The Sickness and COS Kalsu Social Activities

 The Sickness
Hi Everyone, I hope you are doing well.  I labeled the 1st part of this entry the sickness...b/c I have been battling illness for about 10 days.  I think I'm past the worst of it and am finally getting better.  I believe it all stems from my initial illness in Kuwait.  I labeled this the 'Kuwaiti Crud'.  I basically had a cold for about a week or so that gave me a cough.  This cough lingered but dwindled until it would come out just every now and then.  Around 10 days ago I woke in the morning started work and fatigue hit me like a freight train. I  had some GI issues the night before but attributed that to getting used to the food.   But earlier in the week I felt a tickle start in my throat knowing something was getting ready to hit me.  My cough began to flare up this morning as well.  I was checked out by one of the doctors in the morning and given some Mucinex and Sudafed.  I also ended up canceling my patients for that day and went and slept on and off the rest of the day.  My cough worsened throughout the day and ended up waking me up multiple times during the night. I also did not really have an appetite. Since my neighbors now are a PA to my right, pediatrician to my left, and family medicine doctor across the street they started keeping tabs on me.  After a couple of days of no change my meds were upped to Robutussin w/ Codeine.  I tried this for a couple of days but still was waking up multiple times a night (my GI issues weren't going away either).  Next, I was given an abuterol inhaler to use at night plus benedryl to help sleep.  So my regime at night was the Robotussin w/ Codeine, inhaler, and the benedryl.  Even with all this my cough would still break through at night.  So my doctor friend decided to bring out the big guns and gave me a prescription of Vicodin...which apparently works as a cough suppressant and not just as a pain killer.  This helped a little but the cough still was waking me up.  Finally the docs decided to give me a chest X-ray.  After seeing the chest X-ray I was diagnosed with Atypical Pneumonia.  So now I'm on antibiotics and am starting to feel better but still haven't quite kicked the cough.  I have been ordered not to workout for 4 days...this is day 3. So hopefully the antibiotics will help clear everything up...my GI issues have cleared up.  I have a feeling some form of my cough may stick with me throughout the deployment.  I work in a tent and its very dusty...outside is very sandy, I think its a losing battle for my lungs.

On another note, we have began to find ways to fill our downtime here.  We have gone to a couple BBQs held by the dog handlers.  They even let us meet their dogs.  My PA friend (aka my battle buddy) and I have started to go to movie night once a week with the JAG officers and a few other people.  We have deemed every other Friday Pizza Hut night.  This past Saturday we went to a BBQ held by the firefighters.  Next Sunday my battle buddy and I have vowed to go fishing at the pond on COS Kalsu.
There were a couple big army moments this past week.  I finally was given my deployment patch.  For those of you that aren't military I'll give a short explanation.  On our uniforms everyone wears a patch on there left arm signifying what unit they belong to.  Some people in the army also have a patch on there R arm.  This signifies you served with this unit in a combat zone.  A couple days ago the Squadron commander gave me my patch, so I'm no longer fuzzy on my R arm.  I also re-enlisted my physical therapy tech.  This is the first Re-Enlistment I have been a part of, so very exciting.


That's all the fun I can think to talk about for now.  Thank you to everyone for your prayers...thank you also to those that have sent care packages.  I'll have thank you letters coming your way soon.

-Nicole :)

PS-I have a lot of pictures to post but for some reason its not letting me post them right now, hopefully Ill be able to post them soon.  It might be the Internet connection, who knows.