Sinus problems at the SP

     Well it is Sunday again, my day off, but you never really have a day off.  Last week in regards to the clinic was essentially uneventful except for fire alarms going off, thankfully all false alarms.  Apparently some of the fire alarms are very easy to set off-like toast or hamburgers burning, carrying too much stuff and accidently hitting the alarm on the wall.  Once the fire alarms are set off they have to repressurize the sprinkler system and water is limited so I only got to take one shower last week instead of my usual two showers a week.  Let me tell you my hair doesn't do well showering only twice a week.  It gets pretty greasy.  The hat that Kathyrn and Trish gave me has been very useful.  More about showers-the hot water and pressure is great but you can't really enjoy it because you are only allowed 2 minutes/shower.  It is based on the honor system and no one is "watching" or "timing" you but you must be very organized to pull this off.  In our bathroom-share it with multiple other girls-there are 3 sinks with mirrors, 3 stalls, and 2 showers.  On one wall there are cubby holes that each of us can leave our stuff in-like toothpaste/brush, soap, shampoo... so that we don't have to cart it back and forth from our rooms.  Everyone is assigned a "house mouse" day.  This is your day to assist with daily chores such as cleaning halls, common areas, bathrooms... Mine is on Monday and I get to clean our bathroom.  On the wall there is a list of what and how to do everything.  You are allowed an hour from your work day to fulfill your house mouse duties.  I figure by the end of the season I will be able to do it in an hour but now it takes me longer than that so I usually start on Sunday.  It is interesting because there is someone assigned to clean everyday.  I think we have the cleanest bathroom in the station, probably the world since it is thoroughly cleaned everyday.  The boys bathrooms are similar but not as well kept in my opinion.  You may ask why I know what the boy's bathrooms look like...   Well part of my job is to distribute the free condoms to all the bathrooms.  My first week here I can't tell you how many boxes of "Durex" condoms I unpacked.  Before I opened them and separated them into individual packs you have to check the expiration date.  Besides medications, the condoms are the only things that have not passed their expiration date.  No ice babies here.  Once separated I place ample supplies in all the bathrooms and keep a monthly check on the stashes.
     Thursday was a great day.  My sinus finally cleared.  My brother, Bill, and others who have sinus problems will appreciate this...  I woke up as usual @ 0530 and while brushing my teeth I could feel it-that big ball of mucus that has been clinging to the inside of my sinuses.  After multiple attempts at getting it out-you know the noise that guys usually do to get a big lugey(sp?)out, which I hate but have learned how to do out of necessity-it was expelled.  I have never been so proud:) If I was thinking, I would of saved it in a specimen cup and use it to explain to people this is what is blocking your sinuses at the south pole, or taken a picture to post on the blog.  But I didn't think of those things, I was just so relieved at how much better I immediately felt.  I will spare you guys of the actual description of what came out of my sinuses.
     Thursday was also Veteran’s day for us and there was a commemorative ceremony at the geographical South Pole.  I remained in the clinic as that the fire alarm from the burnt hamburgers was going off.  The doc was able to participate and described it as moving but short as that it was really cold and windy outside.         

     Since finally feeling back to myself I finally went outside on Friday.  There was a 40 year celebration of the first women at the South Pole with a group picture at the ceremonial South Pole marker.  Most of the women on station made it out to the ceremonial South Pole.  Again very cold and windy.  Saturday I volunteered for ": food pull".  All the station's food is currently stored in the "dome".  See the picture to the right-all those snow covered boxes contain our food.  The chefs plan the following week's menu and make a list of all the food items that they need.  Thano (also on my trauma team) is in charge and asks for volunteers by writing a creative poem and sending a pleading email for assistance to everyone on station.  To get to the dome you done your ECW gear, and exit the station thru the "beer can".  The beer can is a stairwell-I counted 93 stairs but I think I missed one-from the station.  It also has a freight elevator that is used for bringing stuff up or down.  They won't let people on there which retrospectively is probably a good thing since it broke last week with the hamburger buns on it (supposed to be used for the hamburgers that burnt and set the fire alarms off on Thursday).  I think it was finally repaired a couple of days later.  Anyway, you exit the station thru the beer can (very cold like a refrigerator and covered in frost), through some tunnels, a short walk outside and you are at the dome.  Inside the dome the "floor" is unevenly packed snow and there are pallets, shelves, and boxes everywhere.  Thano met us here and handed each of us a clipboard with a piece of paper on it and a sharpie.  He explained on the clipboard was a map of the dome where items generally were and on the sheet of paper was the list of food we had to "pull" for next week.  Of course on my second day outside I ended up with the meat stuff in the farthest corner of the dome.  It was like a scavenger hunt trying to find all the stuff and then bring it back to the dome entrance where it was packed in a box that was sitting on a pallet that once filled would be transported back thru the tunnels and into the beer can's freight elevator and back into the station.  I made it 3/4 of the way thru my list when most people were finishing up.  I finally requested some guy help as that I was drawing the line at carrying a 70 lb pork roast and 135 lbs of ham.  After about 2 hours I was exhausted.  After returning to the clinic and shedding my ECW gear the fire alarm went off again and I had to put my ECW gear back on.  Thankfully it was a false alarm so I told the doc I was taking a break and eating lunch.  Just a note, I did take my camera however I discovered that I really need to put the camera in my long underwear or something so the battery doesn’t/t deplete and the camera freeze up so at this time my pictures are limited.  Although, I was told that my eyelashes were very pretty all frosted over-I guess kind of like really thick mascara at some point I'll get pictures.
      Despite my exhaustion from earlier I did find the strength to play some volleyball Friday night.  I am definitely out of shape at 10,000 ft but it was fun.  There are some hard core players here and I am looking forward to getting my volleyball skills back up to par.  I may have to ask someone to send me my knee pads.
Post volleyball I got to take my only shower of last week.  I thought about making it a 4 minute shower since I missed my earlier shower last week, but I didn't.
     Saturday was uneventful; however in the afternoon we had a patient with 104.5 degree temperature....pneumonia and spent the afternoon treating them. The patient spent the night in the clinic where we have two hospital beds for just such a situation.  Sunday morning, the patient is fine, temperature below 99.
I will add the pictures when I get a chance to download them.

