updates on Iditarod between work shifts....

 so Bradley Farquhar is only 19 miles out of Safety!!  great job!!  after that check point, where they don their race bibs, he will have just 22 miles to go to finish up his adventure on this great race!! so fun to get to know a racer a bit more and follow him.  thanks for letting me share in on this experience.  can't wait to hear how the journey went! these are still at the end of the ceremonial start.  we zipped up from down town to watch Brad come in.  he was pretty excited after a fun run through the city...it's a bit party.  i joked with him that his other adventures had never come with an 12 mile long block party! can't beat that.

 i do hear the wind is brutal through there today.  Zappa said she wasn't exaggerating by saying it was nearly 60mph, sustained.  so hopefully, he gets through this last section unscathed.

 that is not how it worked out for Jim Lanier.  i had heard he has been feeling ill.  at 77, he's a retired pathologist.  my first concern a few days ago was that he thought he had the flu and that perhaps it was really a heart attack...that could be because i work ICU, but i have seen men who believe they are dealing with the flu and push through, in the end they were having cardiac issues and went into cardiogenic shock by pushing through. 

 i have 2 that stand out, who died.  one i was called in for to take care of because he had pneumonia.  i remember taking one look at him and telling the DR, this guy is in cardiogenic shock and we need to ship him...he coded as the flight team arrived.  not saying this is the case here at all....just that sometimes we all can ignore symptoms because we have a goal  or desire.  you just never know. 

 as it turns out, for whatever reason he was for sure hypothermic...sounds like it was between white mountain and safety. the Mushing Mortician, Jansen found him and got help and then, he did the kindest, most selfless thing and scratched himself to accompany his friend on the helicopter flight back to Nome to get more medical assistance. they must have been close enough to a road system that all the dogs and sleds could be picked up as well.  warms my heart to know that these teams put each other and the dogs before their own personal goals and success as clearly Jansen was set for a finish. Jansen has been the recipient of kindness as well out there. he broke a leg and i think it was Mackey who assisted him.  just a lot of good people out on those trails.  it's heart warming and inspiring to say the least.  there is hope for our world

 so they are both out, which puts us at 15 scratches and withdraws this year.  yes 15!  so hopefully, he is doing well, it hasn't posted on the Iditarod site and actually still shows them both as participating in the current race standings, don't see either team listed on the GPS though.

 so those last two racers that i said i felt had fallen back to far and were at risk of being withdrawn were withdrawn.  they were actually doing well but they had been stopped in a storm for nearly 48 hours before crews could come and use snow machines to pack down a trail for them.  in the end it was too far back and the support crew is volunteer and no doubt have jobs and lives to get back to.  they can't keep them out there at this remote check points indefinitely.  i know some felt it unfair, but that is the reality of the race and at some point they did have to make a decision.  so that was Steve Watkins (who is running for Senate in Kansas) and Tara Cicatello( a rookie, who i wouldn't be surprised if Steve had kind stayed back a bit with to help) so bummed for both of them...

 worked in Peds last night.  haven't had a night so slow in ages.  part of you feels guilty when it's so slow,but then i also realize i have more than made up for this rare slow night with hundreds of crazy nights where i caught no break at all. 

 fun to have the live feed of Nome on and watch teams roll in to Nome.  you can check GPS and plan for the next team and then plan your night accordingly. 

 work was a buzz anyway...

 right before i left for work the local tv stations were reporting some strange and disturbing news.

 apparently, according to this news, one of our neurosurgeons took photo's of a patients male parts while the patient was under his care and under anesthesia????  he then texted those to his wife?? still just bits of news..but you can imagine the entire hospital was buzzing about this MD and wondering what the hell???

 so bizarre and twisted and wrong.  the rumors will be nuts for days. we'd had another MD in the ER who is now in prison as unknown to all of us who worked with him he had been a child molester. 

 you just never really know what is happening in the lives of others...and often, you don't want to know.  someone thought they'd seen his name on the surgery schedule and then later now. 

 i figure today was going to be a really bad day for that guy.  yes i totally know him.  people do not do things like this, but then i guess there are always a few out there who do. 

 these are from the restart in Willow.  we zipped down to the first lake before settling in at Long Lake to see the teams get set up for the real start.  the area was smaller than usual because of overflow. 

 we had been chatting with Brad but the pee team stopped by, below you can see the poor pups with urine bags on them.  SH and i wandered around the outside of the fence as we didn't have passes...we came back around and picked up Karen.  she is in the back above with camera and flag in hand.  :-)

 Fleck, Deeter and Brad seem to have been running pretty close for several checkpoints now.  it seemed a year of little groupings.

 there is a break in the Nome action as Jansen and Lanier would have been arriving about now I'd guess.  bummer for them so late in the run.  Lanier really did give it his best try.  Jansen....he gets the award for sportsmanship this year as far as I'm concerned.

 Brad seems to have picked up speed so perhaps he's through the worst of the wind now.  one can hope

 the scuttlebutt on the chat feed is that both Jim and Jansen are fine that it was weather related...?  hmm...i do recall seeing that Lanier has been feeling sick though so who knows.  happy it's nothing worse at this point though. I'd prefer weather over some need to medivac him out for sure. those chat feed folks often seem to know stuff..not sure if the insider folks get on there with details for them or what. 

 reading news feed...Lanier said to have gotten off the trail and headed toward open water.  his team must have stopped, they were in the area known as the "blowhole".  doesn't take long for the effects of the cold to take over.  everyone is back in NOme, dogs included.

 just snaps from the teams getting set up.  less of a circus, but still a lot of press coverage inside the fence line. 

 the mushers tend to be a bit more serious, they are putting final touches on the packing of sleds and new teams no doubt are both excited and anxious about the adventure that lies ahead.

 Iditarod news and strange hospital news...i just had to put in an in between shift post.  what will tonight bring at work...hopefully no sensational news.  not sure I'll be seeing that MD around for a bit...he is near retirement age...I'm always shocked at what these guys think they can get away with...perhaps they are getting away with less these days as more people stand up and speak out.

 clearly someone did in this case.

 Fleck has one mile to Safety and Deeter and Farquhar have 9 to go.  the Iditarod never fails to impress.  Lev Shvarts video...got in at 3pm..said blow hole was good 70mph winds, sub zero temps.  he teared up talking about his dog team.  only 10 teams on the trail...won't be long now. the standings list is updated to show scratches by Jansen and Lanier.  everyone else is out of Elim and headed to White Mountain or out of White Mountain and headed for Safety...hang on through that Blowhole folks....

thankful for:  A.  the increase in folks speaking out.  our society no longer needs to ignore bad behavior and be concerned that speaking out will damage us more than those who have crossed the lines of decent behavior.  B. free press, let it live on  C.  kindness, selflessness, honor, dignity...the qualities that still exist in our fellow citizens...they really do exist...hopefully, we can bring some of those back to our government.