't very close up, but it is my dorm.  Somewhere around 200 people live in the building and it feels like an apartment complex.  Just off to the right of my building is dining hall and behind me about 1/10 of a mile is the hospital.  I always walk across this dirt area to get to work. 

Just another picture of the dirt field I am always walking across.  In the picture off in the distance is the BPC.

This is a closer picture of my dorm from the "Talivan."  One of the nurses I work with took it while I was driving us to get meals for us and the patients.  Along the very top of the building, you can just make out the row of windows.  Since I am on the second floor, the windows are right above the rooms across from mine and make it pretty bright in my room.  Makes it feel like I have an outside window.

This is the hospital/clinic where I work.

The first picture is of the ICU, it has 3 beds and so far we have had one ICU patient.  Thankfully if they are sick enough to be in the ICU, they either go downtown really quick or they get airevac'd out quickly.   The next is of the ward, it has 8 beds, 4 on one side and 4 on the other.  In the closest spot a bed has been removed because that patient is in surgery.

This is a picture of the teeny, tiny nurses station.  We have 4-5 nurses on day shift so it gets really crowded.  One of the nurses is the element chief and she has an office and sometimes someone hangs out in the ICU and uses that computer to give us more room.

This is a Jersey Barrier.  Someone painted it to represent the 379th EMDG (expeditionary medical group).  It says Force Sustainers, Health Maintainers along the sides and across the bottom, Desert Medics.