Work, Apartment, and a Train Disaster

I've had quite a few emails and facebook posts in the last couple days wondering what's going on here. I guess that means it is time for another email.... ;) However, I have decided to bring back the blog instead of sending out emails. Enjoy!!

I'm still inprocessing here, mainly waiting for credentials to take place. But here is the basic concepts of my job here in the DWMMC (deployed warrior medical management center).
- management for all the wounded warriors who come from the dessert;
which can be for a variety of reasons from broken arms/legs, depression or other psych issues, cancers, back pain, etc. I don't actually see them or treat these issues. They usually will see a specialist who determines if they can return to duty in a reasonable amount of time and have all there care here at the LRMC or if they need to return to the States for
definative treatment. I see them after they have a disposition from the specialists to make sure they have enough medications until they reach their final destination which includes occ. some pain medications, their meds for malaria prophy, and other misc meds they may need. Also, we make sure they have had their TBI screening (traumatic brain injury); if these are positive they need to tracked as we are learning A TON from these soliders about treatment of
concussions, long term effects and symptoms.
- my clinic is actually managed by the Navy, so on weekends and holidays we have sick call for these 'soliders' from 9-10 
- the only other thing that may happen on call is if a plane arrives full of wounded warriors; I may need to come in if medications or other medical care is needed.
- the DWMMC is pretty slow at this time of year. We usually have one plane that comes in each day with about 8-10 warriors on it. In the summer they can have about 3-4 planes per day with 30-40 people per plane!! It'll just be starting to pick up when I'm returning back to the States.


Basically my job is largely administrative; not exactly what I was planning on when I found out I was coming to LRMC. Fortunately, I met the doc in charge of the ER here and it looks like I'll be able to work in the fast track on some evenings and weekends I'm on call. That'll be so so good, because I'll be able to actually treat patients and kinda keep my skills up. The fast track is just like an urgent care center. I won't be main ED but I seeing fairly straight forward things like coughs/colds/back pain/ankle sprains (rule out fractures)/UTI's etc. I'm looking forward to that.


Outside of work, I have settled into my apartment. It's nothing fancy, but it is a place to sleep at night, cook some food, warm...I actually got a roommate a couple days ago. Cheryl is in the Army and works as a CRNA (certified registered nurse anesthetist). We get along well and hope to do some traveling together. Speaking of traveling, this past weekend I explored Landstuhl and the neighbooring larger city of Kaiserslautern. I was actually planning on going on a toured trip with the USO on Sat. to Heidelburg to see a castle/eat some German food/learn the train system. Unfortunately, when I arrived at the K-town station at 6:25 (super early for the 7:00 meeting time) from Landstuhl, myself & another couple I met at the station, couldn't get the door of the train open!!! Long story short, by the time we made it back to the K-town station, we had missed the whole tour. :( I was pretty dissappointed; luckily it was a pretty nasty day weather wise, so I'm not sure what the pictures/view would have been like in Heidelburg anyway. We have a long weekend this weekend d/t MLK day on Monday, so I should have a chance to see some more of Germany then. Plus, I signed up for another USO tour on Saturday to the Black Forest. On another high note, starting tomorrow there should be a stretch of sunny, rain free days for the next week or so! Thank God for sunshine!


Here are some pictures/video for you to enjoy that I've keep meaning to
share with you all:

Inside and outside of a cafe in Germany. This cafe has been open and family run for about 100 years. The view of the loafs of bread, pastries, desserts, and chocolate truffels makes my mouth water just thinking and remembering it. I can't wait to see some cafes when I visit Paris and northern France!

A church in downtown K-town.

Best part of the trip: I found an AMAZING farmer's market. Makes me want to learn German so I can go by fresh cheese, bread, meats, and produce!

Lots of train tickets, but no Heidelburg...I will see you some time in the next several months! 


Add last but not least, a tour of my apartment. Sorry, I can't get it rotated up right... so you'll have to tilt your head to the side. ;)