New Year's Eve

So, it's been what.... 5 months and change since the last update. The sad thing is, there hasn't been a whole lot of action. A brief update summary:

At then end of July, my lovely fiancee moved down to Kentucky to join me. Within 2 weeks Deanna had a job. She is currenlty working at a small firm within the network of firms she used to work for. What's good is that they use similar software and ways of organizing themselves, so the adjustment has been much easier on her than it could potentially have been. During the las few months she has been working on completing the horrific exams that lead to her CPA (Certified Public Accountant). On the 26th of December, 2005, we arrived home from our trip to NY to see family for Christmas and there was the final letter giving the results to the latest, and final exam. Drum roll please.......... Deanna has earned her CPA!!! (and the crowd goes wild).

Starting in August, Dee and I started setting up the townhouse to what would be our home. We bought some gorgeous furniture from a store called Kincaid Furniture. We ended up with a full couch, Chair, ottoman, Two end tables and a coffee table that are mission style. The furniture has hand tied springs and is custom uphostered and the tables are a beautiful cherry wood and matte finish.

Wedding planning is still going well. Dee's dress is in at the shop. We bought our wedding bands over our Christmas trip home to NY at Reed's Jewelers. Her's a white gold band with channel set princess cut diamonds that match her engagement ring perfectly. Mine is a titanium band with a brushed finish in the middle and the edges are polished. It is very light and actually feels ok on my hand when I was trying them on at the store. Invitations still need to be ordered but I think Dee has those picked out and the order just needs to be placed soon. Keep your eyes out for those in the mail coming in the next few months.

As for me. Well, work is work. Wake, work, eat, sleep, wake...... you get the picture. One change since I last wrote was my rotation down at the TMC (Troop Medical Clinic). Here is a little informatoin about this position and what it brings to my development as a therapist: Fort Knox is considered a TRADOC post (Training and Docterine Command). TRADOC posts are where basic training (Boot Camp) is held. The TMC is where all the trainees go to get basic medical care. As a department, Physical Therapy sends an officer and an enlisted tech to the TMC to provide basic physical therapy care to the injured trainees. We also are the gate keepers to a program called PTRP (Physical Training and Rehab Program). If a trainee is injured to the point where he/she cannot train any longer b/c of the injury, based on our clinic decisions, we place the trainee in PTRP. There is also a new initiative that the Army has started called WTC (Warrior Transition Course). WTC is a program that allows prior enlisted from any of the armed forces (whether it was 15 weeks or 15 years ago), to join the Army by going through a 4 week basic training course.
OK, here is where I come into play. At the TMC, you see about 16 scheduled soldiers in 4.5 hours; that is on top of other providers interrupting and asking my opinion or help and any walkins that you can fit with any extra time,plus your coding and eval notes. This averages out to about 15 min per patient eval/follow-up. What makes this an interesting 4 months is that the quality of the soldier coming into the Army is very poor. I asked one 22 y/o, who was complaining of leg pain, if he had ever pulled a muscle playing outdoors when he was younger. His direct answer was "no". WHAT?! And that is a mild example of what I have seen. Then you add the WTC soldiers. You have to give them credit for trying service to Country again. BUT, the Army is waivering in people (soldier, sailor, air men) who are 47 with health conditions (ie. Emphysema - yes I had 47 y/o with emphysema in PTRP) and people who were medically discharged from their branch of service, only to have them cross my path saying that they can not take the training because it is breaking them. Ya think? It is cases like that which made PTRP fill to 100% capacity. Don't get me wrong, PTRP, in concept is a great thing. It gives soldiers the opportunity to heal while under physical therapist care. They have mandatory workout times, on programs set up by me or one of the other therapists, then they are sent back to training when they are well enough to run 2 miles, and perform 2 min of pushups and situps to pass the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT). The problem is when the soldier is in no condition to get back to training, even with specific programs to get them there, and they remain in PTRP for months and months and months. It is for the above reasons that I, as a 1LT saw twice as many patients per month than any other therapist in my department here at Fort Knox. And with those numbers, I broke the record twice (I broke the record set by me) for total number of patients seen by any therapist for as long as they have been tracking numbers of patients seen per month (at least 5 yrs). I am not sure what the official number was, but I wanna say it was something like 458 for 1 month. It's alot.

As for Christmas this year. Dee and I flew to Rochester, NY and traveled to Alfred to spend Christmas Eve and the 2 days prior to that with her family. We also bought our rings as stated above, and had our Engagement photos taken on Friday the 23rd. Seeing Dee's family, Kelly, Amy, Lindsey and her parents, as well as the significant others of the sisters, Tim and Ryan (Peanut butter jelly time, it's peanut butter jelly time.... Where-ya-at..... there-ya-go....) was so nice. The saddest part of it all was leaving, knowing I probably won't see them again until the wedding. From there Dee and I drove to My family in Syracuse and Constableville, which was really nice. I haven't seen them since the last Christmas. Then sadly, we flew back to Kentucky on Monday.

Now it's Dec 31, 2005 and I am sitting in the basement of Ireland Army Community Hospital pulling AOD (Administrative Officer of the Day). I arrived at 0700 this morning and will leave tomorrow at 0700 when I am relieved of duty. While on duty I pull security checks every 4 hours within the hospital and in our outlyer buildings (TMC, pharmacy, blood bank, etc). I also have to pull records for Labor and Delivery and the ER when needed. Hopefully that will be the extent of it. I am responsible for filling out death packets and turning in peoples possesions from the ER when they are admitted, etc. They give us a small room in a corner of the basement of the hospital. Greatfully, we have a computer with internet and cable TV with a VCR.
Being that it is New Year's Eve, Deanna is going to cook up a simple dinner and bring it down to me and keep me company for a few hours. How sweet is she? I kills the boredom for both of us.
At least I have the day off tomorrow (sunday).

It's at the end of the brief 4 hour break I get between security rounds and I must leave. Hopefully I keep better account of what is going on here in Kentucky and possibly post some pictures. Take care all and keep in touch.

HAPPY NEW YEAR.

out.