station population; July 18th: 37
station population: August 26th: 27
i've been told that this place can be unpredictable. everything from weather to science to life to play. everything and anything can change in a blink of an eye. over the last week, the station folks has been working diligently to cut the long line out of the ice and off the pier. monday night, the station when round the clock, cutting, chipping, pulling, trying to get the line out of the ice. the ice has now formed enough to walk out on the ice.
By monday mid-afternoon, my roommate, who hasn't been feeling well all morning, went to bed and woke up with sharp abdominal pain. so sharp that she spent the late afternoon and evening in the station hospital. i, of course, didn't know about this (i knew she wasn't feeling well), until the station manager (eric) pulled me aside and told me. i nearly lost a gasket. visiting my roomie in the hospital was a trip and sort of a realization that the doc on station isn't the most proactive person in an medical emergency. so the warnings of not getting sick or hurt were true. doc pretty much just hopped her up on lots of painkillers and said that they would do tests in the morning. he wanted to rule out appendicitis. right, if he wanted to rule that out, he wouldn't of waited. i had her pain killers for the night. i was so worried (plus i had zero confidence in the doc) about her that, all night, every time she moved, i would wake up and check on her. that pretty much meant i didn't sleep at all.
painkiller at 1am. false fire alarm at 6am. can it get any worse? i gave the last pill to my poor roomie at 6am. slept for another hour and then headed down to the galley for some food and coffee. the ice cutting and line freeing debacle has been going on all night. amber, a very cool chica and our instrument tech and first position on the trauma team, goes with my roomie to the consult and testing that the doc has schedule for her....with doctors in dallas.
meanwhile, i work and i work hard on another huge sample collection....that is after i find out that i'm not going on a two day (if i'm lucky it's that short) joy ride on the gould just to collect 12 50L carboys of water. (yes there is some sarchasm in there).
i'm taking a break a little after 1ish, trying to nap by the fire place in the galley, when David (our communications guy) asks me about my roomie and she's doing. i tell him that i don't know. then he tells me that there are plans to evacuate my roomie. not too long after he said that, eric (station manager) bolts from his office and heads towards the other building where the hospital is.
eric comes back and does a station all-call for a station meeting and then pulls me into his office and tells me what's going to happen......
my roomie will be medically evacuated.
i was floored. i felt like somebody punched me and then dragged me around behind their truck.
not only woiuld she be leaving, all the folks who are leaving on the re-scheduled boat on sept 5th will be leaving as well. that means 9 others had 4 hrs to pack and say their good-byes. our science team will be losing my roomie (who was schedule to stay til the 24th of sept)as well as three others. folks leaving station were to be at gamage point (the only way to get on the boat via zodiac) at 6pm so the boat can leave by 10pm with minimal cargo ops.
with really no time to say good-bye and safe travels, the remaining three in the group (myself included) that are staying are tried to learn everything that the other four did while they were here to finish their experiments. and man, are there a lot of things to remember and learn on the fly.
it was really surreal to watch folks walk across the sea ice to get on the boat. it was surreal to see people leave and never come back. it was surreal that most of this was done at night. the gould left at 10pm. i finished helping with the on-loading at around 8pm. i was completely exhausted, mentally, physically, and emotionally. i knew as soon as i heard that they wanted everybody who was leaving on the boat to go, that i was going to have a rough last half of the field season.
i'm sad that folks had to leave and that they had to leave early, but most of all, i'm really really sad for my roomie.
All i can say is that....."it's going to be a harsh continent"......as we live the dream...i mean nightmare.
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