since we are the crossroads we get lots of "passerbys" medical folks coming and going in addition to the mass quantities of the units.

SO, lots of doctors, nurses, pa's and corpsmen to say the least.
and like all people who actually "see" one of your own--Navy medicine.. we BOND mutually....and the dining facility is where it all happens.

this past week a large contingency of medical are passing through..and of course we bond, talk, and do the ol' "do you know so and so" routine, or " i know you from somewhere" routine. and shocking as it may seem, i Know a lot of people, and have worked with a lot of people passing through.

so, the other day, i had a marine who crushed his hand getting ONTO the plane in california to come here--14 hours later, he comes straight to medical for his finger--he bypassed eating breakfast, so i know it is prob broken.

i get an xray--and the fracture is close to the joint, but not in the joint, so i splinted and treated as such...

forunate for me...a passerby is an orthopedic surgeon! i see him later and have him review the xray and discuss my plan--which was fine according to him.

i really like these passerby's...

one thing that keeps me entertained is the coalition folks that come through here...so far, other than Tonga, we have seen, British, Polish, Bosnia, Moldova, Korea (who live here), El Salvador, that i can think of now...a few other may have made thier way through and i haven't figured out who or where they are from.....

so, the other day there was a soccer tournement...the koreans vs el salvador, vs bosnia. apparently the bosnians played very "aggressively" against the koreans, and of course one the tournement....if flags were being played, they would have been called out ALOT

camp virginia is interesting.....it is a transition place where folks (from all over) pass through to go either into or out of theatre--i.e. middle east. my chances of seeing familiar faces is obviously increased and as i am learning, i am seeing ALOT of blasts from my navy past.

the latest and greatest is Carl Long, a PA that i worked with in guam..he like me got tagged again for his second trip over here. it is great catching up and talking about mutual people we know.

BUT, the most interesting one, so far, is LTJG Udoh.....i met him 10 years ago on the USS Harpers Ferry, i had spent a month on that ship and we went into mombasa, kenya do participate in a humanitarian mission.

so UDOH, who was Seaman Udoh at the time was part of the medical team because he is originially from Nigeria and in his country he is a doctor!! needless to say, in kenya they don't speak nigerian and vice versa, so he needed translators like the rest of us.....anyway, he basically came to the US and joined the navy without telling anyone in his family. i always wondered what became of him, and low in behold i see him in the dining facility sitting with Lt butler, the PA i work with, cuz they are classmates from physician assistant school--they both graduated last year.

so, Udoh, has gone from seaman, to personellman then became a PA. he was never allowed to be a corpsman as it was not allowed do to his prior schooling as a doctor.

so, now on his way into iraq or wherever, Udoh is studying to take his step 1 and eventually become a US doctor...it is taking him a while, but i know he will do it. talk about perseverence.
i wish him the best of luck

the temp 135 degrees! balmy...this i the back sid of my clinic with the steps leading to the toilet...it is just like a gas station, you grab a key and go outside!! note the "head" we go up the ramp to....

here are a few pics in front of the clinic...with my colleagues who are on a visit to my clinic...capt marks is my boss!

there is one with me and my LPO..a great admin resource here...

here is a pic of me and my staff minus the night shift....my commanding officer, senior enlisted and my boss were visiting, hence the weapons that they are wearing!

as i am having lunch with several member of my staff a few days ago, a female comes up to me and says hi! do you remember me? at first i thought she was a nurse i may have known, then she explains that we were in guam? we use to swim together, and told me her name.

HOLY SMOKES! she must have put on well over 20 pounds cuz i did not recognize her at first...then it clicked in my head, and i remembered her clearly...we had done a few swims in guam together. she is passing through going into iraq for the 6 month deal doing whatever...

This morning, after being woken up by my staff playing volleball outside my room 0500-i was suppose to go to the gym and did not get my big lazy butt out of bed....so i don't want to be seen by my staff, but I have to go the bathroom something fierce! so i finally succumbe and walk out in front of them all to tromp down to the lovely toilet at the end of our "pad" where we live more or less. yes, we live together, pee together, work together, and bi-golly we shower together--me and the girls that is.....

so, my morning ritual, is while i am getting ready for work ion the am...i have a hot water pot and i enjoy a lovely cup of tea in my room. then i usually get a knock on the door from jorge, ormy neighbor who is the dentist, or he knocks on mine and we take the .5 mile walk to the Dining facility for breakfast.

So, this moring, i am sitting at breakfast and i looked over and saw a blast from the past! we caught each others eye and that lightbulb of recognition came over both our faces at the same time!

