Hello from Vietnam!!!

Sorry this is so late getting out, but it is really hard to get internet on the ship. Our flights here were uneventful, but actually getting on the ship took a while. We actually met up with a Project Hope (PH) nurse in D.C. for our flight to South Korea. There was an even bigger group of PH people waiting to get their baggage from the plan in Hanoi. We all got our bags together and made our way out, but we were almost immediately stop by the wall of hot air that we hit leaving the airport. One of the volunteers near me said “just imagine… if it is this hot up here at 11 pm, how hot do you think it is going to be farther south in Quy Nhon?” I had to agree that the heat and humidity was daunting and knowing that it was even hotter and more humid where we were going was a little scary. A pleasant surprise for us when we got out of the airport was a very nice representative from PH that was there to help us get to the hotel. He gave us the choice of driving into Hanoi or staying at a “no-star” hotel near the airport. Since most of us had been awake for about 30hrs, we opted for the “no-star”. It had a bed… which was all I wanted at that moment but I never did get that air conditioner working. With only a couple hours sleep under my belt we headed off to the airport at 5:30 am. Once we got to Quy Nhon I was thoroughly exhausted, but we meet up with even more PH volunteers and found a nice little place to sit and get to know each other while we waited for the Navy transport to bring us to the boat. Among the group that we met up with were some nursing students and their preceptor from the University of San Diego. We had a nice time sitting there getting to know each other, and after a while a Navy representative came to fill us in on what was going on. Apparently the Vietnamese government wasn’t allowing anyone that did not come on the Mercy to board it, and they were having a little trouble getting our berthing (a navel term for area where you sleep) straight. That left us with a little dilemma… where to now? We ended up getting amazing rooms at a very nice hotel with some unexpected free time to enjoy the city of Quy Nhon. While at the hotel we met up with some very interesting people with UCSD (University of California – San Diego). They were a couple of dentist and a translator traveling from the U.S. and Canada. A big group of us decided to go out to lunch and experience some of the city. With the help of our translators, we had one of the most amazing meals!!! I felt like we just ordered the entire menu and shared it family style, and the presentation of it was so cool. One of the dishes was a fish (probably caught that morning) and the cut it in half and displayed the head up and the fins out which made it look like it was still swimming. The translator explained to us that in Vietnamese culture it was very bad luck to turn the fish over during any part of the meal, because it would turn the fisherman’s boat over. It was really cool to sit and share a meal with people from all over with such different lives and experiences in a cozy little restaurant by the sea. After a VERY restful night, we were able to leave for the ship in the late morning. It pretty much took us the entire rest of the day to get checked in and settled. Most of our group got the top “racks” or beds, which made for some very interesting climbing and a few choice words. Our first full day in the pharmacy on board the ship started bright and early the next morning. Renee had to report at 0645 but I got luck and did not have to muster until 0730. We didn’t do much the first day, but spent most of our time getting to know some of the people we would be working with and get comfortable with our new pharmacy for the next 5 weeks. One cool case that we got to see was a 17 year old male that underwent a cleft pallet repair. The surgery that he got wasn’t that uncommon for what the medical teams on the Mercy are doing right now, but what was interesting about him was his heart. Most of the medical staff on board showed up to listen to his heart murmur. The pharmacist we were working with that day took some time to bring us down to that ward and let us hear it for ourselves. It was REALLY COOL!!! We all heard the audio in class during school, but it was nothing like hearing it on a really patient. The next day Renee went out on a MedCap and I worked all day in the pharmacy on board. It was mostly uneventful but I did get to make a sterile transfer of some medication for an IV push on a baby and I got to deliver it to the ward the baby was on and see how she was doing after her surgery. Hopefully, I will have some more time soon to write about the MedCAP that I went on today!!! Until then, thanks for reading :-D