H.E.A.T

HMMWV Egress Assistance Trainer was on the agenda for training today and although I'm a bit beat up from it, I thought it was great initial training.

You know how at amusement parks there's those roller-coaster simulator rides, well picture that on steroids without the movie screen. You have a fire team (in full battle rattle) in a HMMWV simulator that rolls you over... and over and over... depending on the instructors' moods. Alot of times they have the smallest person up in the turret since in a rollover that person can get thrown around and a smaller person is easier for other personnel in the vehicle to secure and hold on to. Guess who was the gunner... yours truly!

Oh yeah and don't think for a moment that the vehicle rolls a couple of times and then goes upright and you get out-- not so much lol! After all the rolling it'll either be on its side or upside down. And then of course you have to make sure everyone can get out, grab equipment and weapons, then exit the vehicle tactically, ready to engage any enemy (and of course in training small arms fire is a must, as is fire and someone getting shot).

My team did a pretty good job holding on to me, but it still didn't stop the equipment flying around from hitting me once or twice or getting manhandled while they tried there best not to lose their grip as we were all tossed around... it was a great day =) It was hot with all our all gear, we were all ridiculously sweaty when we were done, but we learned something that could save our lives or someone else's. There was a bit more to it, tactics and procedure wise, but without going into unnecessary detail I think you all get the idea. My team was extra hot since I volunteered my team to demonstrate (pure selfishness on wanting to make sure my team knew enough to hold me properly and get out safe) and we did battle drills for a while.

Most people seemed to enjoy the day; part of our class went the day before and they had someone throw up and a class before us had some idiot not wear goggles so he got hit in the eye with a weapon and had to be taken to the hospital. But no one in our group today got hurt, banged up a bit.. yes, but some people loved it. Goodtimes =)

CST

So alot has happened. I said goodbye to my amazing, funny son the other day, but I was too sad and busy to make time to blog about it. I arrived at my Combat Skills Training for my deployment yesterday and trying to square everything at home before I left was an adventure. Of course I'm finding that there's a bunch of stuff I forgot (my flashlight, PT pants and jacket, and other misc items), but it could be worse. Hey, at least I eventually got a little bit of sleep last night (I was up for 44 hours with maybe an hour nap on my flight here!)

I'm currently sharing a room with 7 other females (who got in later than me and made a ruckus while I was trying to sleep!) and in about an hour and a half the entire training class has a briefing and then the fun begins. I'll be here for a month and the rules are simple but understandably sucky, lol. No drinking, no leaving base, no civilian clothes, no gambling, no porn, no driving or riding in any non-government vehicle so there's some-- have yet to be seen-- shuttle that we're supposed to use to get from point A to point B on base/post. Well time for me to do work left over from my base, hopefully I'll be done with it sooner than later so I can fully concentrate on my training and deployment.

Ouch!

Well, I got my Smallpox, Anthrax, Hep B and Thyphoid shots today and I am soooooo sore!!! The sad part about getting the shots though is that I have a niece who is only like two months old (who I never met) and although I'll meet her this weekend I won't be able to hold her since smallpox is a live virus and she's under a year of age =(

I really wanted to wait but there just isn't enough time so I'll have to be content with just looking at my beautiful niece. Well, I hope the smallpox doesn't leave a scar but I've kind of resigned myself to the fact it will. I'll guess we'll just have to wait and see. I'll try and post gross pics once I have a reaction!

Today

Today was supposed to be my CBT day (Computer Based Training) and whatever else I could fit in there for my deployment day. Well that kind of went out the window when Tyler's school called and said Tyler's left ear was "beet red" and it really hurt Ty and he couldn't hear well from it. Long story short it seems to be the beginnings of a potential ear infection. So I picked him up from school and took him to the doctor and basically there went my day. I feel like everything has been screwy and I hate when my little guy doesn't feel well. It's another set back but as always we'll get through it. Tomorrow is my CBRNE (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and High Yield Explosive) training so hopefully no more calls.

Priorities

Here's what I posted on Facebook today:

"So I was gonna go into work today, but F*@% it I'm not. I have this weekend and next with Tyler then I won't see him for over 7 months-- he's my priority. If I have to work while he sleeps and not get any myself, then that's what I'll do."

