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!!!!
Hey there, fun reading... keep on posting. Hope you are staying warm and enjoying it..
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