I woke up in the morning to run into the recreation room and watch footage of hurricane Ike. With a brother who's a cop in Seabrook and a sister who was sick and on pain meds who couldn't leave in Houston, I was very curious. I knew they'd be in pretty safe places, but you never know. I watched for hours. I only wished I could have been there to be with my sis. I felt bad her being there all by herself.
Well, when I went into work, my mind wasn't on EMF Kuwait. It was on my family who was having a hurricane strike them right at that moment. As soon as I got into work, they told me I would be transporting 2 of our patients up to another base to fly out with the air force medical planes to Germany. Originally, they needed a nurse to go because they were going to write for IV morphine for the trip. They changed their minds, so they didn't really need me to go, but the memos and everything were all put together, so I still went. They wanted me to wait for the patients to get their wound vac's changed over to regular suction on the plane so I could bring the wound vac's back to Arifjan. Those were the only two we had and if they went with the patient, we would probably never see them again.
At that moment, I was not in the mood to do all this. Any other day I'd be totally excited. Yesterday, I just wanted to stay in touch with my parents and see how my bro and sis were. After I started getting all their paperwork and everything together, I started to get excited about it.
PAD issued me a cell phone and the armory issued me a 9mm. Wee! A nurse with a weapon. I've never had to carry a gun unless I was at the range. This was kinda exciting. Okay, and yes my other corpsmen made me pose for some pictures. haha. They told me I could go in civilian clothes, but that was a bad idea because at this other base, you have to be in uniform to go to the DFAC. Hmm. Lessons learned.
The ambulance picked the two patients and I up. The 2 EMT's were army reservists from Texas, one of them was from Lubbock. That was kinda cool. We had a fun ride. One of the patients had to go to the bathroom and they were out of urinals, so he just had to use a gatorade bottle, but then he was in too much pain to go, so he kept trying to stand in the ambulance to go. One of the EMT's said it was the first time it seemed like a party in the ambulance. :)
We got to the CASF (umm...some acronym for the air force holding nurses area), this was where they kept patients until they were flown out of country. My bed was right next to the patients, so if they needed anything, they had me and their nurses there. The air force people were very nice. I couldn't sleep at alllllll last night. I tossed and turned. Listened to my ipod. Tried to relax. Eventually, I fell asleep and then was woken up at 0300 and told we were getting the guys up to get ready to head to the plane. Sheesh. Got them on the litters and on the ambulance bus and out to the flight deck. We got them all hooked into the medical plane (it kinda made me wish I was an air force flight nurse....but I know I would have to fight all the other AF nurses to do that also). We had some issues with transferring the wound vacs over to regular suction, but rigged it up just fine with some tape. Expeditionary.
Then, I went back and napped until my ride came and we got back to Arifjan. Good times. I got to leave base for the first time. I got to carry a weapon. I helped see two patients off that I had gotten to know pretty well. Met some cool Air Force peeps.
Oh, and the people that drive over here are NUTS. Just sayin. The scenery though, is just like west Texas. haha. Still haven't seen any camels.
I just grabbed brunch with Laura and I might try and nap right now. I'm so tired.
2 comments:
Alright. I'm going to say it because everyone is thinking it.
JEEZY CREEZY! Your backside in picture number two is freaking amazing!
Had to get that out of the way... I would also like to compliment your keeping your finger straight and off the trigger until you are ready to fire. Good pistol technique and safety :)
Concerning Houston, Yeah, My folks live down there and headed north to our Plano home after the storm hit. Massive power outings, etc. I haven't heard much in the way of looting, which makes me proud (not going to point fingers....). Hopefully it will remain that way.
I still haven't heard from Tony. He's living down there and decided to stay it out (evacuation orders were only for some sections. Others were told to stay put.). I have tried calling him, but the cell phones are down in many places. I'm not worried, but I will keep trying to get ahold of him. I'll update you when I do.
Glad you were able to get out of your base. It's always refreshing to go someplace new :)
read my latest post, it's a doozy :)
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