Personal "24"

September 24, 2007 - Monday
Happy Exhaustion Current mood: energetic
What a wild 4 days! Wednesday, my love came over (WOW! you guys don't know about her yet, do you?!?!?! - okay, I'll hafta' write a WHOLE blog just about her!!!) anywho... Tess came over Wednesday not feeling too hot. She had a stomache ache and thought it was just over stress. She's just starting her Master's program at DU and her schedule is insane! Internship, two jobs, school... not to mention some crazy stuff with a couple a' immature individuals in her life. Well, Wednesday night, when she came over she wasn't feeling any better. It seemed pretty consistant for "just a tummy ache" as she kept calling it.
I asked her specifics ... where exactly it hurt... was it localized, general, or dispersed.... that kinda' stuff. I soon had a gut feeling (excuse the pun) it was an appendicitis... but what do I know? I'm no doctor. By the end of Weds. nite, it was getting REALLY sever. She wouldn't take my humble diagnosis, so we called "Ask a nurse"... sure enough, they thought the same thing... told me to get her into the hospital ASAP. That night we drove through the St. Tony's ED driveway twice, but I respected her wishes when she said she didn't want to go in.
Thursday it got even worse, and between classes her Mom and I convinced her to let me take her into Lutheran. 6 hours, an ultrasound and CT scan later, they said it wasn't an appendicitis, but they couldn't figure out what it was exactly... gave her some pain meds and a prescription and told her to visit her doctor the next day (Friday.) Her dad and I take her in Friday morning and her doc says it's an appendicitis. He calls a surgeon friend and sets up an appointment. We meet the surgeon and he sets up an operation for that night. We immediately go back over to Lutheran and she gets YET ANOTHER Cat scan... which again says it ISN'T an appendicitis.
I really am trying to make this short!
She goes in for surgery and PRESTO! Guess what ?!? IT'S AN APPENDICITIS! surprise surprise! So that gets us to Friday night... she comes out of surgery and is good but pretty much outta' it - Diloted is a wonderful thing. Georgous as ever, though... never thought I'd see someone with tubes coming out of them and post-surgery as "beautiful and georgous" but she was! anyway, so I leave the hospital at 1 in the morning or so... and guess where I have to be at 0700 that morning ? You got it! It's DRILLWEEKEND! ohhhhh joy!

Saturday Drill was SO PT (physical training) intensive it was insane! Ya' see, next month, we are "standing up" (being introduced) as a unit up at Camp Hale. Why Camp Hale? Well, we are finally taking up the mantle of the 10th Mountain Division! We are the 86th, which is out of Vermont... but the original 10th Mountain was ALSO part of the 86th, and since we are the only "Mountain Division" in Colorado, we are OFFICIALLY the heirs of the legendary 10th Mountain. Ironically, a few weeks ago, my band and I performed at the massive 10th Mountain reunion.

I got to meet a number of the WWII vetrans, and will be seeing them again next month up at Camp Hale. Since we are mountain qualified, we train to be ready to incur in the mountains of Iraq, Afghanistan, or any other place they may send us (which by the way is tentively scheduled for 2010 or 2011) Oh! one more thing before I get back to the story... we also physically train our @$$3$ off because since we are interrogators, we will regularly be "attached" to ANY group that needs an interrogator - including Rangers, Airborne, Special Forces, Deltas... etc... and we have to be able to "keep up" with THEM! No exaggeration!
So... Saturday, we train until we're puking, and for good measure, from 1700-1800 some of us that still need to work on our PT got to run sprints for an hour. And then, guess what?!?! I've got a 8pm-11pm show with the Rolling Tones (Nacho Men lite) at St. Vincent De Paul School. So, I race outta' Drill after last formation, go home, shower, grab costumes, and high-tail it over to the show. Show goes great and I head over to Lutheran to see Tess for an hour. Get home around one or two.. zonk... and wake up at 3:00 with a KILLER headache... finally get back to sleep at 4 only to wake up at 5:30 to get ready for drill. Sitting up, I fall asleep again, and end up getting to drill 20 minutes late. NOTHING will get me more upset at myself than being late for something... and THIS is DRILL!!!!! UGGGGHHH!! Get to drill, and we are in the middle of a "ruck hike" - load up the ruck sack, haul it on my back and star trekking to catch up with the company! Warrant Officer Candidate Fuhrman picks me up in his truck after about 2 miles and drives me 1 mile to the formation. Overall, I didn't miss much in relation to the full hike. Still, once with the company, I was ALWAYS up with the three guys in the lead of the formation... they even had me carry the guidon for a few miles! :)
After returning to the armory, one of my superiors - Sgt. Prahl - a GREAT guy with an equally great sense of humor tells me "take my ruck and go back to the follow vehicle and ask Sgt Renyolds what two-plus-two is... I'm curious." Well the formation is stretching two miles back down the road, and after that is the following vehicle. So I start trekking back up the road. At about 1.75 miles I meet up with the vehicle and ask the vital question of Sgt. Renyolds. I'm grinning like a crazy man... the hike has been good for me.... I've made great time... I've kept op with the lead of the group... and now I've added more miles, and I'm still feeling suprizingly good. I explain the reason for the question - I was late, and also, my ruck is twenty pounds light because I can't pack what I haven't been issued - namely body armor. He shakes his head and says, "That sucks!" I grin and say, "Not really, I understand it... It's fair and just... not a problem..." He nods and says "Tell him 2 plus 2 is four... you doin okay?" "Doin' GREAT Sergant! Thanks!" And I truck on back. So after getting back, I was still feeling great... that kinda' happy exhaustion that can't quelch the warmth of pride. (I'm horrible at the running... but give me clydesdale work and I LOVE it!) So.... another long day of PT! After drill, I went over to Tess' - she's home !!!!!!! :) Spent a few hours with her... had dinner and a movie. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gunna' CRASH!!! Good night, all!

Currently listening : Classic Sinatra By Frank Sinatra Release date: 28 March, 2000