January 31, 2008

Another day has gone with nothing out of the ordinary. People in the hospital were saying today, and I couldn’t have said it any better myself, every day here is like a Monday. Another replied that being out here is like that movie Ground Hog Day.

I woke up this morning early to talk to Matt and the kids on the web cam. That didn’t work out so well so I went to the hospital to call them. It was nice being able to talk to them without a lag. I took care of lots of patients today. Extubated 2 Afghans, sent two to the OR and just did general RT patient care with the rest. Suctioned a whole lot of ppl and even put a few on much needed treatments. I also took one off the vent and had him last all day on the trach collar with no problems. The only thing that broke my heart was the little boy I have on the vent. He went today to get his leg amputated in the OR. Found out that his dad died and his step mom can’t support the family so as the oldest male, a ten year old, he had to do the work to support the family. His work consisted of selling things to people on the street. Unfortunately he got caught in a car and was dragged for miles and in the process destroyed his abdomen area and ruined his leg. It broke my heart. Now how will his family and him survive? It’s things like helping him that make it worth while working and living the way that we do.

Good news… I finally got some laundry done. They have huge washer and dryers for us to use in the hospital but they are ALWAYS full. Everything I wear is dark except for my gym socks and it makes no sense just to do a load for 4 white socks. Needless to say, I think I will have grey socks for the rest of my deployment. LOL

After work I did the usual, walked to my hut, walked to the sowers and walked back. I am now sitting here and writing this. Oh, something somewhat exciting happened… I get called to the ER because supposedly there was a vehicle rollover with four injured and one that was critically injured. I mozy on to the ER, get my RT (respiratory therapy) stuff together and wait. When the chopper came in, it came in with one person and all he had was minor chest pain. There went the excitement for the day. Ha Ha

I guess I won’t be writing much unless you want to hear the same stuff over and over BUT I will let you know when it does change. Until then… Hasta la vista baby!

Sandy