what a week

As I promised in my last blog, I started this week off by going to see the doctor monday morning about the consistent but mild pain in my abdomen. He was unsure what was causing it. I had blood drawn that showed I had no immune response (meaning it probably wasn't infection, coupled with the fact that I had no fever) and a urine analysis that showed I had no unusual things there. Anyway, he sent me home with an ultrasound exam scheduled for wednesday and the promise that the likelihood that it was something major was very low. So, I had a few more briefings that day and along came tuesday.

Tuesday we had a fitness assessment. i did very well and my sides didn't bother me. I had a few more lessons on OIF and OEF.

Wednesday I gave a briefing on Power Projection in Central Asia and the Middle East which went well, then I went to Ultrasound exam, which was uneventful. They promised to have results in a few days. Then I spent the rest of the day running around the base in the rain completing a team obstacle thing... Then we had a guest speaker, a retired Air Force officer who was shot down over Hanoi during the vietnam war and was a Prisoner of War for the following six years. He talked about the methods they developed to communicate, the ways they scheduled their days to maintain routines etc. It's hard to capture the full intensity of his experiences.

Thursday we played some more Icarus, did some training in SERE (survival, evasion, resistance, escape). Then, the flight conducted a 2 hour aerospace wargaming simulation that we were graded on. We did well. I had to grab a few immunization shots that afternoon as well. I probably already had them, but good luck convincing the AF of that... Then we all went home to study for our huge test the next day...

Friday morning I woke up with intense chills, shivers and a 102+ temperature. I forced myself to miss the test and went to the doctor. She took about 4 minutes to declare me a victim of the flu, and sent me home with tylenol, mucinex and tameflu. I spent about 19 of those 24 hours asleep, and woke up feeling exponentially better on Saturday morning. Since then, I've been continue to rest and get ready for a busy week starting on monday. I still have a bit of a cough but no fever. So, now im studying and reviewing all over again to retake the test in the morning.

Just one more week!