Zapped

You'd think that growing up on a small family farm with an electric fence I'd have been more prepared for the jolt I got late Monday night. I was determined to change my sheets and make my bed with the laptop on the bed, just moving it to the opposite corner I was working on. When I got settled in my new favorite flannel sheets (thank you, Martha) I noticed the battery wasn't full on my laptop.


The power source was secure in the computer - so I knew that the plug (connected to a 220 adaptor piece) had to be pushed more securely into the wall. Standing in my right foot to do this I heard a loud pop, saw a big white spark and instantly felt pain in my right hand and foot.


I'm still feeling bouts of tingles and random sharp pains, tho not nearly as bad as earlier in the week. I've had two EKGs and somehow I got dehydrated enough to suffer a bladder infection. I slept for nearly three solid days. Electric shock isn't widely written about unless addressing symptoms and care for instances severe enough to cause entry and exit wounds. If you google it, you get mostly electric shock 'therapy' (insert extreme sarcasm based on this experience) and - on the accidental extreme - how victims are at risk for cardiac arrest, muscle deterioration and burns. 


So, our team has about five weeks left before our office starts rotating the staff. Two of the public affairs folks coming in have each had a prior deployment here both within the last three years. For another it will be her first deployment. The other gentleman is no stranger to working in a host nation environment serving in Air Force News detachments.


There's more that I want to accomplish here than I have time for. Our event calendar is hectic between now and when the new superintendent arrives at the beginning of December. I hope the next few weeks go by fast.