It is now Cherry Blossom Festival time in Okinawa. It finally warmed up (at least for now). It has rained almost every day, though. The cherry blossoms are beautiful here and should be blooming for the next few weeks, according to the local information. I have finally signed up to do some cultural/historical tours this month, including a Ryukyuan Dance/Drum show with traditional Okinawan cuisine, a Shuri Castle tour (the royal residence for the Ryukyu kings from the early 15th century until 1879), and "Tunnel Rats/Battle Sites" that tour the various battle sites and cave fortresses from WWII.
Work has been busy, between doing ER shifts and all six of my orientations. Yes, six! My check-off lasted most of two days, two of the orientations were half days, two were full days, and I still have to meet/orient with the CO and XO. In addition, I have been put in charge of peer review as well as QI/QA (quality improvement/quality assurance). I guess they take the gray hairs seriously!
I have kept up with my goals of working out and reading though, too. I have read three books (almost one a week) and have done P90x every day (in addition to swimming/running/cycling). For those that don't know what P90X is, it is a work out video with various exercises that you do daily for 90 days. I have lost over 10 lbs, and am probably in the best shape of my life since wrestling my senior year in high school!
I might have to slow down on the reading, though, as I am considering taking a class in Japanese language and/or history. I think this might be interesting, useful, and my reserve unit will pay a bonus for taking the courses! A win-win!
The ER here is busy at times, but relatively low acuity. The staff of nurses and corpsmen is fantastic! They are hard working and very self-motivated. The corpsmen are eager to learn new knowledge and skills, including sewing my lacerations! For those that have worked with me, you know I hate to sew lacs so that is HUGE! We also had someone bring in a dying (probably actually dead) dog that got hit by a car into the ER. In 12 years of practice, 4 years of residency, and 4 years of medschool, I can say I have never seen that. We called the vet ER and sent them there. I am not sure what they actually expected us to do. Weird.
I drove for the first time since I got here. It had been almost 6 weeks since I had driven period. Then, it was night time, raining, and you drive on the left side of the road. Scary! I felt like I was 16 and a brand new driver again. Thank God I didn't crash, especially since I was borrowing Rob's car.
I miss Steph, Ben, and Morgan tons, but do get to Skype them on a regular basis. I also missed the trip up to the cabin in Greer over MLK weekend, but did get to "Skype" them and watch Steph, Ben (my brother, not son :), and Kelli drink beers and talk about going in the jacuzzi and skiing. Sometimes, you just have to live vicariously, in this case through Skype.
Until the next blog, sayonara..........
sounds like you are keeping pretty busy with work and R&R!! Your P90x workout sounds like a great workout! Funny story about the dog coming into the ER!! Love hearing your updates!! Glad you drove, what a weird experience for you I am sure!! You need to take a pic of your car, for if I remember correctly you said it was really small!
ReplyDeleteI would expect nothing less of you than keeping yourself almost overbooked. Sounds like u r having fun so far. I also am working out now (not nearly the routine as u). I started running so hopefully can run the Tillman with Scott in April, although I did something to my knee last week so have not been able to run or hardly walk a mile in a few days.
ReplyDeleteWow! Sounds like you are really enjoying yourself and keeping busy--it is so fun to hear about your adventures! Funny about the dog! Can't wait for your next post:)
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