…but only a little.
It is our first trip to this site. If I recall correctly, the last time I was in Iraq I was on a second and a third mission to each site and we were still deeply mired in the figuring things out stages. Those trips did not run entirely smoothly. To say the least. And this trip, our first time in Al Najaf, will be when we really assess the environment within which we will need to work. This is the trip that we get to figure out if local meds just don’t work, or that there is no sink in the ICU, or that we have to worry about running out of oxygen from our wall set-up. You know…
…details.
This trip will also be a little different for me personally because I am arriving late. Last one to the party. And one of the last to leave. The rational for that being that in the event that there are children who must remain in the ICU when it is time for the team to leave, that it would be great if we had sort of an ICU skeleton team to get them out. So it will be myself, another nurse from D.C., and my Belarusian intesivist friend from previous installments of my blog, Pavel.
It is going to go by so fast…
Right now, sitting in JFK waiting for the next leg of my flight. Off to Istanbul! I have a much needed a hotel reservation for my seventeen hour layover and am hoping to take in some local sites. I had arranged for a friend of a friend to show me around but sadly we had a major miscommunication about when I was going to arrive. She showed up at the airport looking for me just as I was leaving my house to try to catch my first flight…I received a few very worried emails just as I was about to leave my house. And unfortunately, she will not be able to meet me tomorrow. But like I said, I have a hotel lined up already so that will help. I think once I get a shower and maybe a nap I will be ready for a little adventure.
Wish me luck!
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