    

Finally, the South Pole......back to McMurdo... and the South Pole

     Well where did I leave off...  I believe it was Tuesday evening the 27th of October and I had been updating my blog at the coffeehouse and spending some time with friends.  Since then it has been a whirlwind.   Wednesday morning, the 28th started off as usual, a busy day at the McMurdo hospital and following the "scroll" to tell you when flights were leaving/coming.  Around 1100 I found out I had 45  minutes to pack up my stuff and dress in full ECW gear (again) to hopefully fly to the South Pole.  At this late date the C130's were in and I wouldn't have to fly in a unpressurized Bassler.  (Not sure if I really wanted to do that but it would have been an experience having to fly with oxygen). We met at building 140 (where Mia and Susan work) and shuttles actually transported us out to the ice runway where a C130 waited for us.  Over 40 of us boarded the plane and took off around 1230 for the South Pole.

This is inside the C130, we didn't have time for pictures before getting on the plane cause everyone was in such a hurry to get going.  The seats in the C130 are lined up against the outer wall of the plane so you are facing inwards toward all the cargo. Each of us have been living out of one of those orange bags that you can see in the pic for the last week or so and probably the next several weeks until cargo flights begin to the SP that will bring our luggage.  The flight was about 3 hours.  Once they reached cruising altitude we were able to get up and walk around.  There were some small windows on either side of the plane and some larger square windows on the rear doors.  Thank goodness there really wasn't any cloud cover because the views were absolutely breathtaking.  The untouched landscape of rock, ice, and snow is indescribable.   It is amazing that people actually crossed all this in the early 1900's to reach the South Pole.  It is so unlike ski slopes, mountain ranges, or glaciers that I have flown over before and leaves  me with a sense of awe and insignificance similar to the feelings I get when I look out into space and contemplate the universe.





   We landed sometime around 1530.  The C130 lands on skies on a runway about 200 yards from the Amundson-Scott station.  Prior to getting off the plane we had to make sure we were really bundled up because with the wind chill the temperature was about minus 70 degrees farenheit.  Again,  my glass frosted over immediately and ended up in my pocket.




























 Lots of people came out to greet us and help with bags.  Thank god for the help.... between my sinuses, being out of shape and the altitude (around 10,000 ft) the 200 yd walk to the station was tiresome.   This is me arriving at the South Pole with the C130 in the background.

After arriving at the station we had a brief orientation about everything from safety to waste. Apparently up to 65% of stuff is recycled-higher than any state.  Dr. Legault met me and thankfully helped me with my bag and finding my room.  Just walking up a flight of steps will set your heart racing and you will become short of breath.  (Reminds me of me and Lisa Parks arriving at Mamouth for skiing)  Most people when they get here their O2 sats are in the mid 80's and resting heart rates in the upper 90's to low 100'sdespite whatever shape you are in. This can last anywhere from a day or two to several weeks.  For those of you that aren't medical a normal oxygen saturation should be 97-100%, heart rates vary with the individual but most average resting heart rates aren't that fast.  Within the first week here I could walk up a flight of stairs and my heart rate would be in the 120s and I would have to stop and rest. (again sinus problems aren't helping).  The doc tells everyone to move slow, rest, and hydrate, Hydrate, and HYDRATE.