It was Marty a navy commander and Dentist that deployed HERE with me in the same detachement in 2006 while i went to Navistar..HE came HERE! so he was the dentist here in virginia at the same time--i actually came by and visited him and i have some pictures from my last trip prob 2 years to the date to be honest.

we were unable to get any photos today, cuz he just got in today and is leaving in a few hours...to go into iraq.

we were both laughing about the fact that we are both on our second deployments in such a short time!!!

so, the tonga royal marines who we immunized are here for a bit....so i was told that they can sing....and that they would be singing at the gospel service on sunday. so i made a point of it to go to the service and my GOD can they sing...like angels--more like the big hearty angel like gabriel. it was amazing!

they have the coolest t-shirtst that they wear with thier uniform..i am trying to figure out a way to barter for one.....i have lots of navy t-shirts i can use....

meanwhile that was the first gospel service i have ever attended......interesting, but fun.

since this camp is a huge transition place for folks coming and going to assist with the stuff going on in iraq, we have lots of different coalition forces passing through......helping out the US, we help them out with giving them immunizations!

So now, we have got the process down pretty good running through the clinic...

we had a massive group of el salvadoreans recently--who speak no english, which is always a challenge...

and now the royal marines from TONGA! i feel ALMOST in hawaii! what a cool group of guys....no eye contact whatsoever and they have the coolest names i.e. talakihi.....big strong hardy island folk...i imagine they all paddle as well :)

after the ordeal and making it just in time for dinner...i am anxious to get the swim in that i missed cuz i spent the entire day in a hot car....but first i need to fix up my bed for the night in the main building where EVERYONE at camp cupcake stay...so i am bumping into all kinds of people....
so, i am chatting with the radiologist, some really tall fellow sees me and says "ellen" and gives me a big hug! meanwhile, i am racking my brain as how do i know him.....he is not in uniform
it turns out he is "hutch" a navy pilot that i deployed with 11 years ago....we hang out the entire time on deployment, and i remember making him go to the water park in singapore with me...he remembered the mongolian bbq that he had had for the first time that night.
we met at the pool and chatted..he is here for a few days doing evals on IED or somthing.
i told him i saw Matt one of his peers when i was in qatar my last deployment!
too funny.

so, i have to go down to camp cupcake...where the pool is....for a monthly meeting..drive down the night before dine with all the big wigs, discuss the book club--speed of trust, good book by stephen covey...and meet the next day as well.

this is a great opportunity for me to SWIM, so i don't mind going. as a matter of fact, we left with plenty of time for me to swim before dinner....unbeknownst to me...when we were 5 min from the camp, my boss. WHO HAD JUST LEFT the other camp and had coordinated with the staff at the other camp (which is close by mine) told me I was suppose to pick them up, and i said, that she was---logically, they were there, the staff had thier bags ready to go. but for some UNKNOWN reason, and poor communication, they did not give them a ride. SO my chief and i had to turn around and drive the 1 1/2 hours to go BACK and pick them up...meanwhile, the gas gage was on ZERO! i was use to my old staff and always leaving the tank full, my chief did not look and we were literally sweating it--cuz we turned the AC off to make it to our destination!!

thank goodness we did....i was having flashbacks of sitting on the side of the road stranded as that happened to me TWICE last time i was here.

the only time i seem to watch TV is while i am eating meals...this morning was truly amazing...esp the men's 400 meter swim! apparently i am not alone...everyone else has the same idea, and you can hear it in the dining facility...

today we had our first major incident-like patient...i was at my desk and i heard screaming coming down the hall and they were bringing in a civilian contractor who had a crush injury to his middle finger, it the finger was still attached, but hanging by a skin more or less.
the staff did phenomenally well, and as did the patient..in our clinic. we had him on a helo and in the cas rec (ER) in under an hour. poor fellow did lose the tip of the finger in the long run.
it was great to see the staff working as a team as we have been working so hard to clean, organize and fix up the place after inheriting a mess....

sunday morning....i actually got down to camp arifjan (aka camp cupcake) where the swimming pool is as well as the hospital and shops and LOADS of people..plus the politics that go along with big places. i need to stay and clean my living quarters as it is constantly filthy from the sand and dirt, but my chief who works for me insisted that i go with him as i am the "memo" if you are an 05 or above, you don't need a memo to get off base, so I am the memo.
so after a ride up to beuhring to pick up another chief we drove to camp cupcake..not tooo bad as i got a nice LONG swim in and felt a billion times better...plus, i bought a funky bike to cruise around my camp on..as we have no paved roads the mt bike is a bonus.
and the best thing, i got my hair done!! oh, the little things that make you feel so much better...

the Lord works in mysterious ways, isn't that the truth.
i am so lucky i am not alone this tour, i have a dentist Jorge, a PA, carlos, and a family practice doctor Noa...our little team and great people.
so, i am sitting at breakfast today with jorge and noa and we were talking about CNN, and i had mentioned that my friend sue works for CNN and we have been friends since childhood in virginia....to make a LONG story short...Noa and i went to the same high school. MT Vernon...and as the world gets smaller. Noa was mentored by my brother Harry in a youth group for 4 years!! Noa expressed the positive affect and impact that harry had on him.....
we both were absolutely amazed! i had to email harry right away.

so i am going into dinner last night and apparently it is indian food night... and you may find this hard to believe, but EVERYONE that works in the DFAC (dining facility per the army) is indian. i more or less was escorted to the indian food serving area and was recommended to "try everything" per the staff working there. you better believe it is authentic indian food!! tasty and spicey....they were so proud, i was asked on the way out how i liked it!
meanwhile...i barely made it back to the latrine as it went right through me like a cathartic!!

