The New Year....

Well, since 12/20/09 it has been incredibly busy. Not necessarily medical. The day after my incredible long walk we had a "mass casualty incident"-not a real one but another drill. I got to help with some of the makeup. (pics)The setting was Laura who was operating a snowmobile passed out crashing into scaffolding, knocking it down with 2 people on it, and setting fire to the recyclables. A firefighter in his rush to "help" also fell down the outside stairs. Our trauma team assembled as usual at the clinic and then proceeded outside to the incident where after assigning members of the team to various patients I got to "tag" patients. Green, yellow, red, or black. Green indicates someone that is fairly stable and can wait for treatment. Yellow and red are patients that need treatment soon and now, respectively. Black is fairly obvious... We made Laura a red even though with greater than 60% burns to her face, chest, back and arms the likelihood of survival was not very high. The drill took up pretty much the whole morning but was fun. I would like to be the one writing up the scenarios.
Over the next two days Danielle and I held 2 CPR/AED classes resulting in 19 certifications. The resci Annie arms kept falling off so we left them off. Later for the race around the world doc simulated a buried body in the snow on the race course with the Annie arms partially uncovered. He has such a great sense of humor. Everyone had 12/25/09, christmas day, off. It was a lazy day with an exceptional dinner of lobster and beef wellington, real potatoes, and I am not sure what other vegetables. Most people were somewhat dressed up-my favorite was Storm in a baby blue ruffled shirt with a matching polyester suit-reminesenst of the prom. However he kept spilling beer down the front of him every time he tried to take a picture. Spiderman (doc) made his usual appearance. (pics)Very relaxing evening with Saturday off as well. The race Around the World was held Saturday morning, the 26th and it was a beautiful day. The motor vehicles were adorned it all kinds of stuff: gladiator chariot, weather balloon, "belly up to the bar"....one vehicle was towing a platform with a stationary bike and rider behind it. (pics)I got to see some of the vehicles used in the traverse-HUGE and can haul butt. There were multiple cross country skiers, runners, and walkers (me). The winner of the race gets a "boondoggle" to McMurdo to participate in the marathon toward the end of January. Curtis won with a time of 17:17:43 on a 2.4 mile course.
Because of the christmas holidays and upcoming New Year we worked on Sunday. We scheduled blood draws and XR's to assist with testing to physically qualify people to stay the winter. I haven't taken my own XR or drawn blood in 20 years. Well that day I regained all my previous expertise. In the previous weeks our clinic had received new XR equipment with which we experimented with a cornish game hen from the kitchen. "Peter Penguin" films were sent to denver for interpretation to the amusement of the radiologists. (pic)Even though our New Year's day was on Friday we worked in anticipation of having Sat and Sun off with a "Near Years" party Sat night, the 2cd. The gym was fantastically decorated. The first band had at least a dozen members with a wide range of instruments. They played mostly folk tunes. The Violent Phlegms were next with their version of, yes you guessed it the Violent Fems. Eli (who runs the greenhouse) started out in a very nice suit but for some reason ended up stripping down to various other clothes on stage including a dress and ended up in shorts. I think I am missing something here. Between sets there was a fashion show of "wearable art". (pics) My favorite was the rope dress. Pretty cool that all the clothes were made out of stuff lying around. The third bad "Security in Noise" was the best with rock. Nevertheless, as usual I was in bed pretty early for our New Year's.
Tourists continue to visit the station. We had a group of 7 women ski from the coast arrive on the 31st. Their sponsors showed up yesterday. However so much for a relaxing weekend. One of the sponsors did not declare a prior cardiac condition. So yesterday around 1400 as he arrived in the station for his tour he became very SOB (short of breath) and dizzy. His pulse ox was about 80 (normal at sea level is @ 98-100%, new arrivals to the pole 85-90%). On exam his heart-rate was @165. EKG revealed atrial fibrillation. I was so excited. My territory!!!!! After treatment his HR slowed however his BP also dropped significantly.... requiring attempted cardioversion (shocked his heart)... A very eventful day and night. He was finally medavaced to New Zealand on the afternoon of the 2cd (just in time for our party).
With everything that happened over those few days I missed the annual event of moving the geographical South Pole. Every year on 1/1 the geographical pole is moved and replaced with a new emblem designed by the previous year's winter-over personnel. Hopefully I will get some more info and pictures of this from someone in the next couple of days. January seems to starting off with a bang. (pics)