     Anyway here is a picture of my room as I opened the door.  It is not very big.  I have a raised twin bed with a 3 drawer dresser underneath and an area to store my "orange bag" (and future luggage when it gets here), a small desk to the left of the bed (with desk light, phone, computer jack), reading lamp above bed, and small armoire at the end of the bed. This is also a  chair that you can use to get on the bed but you have to be careful because it is wheeled.   I do have a window that overlooks the area in between two of the stations "arms". There is a blind on the window but it doesn't block the 24 hour sun- the nicely custom fitted cardboard does this nicely. My room is really small and you better not leave anything on the floor because you will definitely trip over it as there is no avoiding it.  It did not take me long to unpack my 1 orange bag and make my bed with the scratchy linen provided. It took me all of 15 minutes to do all that so I set off to exploring the station.  (Thankfully my mom is sending me some egyptian cotton sheets.  The room is also incredibly dry and hot-I have  my thermostat set @ 55.  I finally have the humidifier that I had bought and had my sister send down in September-this was a great relief.  It is a blue penguin and sits on my desk by my bed puffing cold water vapor through its beak.)

    The first place I headed to was the South Pole clinic where I will be working.  The sign on the door already reflected my name.  There I met Ella and Jude.  Ella, from NY, has been here a year.  Jude from NZ wintered over.  Training begins.....
More about that later....

     I had a brief tour of the station and it is laid out just like the website that I provided earlier in this blog.    This is a good website for up to date news.  http://www.southpolestation.com/   My room is on the second floor in second arm from the left facing the first arm.  The clinic windows overlook the ceremonial South Pole.  Just walking around was tiresome.  It wasn't long before it was time to eat:) The cafeteria is alot smaller than McMurdo but the food is much better. Our head chef is named James Brown, hosts the bingo night (hasn't started yet but I figured I can learn how to play bingo), and looks like Johnny Depp.  Here is a picture of the "scroll" in the cafeteria on the evening of our arrival.
    The first couple of nights I had difficulty sleeping-most people do.  My sinus have improved but I am now left with the usual residual cough.  The doc won't let me exercise or go outside yet.  Despite that I have been plenty busy.  Turnover with Ella and Jude wasn't long enough.  Thursday, Oct 29th, my first full day was met with multiple alarms going off all over the station around noon.  They were all false alarms.  However at the South Pole you have to take care of yourself-there is no ambulance, rescue squad, fire dept......  There are organized teams.  Team 1 is the command team that secures the area, team 2 is the fire control team, team 3 helps with transportation, equipment, and fills in wherever needed.  Team 4 is my team, the trauma team.  Every time an alarm goes off the teams are supposed to "muster" at specific places.  Our muster point is the clinic, unless that part of the building is off limits then we go to the gym where there is a second emergency stash that we can access.  All this is leading somewhere....   Despite the multiple false alarms and activations of the teams Thursday @ noon, we had an emergency training drill at 1430 inside the station.  The incoming teams observed the outgoing teams as to how emergencies were handled.  We did this not only on Thursday afternoon but Fri and Saturday as well.  Not a whole lot of time to "turnover".

Despite our drills, trying to learn the clinic, and seeing patients we actually had some "real" emergencies that we had to respond to.  Since I have arrived we have medavac'd 3 people back to McMurdo for treatment.  One patient despite being here for over a week developed HAPE:  high altitude pulmonary edema.  O2 sats were in the 60's!!!!!   In addition to the usual treatment for pulmonary edema (O2, diuretics-make you pee) we used a Gamow Bag.  This device is pretty cool-for you divers it is like the opposite of the decompression chamber.   You place the patient in the bag with a oxygen/pulse monitor and inflate in to @103 mmHg.   By doing this you can reduce a person's altitude 3-6000 ft, increasing the surrounding "pressure" helps force the fluid from the lungs back into the tissues and restoring normal O2 saturations.  (simple explanation).  Thursday, Nov 5th, the third emergent patient I actually had to accompany back to McMurdo on a C130 for stabilization/treatment.  This allowed me to visit some friends in McMurdo:  Susan, Cesear,  friends from the hospital,and old roommates...  The next day, Friday, I flew back to the South Pole to restart my acclimatization all over again.  I again flew back on a C130 however this time the flight crew let me sit up in the cockpit.  This was really cool.  It reminded me of space camp with all the checklists, switches, protocols.....  The only bad part was that Antarctica was hidden beneath clouds.
    Ella and Jude, the two previous docs, had left on Tuesday.  Thus now it is Sunday for me (Saturday for you guys), my day off and I am finally updating the blog.  This afternoon I will probably be back in the clinic sorting/organizing the pharmacy, figuring out a training schedule for Team 4 ....  I am learning a lot and have a lot to learn.  But exciting....

HAPPY 82'd BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!