No need for Noah's Ark or even an umbrella

I'm watching last weeks Grey's Anatomy episode and they have a new doctor who just finished serving in Iraq. It starts raining in the episode and the doctor goes out to dance in the rain. Another doctor explains her behavior by saying "she's been in the desert a long time." I know exactly how she feels. I think I will dance in the rain when I see it again. It has been over 4 months. I was walking across the moonscape- the sandy field that separates the chow hall and the hospital when I came across a little weed surrounded by a ring of rocks. I had to laugh in understanding as it is only living thing within site. Turns out one of the night shift nurses put the ring around it and he takes half drunk abandoned water bottles to water it.

Not much else is going on around here. I will be meeting a four star general after he tours the base at an hour long social at the DEL (the bar). Don't really know how I got selected but it is me and one other nurse going. For the last 2 months we have had so many Generals and Colonels here, but they finally left. There was one particular brick path that no one wanted to walk down because it went from the chow hall to where all the big wigs worked and you practically had to walk with your hand to your forehead in constant salute.

Only 51 days left (plus or minus a few days).

Love,

Megan

The Med Group over here had a visit from Maj Gen Siniscalchi, the Chief Nurse of the Air Force and the Deputy Surgeon General. She had just been touring the AOR (Iraq and Afghanistan) and she came by the hospital to get a tour. We were able to host a dinner for all the nurses on base including the A/E nurses and

the nurses that work with the units that plan all the A/E missions (about 30 people). My chief nurse told me I had to meet them in the conference room after she toured the hospital. She wouldn't tell me why. When I got there, 4 enlisted people from the med group were there as well and didn't know why. Our Hospital Commander brought in the General for a briefing and prior to the briefing, the 5 of us got coined. Our commander explained to her some of the extra things that we do at the hospital. I think I got coined because I have taken on a lot of extra duties and it stands out because I am the youngest and lowest ranking officer (the only Lt in the hospital). I just do it to keep from being really bored at work. When my Group Commander got to me, Gen Sinischachi said "You look just like your mother."
I had helped plan the dinner and talked to protocol and set up the flags and the placards on the DV table. Prior to the dinner starting, someone rearranged the name placards and I couldn't figure out why. When the dinner started my Hospital Commander stood up and said that the only Junior Officer should sit at the head table in his spot next to the General. It was very embarrassing but cool to get to sit next to her. General Sinischachi said I should start off the buffet line but prior to that, she told the story of how a few months ago she had retired my mom.

One other cool, small world kind of thing is that my Squadron commander is a physical therapist and his younger sister is one as well in the AF, but right now she is working as the General's Executive Officer. It was interesting seeing the two Maj Lyons' together.

Over all a very fun evening.

Patients follow us where ever we go...

Today was a very interesting day as I got to see first hand how great our EMTs are. Our chief nurse/deputy commander started out the day by ruining our diets with a box of Krispy Kreme donuts for the nurses. They were wonderful and tasted just like they do back home.

I convinced one of the other nurses to go out to the flight line festival that they were holding on the flight line. They had all of the aircraft out on display and were letting us go up inside them. In addition to that, the Army's Air Defense Artillary was out there as well. They are the ones that are going to protect us if any missiles are lobbed our way.

We had gotten a chance to see almost all of the aircraft and were on the last one. A C-17. This is the
medium sized cargo plane- considered the cadillac of A/E

missions but most of the time our

patients go out on the plane to the

right----> The C-17 is the first picture with me hanging out of the cockpit window. Capt Riggs and I were inside facing the back of the aircraft when we heard a shout and a bunch of curse words behind us.

We turned around just in time to see a man falling like a limp rag down 5 steep stairs from the cockpit. Picture to the left shows the stairs <-- When he didn't get up I heard Capt Riggs say "Oh S***" and we ran over to him. His knee was facing one direction and his right foot was facing another. You could just see how much pain he was in- if he could have seen what his leg looked like he would have probably passed out. Riggs shouted out the door of the plane for EMS- which was on the flight line. I tried to keep him calm until the EMTs showed up. They couldn't splint his leg because of the position his foot was in. They took him back to the hospital and we followed behind a few minutes later. Too much excitement. Turned out he tore both ligaments on both thighs holding his knee caps in place and tore some tendons holding his right ankle in place, and somewhere in his ankle was a broken bone..

The base Public Affairs people were on the plane taking pictures while we were getting him stabilized and they interviewed me afterwards. Maybe I will be in the public affairs e-mail that gets sent out every day.

The last picture shows a B-1 Lancer. This is a really cool bomber that I got to sign a bomb on last month and go up into the cockpit. The picture of me in front of wheels up above is in front of the B-1 just showing how enormous this plane is.

Time is passing

I just received a card from my grandmother (I love getting mail). She said she loves to read my blogs and I started feeling bad that I haven't written in a while so here goes...

I have approximately 74 days left and I have completed 58.8% of my time here (yes I keep track). It is called the "donut of misery," an Excel program that tells you all your stats about your time here. It if finally cooling down, usually in the low 90s but today has been more humid than normal.

My trip off base last week was okay, we drove through Doha which is a HUGE city; I couldn't believe how many skyscrapers there were. We went to the biggest mall in the city which wasn't as nice as the one that we went to before. We ate in the food court at a Qatari fast food restaurant. The food was really good, lots of kabobs and hummus. We also stopped by the souqs, which are the markets where you can buy a lot of jewelry and barter to bring the prices down. Not really my kind of thing but the girls I went with had fun. I thought we would have the whole day but the two guys who took us had to be back at work early that evening and one of the nurses is on nights so we didn't meet until noon.

We got wifi internet in the hospital which is really great for the patients. I think we give less pain meds and since our patients never have family with them they can Skype with their family and friends. I got to talk to my mom and Rick on Skype at work yesterday and they got to meet some of my co-workers.

I hope everyone is doing well and I miss you.

Love,

Megan

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