The Book of Brett: February 2014

A couple of emails ago I mentioned someone with henna dyed feet. This is as close of a picture as I could find to what they looked like.

This picture was taken on the day I was told I had influenza. This is a box that one of my classmates from CRNA school sent to me. It was incredibly thoughtful of him to do something like that and it cheered me up greatly.

As you will recall from previous emails I was coerced into keeping my mustache for over a week after I could have shaved it so we could take a department picture in which everyone had a mustache. This is the day that I finally got to shave it off. I thought the biohazard sign was appropriate because when I would wake up in the morning or blow my nose my 'stache would be filled with all kinds of creepy stalactites. Gross!

Kind of a bad picture but this is me having fun with the remains of my mustache.

This is the picture that I had to keep my mustache for. I guess it was worth it.

We were suppose to take a hospital wide photo on the helicopter pad but at the last minute they cancelled it so Ally and I walked around taking pictures until the haircut place opened. This is one of the rare totally clear days in Bagram.

Me and one of the heavily armored assault vehicles with a 50 caliber machine gun on the roof

Another of the giant armored vehicles that do patrols around base

An armored ambulance

Me and my mismatched name tapes

This is the group of OR staff that ran the Valentine's Day 5 or 10K. We are only smiling because this was before we realized we didn't get T-shirts. There was a live band you can see in the background.

A fuzzy picture of the runners during the race.

This is Dr Bode who was voted to be cupid on Valentine's Day. He is humongous.

Just hanging out with my bottled water.

This is high security tape sure to keep out anyone trying to get through this fence.

We saw this sign and found its location pretty funny. I am not sure who put it there but I am pretty sure they were not in the Army.

I took this picture about an hour ago. This is the flag I am taking home and using at my house. I am planning on taking it to Normandy when we go this summer. It is good to remember all of the places and countries over which our flag has flown and upon whose soil our men and women's blood has been spilled to defend what this flag represents. I feel honored to be here making my own small sacrifice in a cause my nation has engaged in. It gives me perspective and appreciation for what I have and so often take for granted.

It is very appropriate that I am writing today’s message on Ground Hog’s Day. If you have never seen the Bill Murray movie by that same name you really don’t need to because it is about a meteorologist newscaster guy (Bill Murray) covering the coming up of Punxsutawney Phil, the famous ground hog who looks for his shadow. He wakes up every morning and repeats the previous day over and over and over. Nothing he does changes the fact that he continually wakes up doomed to repeat Ground Hog’s Day. I am feeling a lot like Bill Murray’s character. So show you what I mean I will walk you through my schedule for the past week.

Monday

Wake up: 6pm

Us e the bathroom in the last cubical, shave, shower in the first shower cubical on the left, get dressed and head to work

6:30 pm: Arrive at work, change into scrubs, get report from the day crew, check the ORs, stock supplies, inventory the narcotics, preop the patients for the next day’s cases, all that takes until maybe 7:30.

7:30 pm: Check personal, Air Force, Army and Bagram email accounts and answer any necessary emails.

8pm: Call home and chat with Cami and the kids

8:30pm: Start my personal study of the scriptures or conference talks.

9:30pm: Get dressed in my PT uniform to go workout. Monday is upper body workout.

10:45pm: Shower and change back into scrubs.

11:00pm: Watch some rerun of a basketball game on AFN (Armed Forces Network) the military version of cable TV.

11:50pm Change back into my regular uniform called OCPs to go to midnight chow. Walk to the DFAC (dining facility), scan your ID card get no more than two Styrofoam take-out boxes. Fill one with lettuce and kidney beans maybe some shredded carrots and bell peppers. Go to the sandwich line and get a turkey wrap with four pieces of turkey and one piece of swiss cheese with lettuce and cucumbers. Get a cup of tortilla soup, walk back to the hospital and have dinner/movie, Monday we chose Crouching Tiger Hidden Plot or something like that.

2am: Play cards with the OR crew until I get tired of loosing

3am: Check email and Facebook to see what real people are doing

4am: Check prices for European travel to get ready for our trip to France in June.

5am: Eat one of the dinners I didn’t eat during the movie. Watch AFN some more.

6am: Call and talk to Cami again

6:30am: Day shift arrives, report off. Sit around and wait for breakfast to start at 7:30.

7:30am: Eat three boiled egg whites and oatmeal.

8am: Head back to my dorm room and change into my jammies, brush my teeth and write in my journal.

8:30am: Try to go to sleep

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday were all exactly the same with the following exceptions

Tuesday:

9:30: Workout is Interval running and ABS

11pm: Laundry Day, throw a load of laundry in but make sure it is done by midnight or it is thrown in a sack and put in the First Sergeant’s (aka the Shirt) office and you have to recite the Airman’s Creed to get it back because from midnight to 2am every day the laundry room is cleaned. It usually only takes them about ten minutes to clean it but you can’t use it anyway.

1:30am: Brought a US soldier to the OR with bilateral lower extremity amputations from an IED blast to the OR for 4 hours.

Also no cup of soup at midnight chow because it is usually Beef Noodle. Movie was Fantastic Mr. Fox

Wednesday:

9:30: Workout is Lower Body

Soup is Chicken Noodle. Movie was Willow.

No oatmeal for breakfast.

Thursday:

Same workout as on Tuesday

Soup is Minestrone and movie was Johnny Lingo.

Friday:

Same workout as Monday

Soup is Vegetable, movie was The Help

Saturday:

At change of shift we usually will have an anesthesia staff movie night. Day shift will get the stuff for build your own pizza or burritos or cheese dip and we will watch a movie together, this week it was Bourne Legacy.

Workout is the same as Tuesday and Thursday

I don’t go to bed at 8:30 because church starts at 10am so I study some more.

10-11:30 Church

11:30am: Go to bed

I don’t work out on Sundays and I usually have French Toast for dinner or maybe a three-egg scramble with veggies but since I haven’t gone yet I can’t say what the day will bring.

They do try to break up the monotony with random things throughout the week. Today in the hall there was a “Fashion Show” where people had to make their own costumes. I will include those pictures on the blog. That pretty much sums up the week, month, quarter . . . like Forest Gump says,” life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.” Hope your week goes well. Be safe.

www.thebookofbrett.blogspot.com

Low clearance. Writing in my journal before bed.

I had to include these two pictures to squelch all the nasty rumors going around that Dr Landreth never does anything.

A picture is worth a thousand words

A mustache update. I know it doesn't look any different. I was suppose to be able to shave it off on Feb 1 but one of the docs asked me to wait until his wife sent the 'mustache on a stick' things for a group picture. I reluctantly consented because she sent it priority. So another two weeks.

None of the advice I have followed has made any difference.

This is our OR locker room. My locker is on the top with the blue towel. The guy with the bottom locker that is open hangs his shorts on the outside of his locker door. That isn't a big deal until he hangs his shorts up after he has been wearing them to run. When he hangs them up they are completely soaked with sweat. They drip dry creating a huge puddle on the floor that I have had the misfortune of stepping in and soaking my socks. Gross!