As you can see I'm learning (slowly, but surely) that I need to keep sight of what's most important; and what's most important is my son. Yes, I still have packing to do, gear to pick up, training to do, immunization shots to get, and a checklist to complete, but I'll run around and do it during regular work hours. If that's not enough time then I'll bring home what work and things I can, and I'll do it after Ty's asleep. I can sleep when I'm dead, but if I don't live while I'm alive I might as well crawl in my grave now. I think we'll go see Iron Man 2 today and I'll go buy a Flip mini-camcorder to record his upcoming school play.

Physical or Mental?

So I've heard of issues that children can have due to their parents deploying, but I guess I never really worried about it since my son Tyler is such a well-adjusted, well-behaved little boy. Now I'm not saying that he's now the complete opposite of a well-behaved child, but I am saying that I've now experienced first-hand just how much these things can affect kids.

A little bit after Rob left Tyler started complaining about stomach pains. It went on for a couple of days and since Tyler is not one to make things up I started getting concerned. I made him and appointment and just to be safe they did stomach x-rays. Other than seeming a bit "backed-up" it looked normal, but in case it was the reason for the pain they gave me stool softener for him. While I was there for his stomach pain I also let the doctor know that Tyler seemed to get tired faster than I would expect for a healthy 6-year-old boy. The Dr. ordered a bunch of blood tests and told me she would let me know the results. She also told me she wanted to see us again in a couple of weeks to see how Ty was doing.

Fast forward to the appointment a couple of weeks later. The new information was that it turns out Tyler's stored iron levels are low. He isn't anemic cause technically his blood iron levels were in range, but he could be if we didn't do something about it. So he now has to take iron supplements twice a day for three months. The downfall... potential constipation and guess what Tyler at this point was still complaining about stomach pain so the doc recommended he stay on the stool softeners for now. So lets talk about those stomachaches.

Based on the info from the doc (the being backed up and the iron deficiency) I figured Tyler had some legitimate issues but the frequency of the stomach pain seemed to increase everyday. My usually really good little boy got to the point he was crying daily, complaining about everything and anything and overall was being real whinny. Part of me was worried that something serious could be going on but the childcare provider, and the school, noticed nothing out of the ordinary and said Tyler didn't complain or even seem sick to them.

I started noticing that when I picked up Ty from childcare he was playing and having a good time but once momma was there he'd clutch his stomach and say it hurt.

I basically started telling him that if he was sick he had to rest and not watch TV or play video games etc. This was just in case he was making it up so I wasn't rewarding him and making him think that this was the way to get attention.

That didn't work. So I got even stricter. That didn't work either. So I started to try to ignore him when he did it. Ummm... guess what? That didn't work either.

Now when I say I ignored him I wasn't ignoring that he had pain, but instead I would tell him once he was done whining and freaking out we'd talk and I would ignore certain outbursts that seem to coincide with him not getting his way or me being busy (which is basically all the time due to this upcoming deployment). Well, I reached a breaking point the other day and basically cried with him. My 6-yr-old seems to have decided to resort to emotional blackmail and has thrown in my face the conversation I had with him a couple of weeks ago about me trying to spend more time with him. "Momma, you said you'd spend more time with me," says Tyler right when I tell him its time for bed. "Momma, you said you'd spend more time with me," says Tyler when I explain its a weekday so no video games. So now torn between guilt and worry I lose it and just cry and cry.

So crying doesn't do anything to help right, but breaking down showed me I needed to figure this out. So as soon as I got to work I started researching, since everyone told me it was probably mental stress that was causing Ty to act the way he was.

In my research I learned that even though the reason for the pain was probably mental, the physical pain was real and Tyler basically was telling the truth when he told me (more than once) "I wish you could be me for just one day momma, then you'd know that it does hurt and I'm telling the truth!"

Ok so I believe, what now? For starters I let him know that evening that if he was feeling good we'd have a special day and go to the zoo after school-- that night no pain. Then I took off the next day (the day before I posted this) and we went to the zoo, played mini-golf, went to batting cages and had dinner-- guess what? No pain all day. He seemed so happy. I explained to him that we wouldn't be able to hang out again till the weekend and the weekend after next is when I make the trip to drop off the love of my life. So what happened this morning? Any stomach pain? Nope! But it looks like he may have pinkeye... Ugh I can't win.