Robert’s Continuation

Hey,

Alright, back to the story I started a little while ago.  I started the second phase of Nursing School with orders to Fort Lewis, Washington.  I had about a week and a half to get my car up here, so I started driving the 27th of may.  However, when I was in Colorado, I got in a car accident with my brand new truck, a Ford Explorer Sport Trec.  Luckily I was only a couple of minutes from a friend I went through Medic School with, so I gave her a call and she let me stay at her place until I got everything sorted out.  After four days, I shipped my truck from Colorado back to the parents in Houston, TX and rented a car to continue my trip.  I arrived the 4th of June and began school almost right away.

We had three months of nothing but straight classes, which kind of sucked, but the instructors were really cool and made it a little bit better to pay attention in class.  We learned about all of the different body systems, different medications that we can administer and a lot of other stuff.  I got pretty good scores and did well in all of the extra stuff our class was in.  For example, we had 12 of us drive to Seattle (about 30 minutes North) to a Seattle Mariners baseball game.  There, we worked a concession stand, selling beer, popcorn, pizza, etc.  That was a lot of fun and I even managed to sneak in a couple drinks behind my Sergeant’s back (don’t tell her though! 😉 )

Starting in late August, we began clinicals with a first rotation at the VA (veterans affairs) Nursing Home.  It was a lot of work, taking care of the elderly because the majority of them were so old, they couldn’t do anything for themselves.  My favorite was Mr. Hornick who was a 75 year old Vietnam Vet who was nearly deaf and blind in his left eye.  Myself and Kelley Miller, one my good friends from the course were taking care of him and he was complaining of chest pain whenever Miller was around.  He was a big flirt with Miller and liked to joke around with me about her.  We had a lot fun this rotation, even though we did have to wipe a lot of butts.

We then actually started going into the hospital, working on the Med Surg floors, taking care of patients that just got out of surgery.  This was an excellent experience, as I saw everything from Chest Tubes, to amputations, to wound vacuums, to tube feedings, to colostomies, to catheters and so on and so on.  We saw such a variety of patients that my squad (9 of us) got the best experiences yet in the course.  My favorite patient here was a 23 year old private (so I out ranked him!!) that rolled a stryker, which is a huge tank on wheels.  He was ejected and the tank rolled over him, so he had some very severe crushing injuries.  Because he was a private, I got to try a bunch of stuff on him, like IV’s and joked around with him.  We had a good time together and I helped nurse him back to good health and when I left the rotation, he was being discharged to go home.

This past week, we have stopped clinicals and begun a whole new set of advanced classes, beginning with the OB/GYN classes, discussing pregnant mothers and neonatal nursing care.  After Christmas, clinicals will begin again, and we are starting the specialized rotations, such as the cardiology clinic, OB/GYN (where we have to assist in giving birth to a child), the ICU (intensive care unit), the OR, the ER and etc.  I can’t wait for those to begin, because the trauma and ICU is the main care that I have wanted to provide.

PT has been going pretty good.  I do the company’s PT every Mon, Wed, and Fri, but that just isn’t enough to get me in the shape that I want to be in.  So a buddy of mine named Staeb and me run 3+ miles everyday, and then go to the gym after dinner for about two hours.  I have been getting stronger and faster on my run… I actually maxed my bench the other day at 270 pounds.  I am trying to get it over 300 and drop 20 pounds by christmas exodus.  That way, when I go home and visit all the georgous women I know in TX, I will be looking good!

Other than that, I have been taking it easy and relaxing when I can.  I just finished paying off my truck’s damage bills and also bought a plane ticket home for Xmas, so I don’t have a lot of money to boot on anything.  I did buy a halloween costume that is friggin’ amazing but due to confidentiality reasons, I can’t tell you what I am going to be.  I will definately post pictures after halloween and post them up though!! Thanks again for listening and all of the soldiers here appreciate your support.  I hope to hear from ya’ll sometime but if not, good luck with everything you all are doing and take care of yourselves.

Lots of Love and Friendship,

PFC Robert Pate