Nearly the end

I don't want this to sound too energetic....but my time in Kirkuk is now measured by hours!!! With God's grace, I should be home with my family again in less than a week. And, though I have tried to welcome the challenges this deployment has brought, I'm getting pretty STOKED to see my family again!

But first, to update this page before any more outcry from the homefront. We've maintained the same schedule for the past few weeks without too much excitement, save for some new pictures and another race. The half and full marathon that Jake and I helped plan (and design the t-shirt for....thank you again Nate) was on the 7th. True to November form, the weather was perfect (low 60's) without any serious wind or rain and everyone in our EMEDS group that ran either met or exceeded their race goal. I was very happy to improve my time from last month's half-marathon by over 8 minutes and Jake bettered his marathon time by more than 20 minutes! We then had some light recovery runs this week but went out yesterday morning for one last long, Saturday morning run (as has been our routine the whole 6 months). It was fun, but I can't say I'll miss running around that 6-mile loop (again and again and again...).

We also engaged in the local tradition of decorating our group's concrete T-wall outside the hospital. Our pharmacist and dentist did most of the artwork, copying the design of our EMEDS coin onto the wall and we will all sign our names to it before leaving. Here is our entire group assembled for a photo around our wall....

....and another group photo with the outgoing MEDEVAC group that evacuated all of our patients for the first five months of my time here. They've been a fantastic group to work with and took GREAT care of our Soldiers/Airmen!

This is hopefully my last post before heading back to Al Udeid for a short stop (a couple of days) on the way home. I sincerely appreciate being blanketed with such fervent prayer from friends and family during this time. Although it wasn't as professionally exciting as I'd hoped, God has used this time to grow me in many unexpected ways. Now, I look forward to an awesome homecoming and, hopefully, a truly thankful Thanksgiving in Roseburg.

My Cita, I love you more than any words can accurately explain. You've been a rock, and should be incredibly proud of your single-parenting skills this year! I can't wait to see how much our big man has changed and to hold you in my arms again soon soon...

Kirkuk out.

About a month

Yes, that's right, we're finally down to the last month before the famous group we affectionately refer to as "The Replacements" arrive to free us from our sentence. The days continue to tick away at about the same pace and the weather remains about as perfect as it could be in Iraq (lows around 70 and highs around 90). And no, there hasn't been any doctoring to do, just more of the usual: reading, running, working out and amusing ourselves in any way possible.

Just after the last post, the three of us who arrived together back in May had our celebratory pizza to mark the 3/4 point. We brought ice cream and root beer to make floats and chatted about all of the little moments that have made up our time together this year. We shared some laughs and commiserated that we have five kids between the three of us, and we're all ready to see our families again.

Last weekend, our base held its official "Air Force 1/2 Marathon-Deployed Locations" race. Over 80 people showed up to run at 6AM and we had lots of good supporters at all of the aid stations/tables. With a little manipulation, the biggest loop on base is 6.6 miles, so it was just two more laps around that course which we know and love so well at this point (I have logged over 350 miles on that loop in the last five months, and others have done much more!).

(4th place=no medal)

Lest you think we're getting bored (and yes, we ARE) or predictable, Jake and I made a tee time at our local course and played 7 holes last week. How is that possible? Well, it turns out there is a dirt golf course hidden behind locked gates here at the KRAB, and we finally managed to form a friendship with one of the gate-keepers. Each tee-box is marked by number and has an AstroTurf mat. The greens are raked and swept so that only baked clay remains and there are even real cups dug into the ground that hold actual flags! The longest hole is 120 yards long and after the tee, you hit off of sand, dirt or the occasional bush. It may not be real golf, but it sure was an awesome runner-up. Notice the shoulder-fired rocket launchers that have been converted to "bags" for carrying our wedges (the Ammo guys run the course).

(Super-flat back swing...time to hit the range and work out some bad habits!)

(Natural hazard on #6...I didn't make this up)

Always in love with you, Sweetheart. See you next month!!!

Cooling off

Unintentionally, it seems I've been remiss in my blogging duties. I wasn't purposefully avoiding it, I guess I just forgot about this blog for the last few weeks. But fear not, there have been at least a few events about which I can write....naturally none of them involve the operating room, though. OK, there was one dead appendix that needed to be removed, but that's hardly a case to dwell on for a few weeks!

For starters, we made some friends in the Fire Dept and convinced them that fire engine training was an "essential" skill for general and orthopedic surgeons (kinda like automatic weapons, driving MRAP's and burning holes in things with a laser...which Jake got to do last month). To our surprise, they not only let us drive both of their biggest engines, but we fired up the lights and sirens and even drenched the road with water while driving. I'm very big on REAL-LIFE training and tend not to let an opportunity pass us by!

