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.
No comments:
Post a Comment