We've been extremely busy. We've had several bad injuries on the base, including last week a hand smashed by a 42 ton ship's hatch. Once again, Dean did an amazing job with the injury but with broken planes and unrested flight crews, the patient ended up spending seven hours in an ambulance waiting on the runway before being brought back to the clinic to wait some more.
I was assigned to care for him that evening, re-bandaging his wound twice, giving him his pain meds and antibiotics, helping him shower, and ultimately, putting a squirting hole in his IV tubing AND covering myself with urine when I tried to empty his burstingly-full leg-foley.
When he came in around 1:00 AM, Shawn said, "I guess you appreciate nurses more now!" I have always appreciated nurses. I don't have their skills. I know being a nurse can be a tough and often thankless job. I can't speak highly enough about the many nurses I've been lucky to work with and learn from. So I was glad when Shawn taught me how to empty the foley by this time covering himself, rather than me, with urine. Typical of a good nurse to take the hit for the team.
We were supposed to be leaving tomorrow but, not surprisingly, that's not happening. The C17 that was supposed to be ferrying 100 people back to New Zealand three times per week broke on its first Antarctic landing of the season. After a duct tape repair, the Air Force flew the plane flew back to Christchurch empty of passengers. So the NSF has been doing their end of summer McMurdo "evacuation" using much smaller LC130's and even those have been canceled half the time. The C17 is supposed to be back tomorrow (five days late) but we're not on it. And then the weather is looking bad, so we're not counting our penguins.
Nevertheless, despite the near certain delay, Shawn, at 5:00 PM yesterday, said--"I need you out of your office by tomorrow so your replacement has a place to sit". Sigh. Here today, gone tomorrow. I guess I shouldn't expect too much sentimentality from my co-urine-ist, but wow, that was harsh! Yet in a place where 3-6 month employment cycles are the routine, everyone is just a flash in the pan. And people, I guess, try to avoid connection since the likelihood is, we will never meet up again unless, of course, we come back (doubtful) or go to the Antarctica tent at Burning Man (more likely).
A few weeks ago, I mentioned upcoming events but, because we've been so busy and internet is so slow, I haven't posted any pics. Here are some of the fun and interesting things that have transpired.
I shoveled out Phoenix airfield lights and saw a single Adelie penguin wheeling its way down the ice, like a cartoon character. I put a small clip of the longer video below.
Because nothing says "stevedore" like a 62 -year-old, out-of-shape, female egghead, I helped as a line handler for both the cargo ship and the tanker. Actually, strength and skill were not required and it was great to get out of my windowless office, even though it was freezing on the first day.
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| The cargo ship coming into port. |
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| Penguins rush to help us secure the lines. |
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| Our finished work: the tied down cargo ship with its cranes out and the new pier built by the army (Credit: Joe Smith) |
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| The ice breaker moving into port (credit: Joe Smith) |
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| My second line job...the tanker. |
I went snowmobiling towards the "Room with a View" on Mt. Erebus. But there was no view and because visibility was 50 yds, we didn't make it to the room, either (a Scott tent). But we went fast on fresh snow on snow machines and that was a blast.
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| Some of the snow machines (there were eight) |
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| Shawn, our fearless leader. Most of the time, it was impossible to distinguish the ice from the sky or figure out who was how for that matter. We were forced to turn back.. |
I went camping out on the ice. Freezing and all white. Now, I can say I slept in the great outdoors in Antarctica. For 15 minutes. I spent the rest of the night thinking of how cold and uncomfortable I was.
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| Our ice wall. The Scott expedition built these every night to shield their ponies from the wind. We had a little stove back there and made some hot chocolate. I'm the middle of the three heads.. |
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| Our campground in the morning when visibility had improved. Castle Rock is in the background. The yellow peaked tent is a "Scott tent" like the ones used in the polar expeditions. Scott tents can survive hurricane winds and have a double layer of canvas that provides insulation. Unfortunately, we slept in the little, cold tents. |
I visited the Pegasus site where a Navy Constellation crashed in 1971. They landed in a blizzard with zero visibility, then hit a snow drift and the plane spun 210 degrees, losing a wing. Because of the blizzard, the site of the crash was not found for three hours and the passengers, all of whom survived, almost died from the cold. That crash is the reason we all have to wear all of our cold weather gear on all flights.
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| Our transportation out on the sea ice--a pistenbully. |
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| The wreckage of the Pegasus |
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| The engine |
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| We dug out the side of the plane. |
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| The team on the tail. |
All of these experiences drew my imagination into the books I've been reading about the Great Antarctic Explorers. When I viewed their well-known landmarks in the distance, I felt their excitement at making it home. I could sense their suffering when camping out (and it wasn't even that cold--17° not -40°), I could feel their anxiety when trying to travel in zero visibility with the wind blowing in my face and my glasses completed befogged, and I could understand their anxiety that they would never leave when I watched the ice breaker toiling day after day to get into harbor.
And I finished my mittens.
I am so glad I came here.
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