16 Days & A Wake-up!

There is light at the end of the tunnel :) I will be leaving Iraq in less than a month. I hope these next few weeks go quickly. Tonight I packed my military stuff away and put some of my comfort items in a big box that should ship home next week. THANK GOD!

When I get home, I want to clean out my closet while blasting music and singing at the top of my lungs in my underwear. Can't wait.

Ambient temperatures have reached 127 degrees (that I know of). 91 feels cold. Dirt still smells dirty. The wind feels like a hairdryer, but not just a normal hairdryer, it burns like when you hold it on the same place on your scalp too long- just over your WHOLE BODY! I flash burn on my legs and nose if I walk outside. I have no doubt that summer outside in Iraq is very much like Hell.

Patient care has held steady with something there all the time, but nothing really interesting. We had one guy with heart attack like symptoms and he got to Germany and went ASAP to Homburg for a CABG because of extensive vessel occlusions. He was a mean old man when we were telling him he had to stop smoking while in our care, but Joe says he got really nice to the LRMC nurses after they told him he was lucky to be alive. Oh, denial. Other than that, we're packing the hospital for downsizing and moving to a new location (so glad I'll be GONE).

My saving grace here has been Glee. I love it. Now, I love Joe, but Mr. Shue singing Dream On made me melt. Safety Dance with Artie was the neatest thing they've done so far next to the Madonna episode overall and the video with Sue. Did you realize that Finn (Cory Monteith) was born in 1982?? That makes him older than me. Therefore, do you think I stand a chance to be on Glee? Haha, I wish.

Not much else is going on around here and that's giving me a professional crisis. Obviously, since in my head I can be a doctor and be on Glee at the same time! At least I've learned one thing: I can't stand being bored and I can't stand not being intellectually challenged. I definitely need to find something that I like doing, because this hasn't been it. If I'd known at 18 years old just how young I would still feel at 25, I would have gone to med school- no doubt. But, now that I'm about to get married, kids will soon follow. That would make med school / residency very challenging. I feel like I'm called to do more than nursing though. CRNA would be good, I've been doing a lot of reading here and I feel that I would be good at it. I've been very supported by the anesthesia staff here who have told me that they think I'm a great candidate and I'm ready to apply now. That's one option. I love love love OB-GYN. I was in elementary school when I first wanted to be an Obstetricain (and I knew how to spell it too). So maybe advanced nursing in that specialty would be good. But, my google research has indicated that I cannot practice both obstetrics(well, midwifery, no surgery involved-and I want surgery) and general women's health at the same time as a nurse practitioner, I'd have to pick one or the other. I can be educated in both, but I can't practice both. So, then I go back to med school in my head so I can do both and do surgery. But, if I do med school that would make being in community theater hard too and then I'd never be on Glee ;)... oh, such a dilemma. It's a good dilemma, but it's a lot to consider and it's so much harder when it's not just about me anymore. I need guidance, but first I need to get OUT OF IRAQ!

16 days & a wake up!