Almost There!!!

Not a lot has happened since the last time I blogged. Early mornings, bad chow, marching, boring classes, and standing watch have consumed the majority of my time. This past couple weeks I've learned how to put in an NG tube (feeding tube), a urinary catheter, put in an IV, and take a blood sample. The first two were performed on mannequins, but the last two were performed on real people. My classmates to be exact. I was nervous about putting in an IV, but in the end it really wasn't hard at all. The worst part was letting someone put one in me. His hands were a little shaky, and he almost pulled it out a couple times, but seemed to do just fine. Taking blood was another story, I couldn't find a vein on my partner, so I ended up sticking him a couple times without any luck. When he was sticking me he pulled the needle out to early and blood started squirting everywhere. I looked like I had been shot. Now I just have a couple bruises on my arms.

This coming week is my last full week of class. The majority of my class will be graduating on Wednesday the 8th of February, but since me and a few others were chosen to do an extra week of clinicals, we will be graduating on either the 14th, or 15th of February. We're still not sure whether we'll be doing our week of clinicals here at sickcall, or down the road at Brooke Army Medical Center. Just like everything else, I'll probably find out the morning of what's going to happen. I also haven't found out where I'm going next. Will it be Camp Pendleton in California? Or Camp Lejeune in North Carolina? Who knows. I'm hoping all us reservists will go to the same place. It would be nice to go through FMTB (Field Medical Training Battalion) with some familiar faces. Part of me wants to go to California because I know people out there, but another part of me wants to go to NC because the school starts sooner which would get me home sooner. Oh well, I'll probably find out about that the day of graduation too.

A week ago I ran a 5k with some friends. It was to raise money for an organization called Operation Comfort which is a non-profit organization founded to support the needs of wounded service members recovering at Brooke Army Medical Center. It was a lot of fun and I actually beat my previous best time.


I'm getting excited for my graduation. A couple days ago I had to bring my uniforms in so they could sew my new corpsman patches on them. Now I feel like I've actually accomplished something. There aren't a lot of things in life that I've stuck with. I tend to run away when things get difficult. I'm proud of myself for doing this, and I think in the end it's making me a better person. It hasn't been easy, and it hasn't been fun, but I wake up every morning and get dressed, go to class and do what I need to do.

Thank You so much for the encouraging e-mails. It really means a lot to know I have friends and family back home who are thinking about me.

SN (soon to be HN) Kelly

Christmas Break and Beyond

Christmas break is officially over and this past week was my first week back in class. I started the Nursing portion of school on Wednesday and so far its been really easy. We've learned how to wash our hands and talk to people politely - lol. We've already had two tests and I did well on both.

Adjusting back to military life after a couple weeks of civilian life has been pretty good. I'm back in the routine of early mornings, terrible food, marching and uniforms. This week has been a busy week with many long days. Tuesday morning started with drug screening (we thought we'd have a free day since class didn't start until Wednesday). I ended up standing in line from 5:30am to 11am!!! Then we waited around for everyone else to finish. We cleaned the barracks and waited some more... Finally we were set free around 4pm. Some people were still waiting in line for drug testing at 9pm that night!!! I don't think they planned very well. Like I said before, we started classes on Wednesday, so that's pretty much all we did that day. Thursday I had to wake up at 4am so I could go through a medical screening that half our class participated in. Then I had duty muster at 6:15am which lasted about an hour. Then I ate and went to class. I ended up having duty that night from 9pm to 11pm, so I didn't get to bed till late. That was a VERY long day. Friday ended up being an easy day. All we did was go over what we had learned the day before and then we tested on it.

I love weekends, especially when I don't have duty. I've been relaxing all week and loving it!


On a side note, my Grandma died this morning. I woke up to an e-mail from my mom making me aware of it. He was an amazing woman, and an awesome Grandma. She will be missed. Unfortunately I can't make it to her funeral because I can't take time off school. It'll be a difficult week not being there for my family, and not having that same support as I grieve.