We've also been blessed with cooler temperatures (FINALLY) over the past few weeks. After two days of intermittent rain showers (yes, actual rain) that felt more like a muddy mist, temps have dropped into double digits and stayed that way until the last few days. Nighttime lows are even in the 60's now, and many of us are breaking out the coats to cope with these "Fall" temperatures after months of oppressive, evil heat.

And, I'm sure it'll come as quite a shock to find out that we continue with our after-hours antics around the base. After a recent false-alarm trauma activation, I decided to model the "Internal Medicine look" for our ER crew:

Note the pocket full of way more pens than anyone would ever need, the stethoscope around the neck JUST IN CASE it's needed at a moment's notice, the dual handbooks full of lots of important information (that really should have been memorized) and the look of bewildered enthusiasm on my face proving I've ALMOST grasped the big picture with a patient instead of getting lost in the minute details AGAIN. Also note the female in the background, who IS our internal medicine doc (sorry, Charlotte, had to do it)! So, in response, here is her best "Surgeon" impersonation (I think she's attempting to exude over-confidence, but I'm still not sure why).

Speaking of models, there was another monthly talent show last weekend. And, yes, we participated. This time, though, we were merely props for another guys skit. He wanted to do a spoof on "I'm too sexy for Kirkuk" with us as models, and the theme was reflectique (using our nighttime reflective belts and other reflective materials). The only catch was that we had to make our costumes out of things here on the FOB (forward operating base). As you'll see, some of us went with "evening wear" and others were REALLY creative, and REALLY revealing! The camera angle isn't the best, but it's worth a laugh. This wasn't nearly as popular as our last show and pales in comparison to our plans for the October Talent Show...more to come on that one.

I love you always my beautiful Lady! Give Bradster a big hug from Daddy!

Synchronized Swimming Video

As described in my last post, our group of docs shared our unequaled talent with the rest of the base two weeks ago during the monthly Talent Show. Somebody had a camcorder and our EMEDS commander put his new MacBook to good use by making a good video out of our synchronized swimming event, complete with credits and special effects! After many requests from back home, I was finally able to upload it to this site. So, here it is (for reference, I am the third person in line as we walk in).

I'm still trying to find some pics of the popliteal artery injury that I worked on last week, just to prove that I occasionally do have a purpose here.

Missin' you tons, my Bella!

Busy Is a Relative Term

Desert life has actually been somewhat busy over the past couple of weeks. It began with a Hawaiian Luau party two weekends ago that was a blast. Unbeknown to many of us, the Communications squadron this summer is primarily made up of reservists from Hawaii. They spent weeks planning and preparing for a traditional party and didn't spare any expense. There were free Hawaiian shirts for EVERYONE (about 500 people attended), leis, tropical drinks (not what you think, alcohol is forbidden among us troops in Iraq and Afghanistan), lots of decorations/paintings, male and female dancing groups and enough traditional food to stuff every hungry Soldier and Airman! We were even allowed to wear civilian clothes while inside their compound (flip flops and cargo shorts galore). For a brief while, many of us forgot we were in Kirkuk. We're still saying "Thank you" every time we see them around base...it was THAT good!

Then, there was the monthly Talent Show last weekend. Knowing our relative lack of talent, our Orthopod found a funny skit online and convinced the rest of us docs to join in the show. We did a synchronized swimming spoof, complete with a blue sheet (held up by two "maidens"), swimming caps and goggles (courtesy of Amber, Jake's wife) and some quality tunes by Andrea Bocelli. As you might imagine, the crowd got REALLY into it.....enough to land us in second place overall (the video is in the mail, Darlin')! I felt pretty badly though, because we beat out some people with a lot of ACTUAL talent (an amazing pianist, some very good vocalists, a beat-box guy and a phenomenal robot-dancer dude). To top it all off, another EMEDS group (with a great female singer) took first place, allowing us to maintain our dominance in most of the base events. Now, if we can just continue to take down the key Army players at our twice-weekly poker tournament....

-Alex (FP doc) preparing for the Show

We followed up that craziness with some awesome rides in our MEDEVAC Blackhawk helicopter...naturally, in the name of "training" that I helped organize. These took place over the course of two nights and everyone got a couple of rides in different seats in order to better appreciate what our patients experience during evacuation. Our base Commander even came out and became a "patient" for one of the flights. In the highlight of the evening, the flight medic decided to take the "practice" as far as possible and stuck an IV in the Commander's hand DURING the flight...without warning him first! He came back into the ER with blood running down his fingers and was STOKED to see us making good use of our time (he's like a kid in a candy store whenever toys are involved...I think he's turned on one of the Fire engine sirens at least a dozen times now)!!

And last but not least, we had our second official running race of the Summer this past Saturday: the Labor Day 10K. I was proud to see 13 of our 44-member EMEDS group running that morning. It was a beautiful morning and almost everyone met their goal for the race. How many times now have I said, "Thank God for running and the gym"? Here is our group with our new t-shirts after the run...of course we can't wear these until we get back home:

Thanks to Mom and Pop for hosting CJ and Braden during their most recent Portland trip. They both had a blast!