So i inherited a rather messed up clinic here...lovely building as it is a permanent structure.with no indoor sewage, but we have sinks to wash our hands which is a bonus. BUT the clinic itself is filthy and not organized. man do we have alot to do. and training the staff is going to take a lot of time. right now i would be very concerned if a critical patient i.e. blast or gunshot came in as everything is sloppy and staff not trained up. i am trying to figure out where to start....the 4 huge volumes of standard operating procedures amaze me....

everything is a trade off when it comes to assignments here in kuwait....camp arifjan is disneyland with the pool, people and all the ammenities of camp cupcake. the OTHER outlying clinics.....not so great, but they have better living accomodations, except.....virginia.

I am trying to figure out who i pissed off to keep sending me to the remote clinics. i have a HUGE room in a trailer to live in...but the "toilet" is about 20 meters walk OUTSIDE...and the absolutely best part of my living conditions is that the SHOWER is a healthy walk....i'd say 300 meters away....about a block. this is definitely going to take some getting use to...

although, i believe i will have INTERNET in my room, so that is a bonus....they don't have that at the camp that has rockstar berthing!

it is true, the human body can adapt to anything....i will let you know in 6 months

So, i am now the officer in charge of camp virginia troop medical clinic....i am having TOTAL flashbacks of my last deployment and the misery i had there.....the jet lag has whipped my butt and i am a walking zombie.

CAMP Virginia---way different from navistar! first of all I AM NOT ALONE!!! i have a doc and a PA and jorge the dentist are here to share the workload as well as hang out with me.

so far..and it has been 4 days...my staff of 20 plus seem awsome and the clinic is actually a real building with running water----no indoor plumbing for sewage...so going to the toilet is always a treat.

but the clinic itself has a lab, pharmacy, xray, PT, and all of the nuances of a real acute care clinic....what a treat for me!

now i made it to the transition tents....in camp arifjan...deja vu, big time. I NEVER in my wildest dreams imagine that i would ever be back here again, but NEVER say NEVER isnt' that the truth.

so, living in the tent with the other gaggle of women.....always needing a battle buddy cuz i am now in the infamous "rape zone"

i don't know if it is cuz i have 4 brothers, or what, but i seem to get along with men much better and spent most of my time traveling with the radiologist "bill", ken, chris the FP doc, Jorge, the dentist, and smattering of other guys.....i think it is cuz i dragged them to the pool or swimming with me on numerous occassions!

i spent a whopping 2.5 days in this area before they moved me up and out to my final destination: CAMP VIRGINIA

i have to say, the flight and times were much more conducive this go round EXCEPT for the 2 hour layover in colorado at midnight where we had to deplane and sit around on the pavement waiting to reboard!! the airforce definately know how to treat the navy! that was pretty miserable, needless to say.

stopped in germany, then finally kuwait....NOT near as painful as last time.....but still not the best time of my life.

we arrived bright and early in the morning....0500!

so after we do the inprocessing stuff for kuwait...i am now loaded up with 3 seabags full of " stuff" and headed to camp pendleton for the SAME training and living conditions as last deployment.....



I am trying to figure why the heck they want us living on cots and wood frame tents and limited resources...i.e. NO HOT WATER in the showers for 2 weeks, so that we can be shipped off to kuwait....the army doesn't even treat thier soldiers that bad before they deploy! at least they have indoor housing/plumbing and a bed to sleep in on their way out of country.



anyway, i had the opportunity to get a few swims in at la jolla cove!! yippee, visit with maureen, bob and thier family. PLUS attend my brother michael-CAPT SEAL type change of command ceremony in coronado the day before i left...which was great.



we had lots of free time and i was able to get to the pool and san diego a few times to do laundry at my sisters, cuz, shockingly, NO LAUNDRY services at camp pendleton!

august 4...whew! the last month has been chaotic, unsettling, frusterating and exhausting...thankfully it is OVER and NOW the fun begins! HA! HA!

i left hawaii the 6th of july RED EYE to get to LAX with Ken the optometrist from my command... i rented a car to travel to port hueneme for the week long INPROCESSING process...basically to redo everything we had already done to deploy. Needless to say, my knee which is a mess and has been for the past 20 some years is looking really bad, especially on xray. SOOOO, I am deemed non-deployable. since i have been to kuwait, actually just returned last year...the EMF and CENTCOM surgeon are willing to provide me a medical waiver for my knee. so i am cleared for deployment..next stop.....CAMP PENDLETON....back to the miserable existance of 2 years ago!

the best part of this ordeal, was getting sat off to visit jeanne in santa monica go out for a fabulous lunch with my brother michael and his wife and daughter.

although i was glad to be cleared for deployment....that total knee replacement is not toooo far off in my future...and i am hoping this knee lasts at least 1-2 more years.