Melancholy Move

 

I would never have believed I could be so nostalgic for a place I never wanted to be. On Friday, I wandered around the hospital and took photos of special places and cried--I have included only three here: 

first, the tree we could see from Seth's window;

second, the now famous Ward 57;

 and, finally, the hospital itself. I never thought I would consider Walter Reed a beautiful building--until we moved to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda.

The main entrance of the old Walter Reed Medical Center

The big move took place Saturday. It was supposed to be today but was moved up in anticipation of Hurricane Irene. The move was flawlessly executed, and Seth was in his new digs in about 30 minutes.

Seth gets into the ambulance--before the rain starts.

The new facility is really an addition on a much larger building that already has several additions, so it is not only massive--it is labrythian! Seth's new room is beautiful, but I will withhold my opinions about the rest of the place. Let's just say, my nostalgia for Walter Reed was not misplaced.

Seth's new room and new bed

The National Naval Medical Center is now officially renamed the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center--or WRNMMC. How's that for an acronym?

We slept through the hurricane. The power was out at my hotel when I woke up (as it was for 1.1 million other people), and there was one large branch among many small ones on the ground at WRNMMC. Not bad for our first hurricane. 

Most of our Ward 57 nurses have gone to new places, which is heartbreaking, and the Navy does things differently than the Army, but we hope the move accomplishes all the good it was intended to.