Happy Thanksgiving!

B-I-N-G-O!!!  Yes, I was super excited about playing bingo on Thanksgiving Day.  There were some great prizes that were up and I was determined to win.  Up for grabs were iPods, DVD players, and a 32" flat screen TV!!!

Unfortunately, there is no strategy involved in bingo.  And despite numerous games, I didn't win a thing!  Well, next up is Thanksgiving dinner...

What is this?  Well just as I was getting ready to enjoy the feast, our surgeon and I were called to help out with an emergent case at the French hospital.

Here is Rachel with the French surgeons (after the surgery was completed).

And here I am with the French anesthesiologist.  Notice how he and I managed to stay clean. 

And yes (thankfully), we made it back before dinner was over.  Here's some of the spread.

And they had everything.  Turkey with gravy, ham, mashed potatoes, corn, collard greens, cornbread, stuffing, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, etc.  But my favorite was...

...the ever so traditional Thanksgiving lobster tail.  By far, my favorite dish!!!

It's Ladies Night

Tonight the female officers from camp got together for a "Girls Night Out."  I had been looking forward to getting a little dressed up and going to a restaurant in town.  We decided on La Paillote, a Yemeni grill.

It was such a beautiful restaurant, right on the water.  They let you pick the fish you want then they grill it on this special grill.

Here was the finished product

 

I opted for the beef skewers which were delicious, but the fish was amazing!  I will definitely get that next time.

Me and Anna

The rest of the female officers

We also found some of our fantastic corpsmen from the EMF there

And this lovely gentleman was the live entertainment

At first, he reminded me a lot of my late grandfather but then that similarity got a little weird when he sang, "If loving you is wrong, I don't want to be right."

Anyway, a great night out on the town in Djibouti!

I Get my own CLU

A bunch of us doctors from the EMF had gone out to eat at a pizza place with some of the French doctors who have a hospital here.  And it was also a goodbye dinner for the outgoing anesthesiologist and ER doctor.

In case I didn't mention, EMF stands for Expeditionary Medical Facility which is where we house a clinic, an ER, two OR's, a patient ward, radiology services, lab services, physical therapy capablity, and dental.

Here is a picture of the EMF doctors, old and new

Then, I got my own CLU!!!!!

Note the bathroom!!

Note the phone and TV!!!  Life just got a whole lot better!





I Get to Leave the Base!

The surgeon, CDR Rachel Burke, asked if I would be willing to take a field trip with her.  Of course I said yes even before she said where because I wanted to see the city.  As a humanitarian gesture, the Swedish Army had raised money to donate to Peltier Hospital, which is the Djiboutian hospital.  Their surgeon had requested that the money be used for drugs and supplies that their poorest patients could not afford.  So since the Swedish Army Major had no medical knowledge, he asked Rachel to come along to help to buy the supplies.  And since she needed a buddy to go off base and I speak some French, she asked me to come along as well.

When we walked from the car to the pharmacy, we were surrounded by children who were saying "My sister, my sister, do you have any money?  Do you have any food?" It is definitely a third world country but oddly enough, there are some resort hotel areas with casinos which I hope to get to soon. 

Here is my first picture of the city

Here is the surgeon, Rachel, with the supplies that were bought

And, here is a not-so-good picture of the Swedish Major and in the back you can see a woman who was begging us for food for her baby.  The women do not like to have their picture taken from what I have been told.  She didn't hide her face but she did hide her baby.  Luckily, the Major had a bottled water to give her.

That weekend, the Major got to present the surgeon at Peltier hospital with the supplies.  Mission complete!

CLUville

So, the first thing on all of our minds was where will be living for the next six months?  Well on the base, most people live in Containerized Living Units (CLU's) which are basically shipping containers, or con-ex boxes.  Sometimes, the junior enlisted sailors have to start out in tents and the senior level officers live in what's called "the White House." For now, I share a CLU with Anna, the ER doc.  Our CLU is in CLUville which is about a fifteen minute walk from the EMF where I work.  We are in what is known as a "dry" CLU meaning that there is no indoor plumbing, so we walk about 50 feet to the bathroom and shower facilities.  Not so bad, except when you have to go in the middle of the night!!!

Here are some pictures of CLUville

Here is a close-up of my CLU

And, here is the inside

It basically consists of 2 twin size beds, 2 lockers per person, and a desk behind that wall with two chairs, which Anna and I use as a vanity.

Here's a close up of my rack

This is home for me for the next two weeks until Bryan, the other anesthesiologist leaves.  Then, I get his CLU which has its own bathroom with a toilet, sink, and shower.  It also has a phone and is only about a five minute walk to the EMF.  I guess there are some perks to being the only airway specialist on base;-)

New Adventure

After a bus ride to Norfolk, we had 5 days before the flight to Djibouti.  So luckily, I got to see my husband and drive to Washington, DC where I got to see girlfriends from med school and was able to get my hair, eyebrows, and nails done.  Woo-hoo!  After that, we got ready for the flight that would begin Tuesday night and end on Thursday morning.

Here's a pic of me as we were boarding

So, first stop was Rota, Spain

Next stop, Sigonella, Italy

I had to get a picture of real Italian pizza in Italy.  Funny part was that it was sold at the coffee shop!

In Bahrain, almost there

Then at around 6am (local time), we finally made it to Djibouti.

Final Days of Training

Well, the whole three weeks was in preparation for our "Superbowl," our convoy exercise.  Each platoon had a convoy of about six or seven humvees with a mission to accomplish.  Along the way, however, we had to avoid IED's and shoot insurgents.  On the first mission, I was a scout so I just was ready to open or return fire when we exited our vehicles.  On the second mission, I was the driver.  But when our gunner was killed, I also became the truck commander who radioed in when we cleared our checkpoints and kept communication for our vehicle.  It was pretty cool driving a hummer with one hand and holding a radio with the other hand.  But unlike most other platoons, we successfully completed both our missions!!

Saying goodbye is never easy, even when you've only known people for about three weeks.  But like they say, it's a small Navy and I'm sure I will see them again-- hopefully not in medical though.

Here's a picture of the female barracks as we were packing up



Here's a pic of the first group to leave

Here's a pic of my two favorite IT2's.  They bunked right next to me and kept me laughing constantly.

Here's me with LCDR Anna Miller.  I didn't have to tell her good-bye.  We'll be going together to Djibouti and she'll be the ER doc while I'm the anesthesiologist.