I love you my Bella!!

Heat Delirium

So, for starters, whatever temperature this blog says it currently feels like in Kirkuk....go ahead and add about 15 degrees to get the ACTUAL temp. I don't usually look at it while I'm writing, but right now it says 97 and it's really 113 outside (as read from our EMEDS double-secret, classified, NASA-prototype thermometer). Not that it matters too much, because every day is either REALLY hot or REALLY, REALLY hot. We did see clouds for the first time about two weeks ago, and they looked so beautiful for the 45 minutes that they lasted (once the sun came up, they burned off almost instantly).

You might wonder why I'm so fixated on the weather today. It's because last week was one of our hottest yet. The Air Force, in its infinite wisdom, uses a measurement system called Heat Stress Condition to determine the safety of being outside each day. The conditions are Green, Yellow, Red and Black, in ascending order of pain. Green is usually only possible at night here, and Black is like living a few miles from the surface of the sun. Last week, we had four straight days of Condition Black with each day being over 120 on our thermometer! I never really thought I'd care about the difference between 115 and 125, but I have a renewed appreciation for these upper-limit temps. So, here's a word-picture that I hope will portray the feeling of outdoor movement (while wearing thick, polyester uniforms, naturally) here at the KRAB.

Imagine the hottest day wherever you might live. If it's not at least 105, then imagine Arizona in the summertime. As you walk outside of your heavily air-conditioned home, the dry heat is choking at first. Then, as you become accustomed and venture further out, a "friend" has kindly set up an industrial-sized fan in your yard, aimed right at you. Only, this isn't a typical fan...it's a massive hairdryer blowing air that feels like it has come straight out of your oven when set to "broil." And, to heighten their enjoyment at your expense, your "friend" throws up several hands full of dusty sand into the back of the fan (because they wouldn't be caught dead in FRONT of the thing) which coat you in a fine mist of silica that sticks to the beads of sweat that NEVER, EVER leave your skin. It kinda makes you wonder what the purpose was of that shower you recently finished? And that would be about how it feels to us each day here at our KRAB paradise.

OK, on the bright side, at least it isn't humid! We have officially passed the halfway point (thank God) and are on the downhill stretch now. And don't read too much into my sarcasm, it's just some minor electrolyte disturbances from profound sweat loss during our run yesterday! We have also enjoyed some more intimate time with automatic weapons (at 1PM, just to see how hot we could make it) and had a great weekend with some good pics coming soon.

Cita and the B-ster....I'm always lovin' you guys!

Hangin' in there

There must be a little-publicized water surplus in the city of Kirkuk, because our FOB decided to have ANOTHER wet and wild event this past weekend. And, naturally, some element of competition is essential to any worthwhile endeavor at a military installation. Thus, in deference to that recent Ben Stiller movie with so many great lines, the Services group put on the KRAB "Water Balloon Dodge Ball Tournament". Sixteen teams of five signed up (yes, there really isn't much else to do on Sunday afternoons) and vied for the title....and, as is often the case, our EMEDS team bested them all and strutted victoriously to Mongolian BBQ night at the DFAC (dining facility...it's important for our intellectual stability that everything has an acronym). We even won digital picture frames as trophies for our effort.

On a more serious note, we finally held the mass casualty exercise for which I had spent a few weeks preparing. Its purposes were to simulate a disaster or attack that injures more patients than our facility can simultaneously treat and to practice our group's response. It went well and several interesting lapses were noted in our system, which have all been addressed. Here are a few images of the ER as we prepare for and then treat our patients.

Don't worry, even with ALL of this excitement in one week, I still found plenty of time for exercise and planning various youthful activities (wait until I describe our skit for the talent show contest at the end of this month!). Our unofficial EMEDS running club meets almost every morning at 0515 and heads out for various distances. We usually have at least 3-5 people, with some mornings hitting 7 or 8. Saturday morning has become our long distance run (meaning multiple loops around the 6 mile route we're allowed to run) and the dust storms have been surprisingly cooperative lately. The morning depicted below was a particularly clear sunrise and I got some great shots from around our base.

I'll conclude with a shot of the cemetery that is within our FOB. We aren't allowed to enter because it's a sacred site for the Iraqis. But, during Saddam's regime, this was engulfed by the Iraqi military base and civilians were denied access. We had a ceremony here last month involving Army and AF chaplains as well as local religious leaders, and some Kirkuk inhabitants got to see their ancestors' graves for the first time in decades. Pretty cool, I thought.

I praise God for this difficult time of separation from my family, knowing that He will grow our characters and marriage though this trial. Thanks to all of our family and friends for their support and prayers. As always....I love you deeply, Cita.