27 March 2008

Sorry, I know its been a while since I last posted. Its been a whirlwind few weeks. We had a period of slowness, I actually have a picture of our admission board where where we had no patients at all. And then Easter weekend picked things up, of course. The Taliban know that if they hit us on our religious holidays it will have more of an impact back in Canada, thanks to all the nay-sayers and the media. I did an interview with TSN when the NHL All Stars were here, I didn't even know I did an interview, but supposedly it made it on the air. Wish I could have told you when or where to look for it on line. I guess you could always email TSN and ask them. I met the CDS's wife. She was a dear sweet woman, she brought duffel bags of stuff for the kids at the local market. So thoughtful. So, ya the NHL All Stars were here, I talked to Bob Probert again, and I got my picture taken with the lead singer of Blue Rodeo, Jim Cuddy. They performed a concert later that night, it was awesome! Totally made you forget that you were standing in the middle of a war zone, in the desert, five million miles from home. It was fun hanging out with some old friends from home, Comeau, Ellie, Slade, it was great!
So things are going well, and I was able to do some work reno's. We had a wall at the hospital that we've been waiting forever to have torn down, so one of the other nurses and I tore it down. We took crowbars, hammers, screwdrivers and a saw to it, so now we have more space for more beds, more equipment and more movement. It was funny to watch everyone coming around to see what was going on, I was like "you didn't see anything"! But we got it done, and the roof never collapsed. We did leave the supporting beam! We knew that much! haha
I have been sick for the last 5 days or so now. Yesterday I finally was able to get out of bed, but the day before I spent about 6 hours at the hospital on IV's. Today I feel abit better again, so I don't intend to push myself, but just plan to relax, and get ready for my night shift. I haven't worked in about 4 days, which hasn't been fair to my colleagues. Luckily we've been slow, but I still feel guilty about missing my shifts and not being able to get out of bed.
We had a St Patrick's day BBQ, which was fun, and nice to have everyone out for the festivities.
On a downside, we had an American ramp ceremony the other day, we had just finished being briefed by the CDS, and then a few us went into the hospital to see if we could take a few of the US patients over the ramp ceremony. It was pretty emotional to wheel two of these guys over to say goodbye to their fallen comrades. It was pretty tough to stand up there with the patients, with their unit on the aircraft while they said farewell. Very emotional.
Derek seems to be doing well in Jamaica, getting lots of sun, and their ex seems to be in full swing. I believe he's home a month from now! I know he's pretty excited about that.
I have booked his tickets to Santorini, and plan to book mine today. We are pretty excited! 71 days until I leave and 73 days until I see Derek! yay!! We meet up in the airport in Athens and make the trip into Santorini together! I can't wait! We have absolutely nothing planned, just going to relax, eat and drink and lay around in the sun on the black sand beaches! I can't wait! And the best part is that because the island is so small, and we don't feel like doing something one day, we don't have to. We can just relax and take it one day at a time. That I like the best.
I hope we ride the donkey's again! How much fun was that!! haha
Anyway, so life is good. Other than being really really sick, I am good. Thanks for all the emails and the parcels, I'm sorry if I don't get back to you as quickly as maybe you think I should, but I will get back to you. I appreciate your patience and understanding.
Lots of love!
Mary Ann
xxoo