It has been quite a while

Hi to all,

I can't believe that it has been almost a month since I have written an e-mail. It has been pretty busy over here since i have come back. I have been working a lot more since and there has been a lot more activity since the flotilla incident, but not to worry, I have been well and still enjoying myself and my time on base.

So to continue from where i left off last month. I returned to base the day after I landed in Israel and it was amazing to return to base. I had brought gifts from the US for all of my friends on base and they quickly got spread around base. It was quite funny to see some of the Israeli's that have never had american candy wonder haw it was made and where it came from. One of the more funny incidents happened when the disciplinary commander came up to me and told me that he had tried my candy and asked why I didn't bring enough for everyone. I told him that there were 160+ people on the base and if I did I couldn't bring anything else back. he told me next time I go to the US if i don't bring back enough i will get a punishment. Of course he was joking and it was great to just see that everyone was enjoying the things that i brought.

Then three weeks ago it was my turn to close on the base. What that means is that I am the on-call medic if there is an emergency or anything happens. I thought i was going to be in for a nice relaxing weekend hanging out with two of my roommates that were also on-call for the weekend, but no, right before shabbat on friday, one of the girls in the kitchen fell off a chair and hit her back really hard. So i was called to evaluate her and eventually to send her to the ER. Once at the hospital I got called that she got sick leave from the army for a week, but since it was already shabbat, she would be coming back to base and i would be looking after her until she could go home on sunday. So I spent the whole weekend looking after her. then on Saturday i had another soldier that i had to send to the hospital for a fever and dehydration. For my first weekend on-call, it was pretty busy.

Two weeks ago it was my turn to go to the hospital. During lunch one day I ate something that didn't taste quite right and tasted like meat. It was in a vegetarian salad though so i didn't give it much thought. Later that afternoon i wasn't feeling that great and instead of going back to work i went to lay down in my room. That is when i got really sick. I got really bad stomach symptoms as well as my vitals going sky high. I went to the clinic and told my commander that i was really sick and needed an IV because i was dehydrated. I got one liter of fluids and went back to my room. It didn't help much and within another hour I couldn't get out of bed without help and my pulse was above 130. When I got back to the clinic with help from my roommates the doctor didn't understand what was wrong. I got another liter of fluids and went back to the room for another hour. when one of the medics came to check on me later I was running a fever and getting worse. I was sent to the hospital where it was confirmed that i had food poisoning from eating raw meat and also because i am vegetarian. I was given meds for pain and nausea and sent home. Even though it seems like it took a long time before I went to the hospital, you have to remember that I am no where near a hospital and you only go if it an actual emergency. Our clinic on base can treat like an ER and has all of the skills to treat. The medics in the clinic that work with me are amazing and really do know what they are doing.

This past week I have been at a different base in a hebrew course for three weeks. It has been a lot of fun. Most of the soldiers are english speaking so we have a lot more fun in class. the course is not boot camp style so there is a lot more freedom and that has been nice. I have also spent time in the clinic on this base learning a lot more and that has been great for me. The medics on this base were in a practice week and were going over many things that they learned during their course so i learned many things and that was really helpful and good for me. The base that i am on is the main base for my brigade. so all of the basic training units go there. it is a big base and there are many people that i know there. I am looking forward to the next two weeks there, even though i miss my friends on my base so much already.

So to everyone in the US have a good and safe 4th of July weekend. I will be celebrating on base with all of my american friends.

Love,
Roxanne