Minor Setback

Wednesday, 22 December 2010

Oh boy. So, guess where I am? In a big old Naval hospital somewhere off Parris Island. It's "Team Week" so don't worry about me getting dropped from training or anything. You're probably wondering how I ended up here, right? Well, as you should know by now, I had a 7-mile hike from the rifle range back to 4th Battalion on Saturday morning. It was a little wet and rainy, and the moisture in addition to the friction in my boots played havoc with my feet. Sunday morning there was a small blister on my little toe, and by that evening it was a medium-sized blister that was purple in color. Then over the course of the night I started getting fevers, chills, nausea, and I had completely lost my appetite.

I thought I was just going to go to BAS (Battalion Aid Station) then back to the squad bay for bed rest or light duty (I didn't even want to go to medical, but my fellow recruits nearly dragged me to the Senior Drill Instructor's hatch) but after I went to BAS, they sent me to Acute Care in the larger medical facility (BMC) on the Island. That's when things started getting sketchy and I knew something was up. They took my vitals, hooked me up to an IV, took blood and urine samples, then took chest x-rays. That, of course, was after they cut my toe open and drained it. None of the medical personnel directly told me what was wrong with me but I kept overhearing that my blood pressure kept dropping, my heart rate was unusually high, I had a fever, a ridiculously high white blood cell count, and pneumonia in my left lung. Just for good measure, every now and again, someone would whisper the word "septic". I was getting worried about being stuck in medical and missing training, all the while this really nice corpsman is telling me to relax and take a nap.

Anyway, they shipped me off the Island to this hospital in Beaufort and they said I'll be out of here by the end of the week. The doctors here told me that I had cellulitis in my foot, a urinary tract infection, and some sort of upper respiratory infection that they don't think is pneumonia. So, I've been feeling pretty beat up.

It's not all bad though, my platoon sent me all sorts of notes, cards, and letters with prayers, well-wishes, and all that jazz. I get all the Gatorade I can drink, and nighttime TV privileges (which I usually sleep through). I would love the food if I wasn't too nauseous to eat most of the time.

Today has been a bit of a lonely day, but I've been getting visits from the Company Executive Officer, my Senior Drill Instructor, our sister platoon's Senior Drill Instructor, and even one of the green-belt dill instructors was "nice" enough to "drop off" my tenni-runners and shower shoes.

Yesterday, they also let me have two phone calls home, just to let my mom know how I was doing -- it was the first time I had heard her voice in over two months.

It made me realize that my time here in Recruit Training is almost done. Next week I'll be a Phase 3 recruit and there are only about three weeks until the Crucible. Right now though I have to get back to 100% so I can knock out the upcoming events; Company Commander Inspection, Basic Warrior Training, and the CFT.

That's about all there is to report right now; just thought you'd all like to know I'm a little broke but they're fixing me up like new.

Rct. Garner


(Rct. Garner is no longer in the hospital and is back to 100%.)