JULY 6-8, 2015: BLOG POST #3:
July 6, 2015
Got up at
0500 to shower. Fowler had warned us that he gets up at 0515 and there is
usually no hot water but I was going to give it a shot…FREEZING cold
shower!...turns out that everyone after me had a warm/hot shower but I was the
first one up so it took too long to heat up…all’s well though I count all the
shivering during my shower as calories burned. It takes me less than 30 minutes
to get ready but we headed up as a group at 0600. Breakfast was eggs and
pancakes…no one ever complains about military breakfast but word to the wise
always get syrup the pancakes were dry…like saltine cracker challenge dry.
Muster was at 0700 so we got there at 0645…they had already started (they
hadn’t officially switched to the 0700 muster time they told us the night
before). You can’t walk through muster and we were supposed to stand on the
opposite side with the officers but after a minute or 2 a sailor was nice
enough to walk Emily, Jerline, Earl, and I through the laboratory next door and
into the right spot. Everyone is very friendly and helpful on the ship. NGOs
are treated equivalent as officers so we stand next to them in muster and are
able to go through their chow line and eat in the officer’s ward if we want to.
At muster the plan of the day is explained and any pertinent information is
passed between members. We are part of DCSS (department of clinical support
systems) and I believe there is also laboratory staff and radiology. The
Sailor’s Creed is said and then everyone is dismissed to clean (sweepers) their
departments. Next we went to the pharmacy and got a tour of the other wards on
the ship, general introductions to the staff, and our schedule for medsites in
Colombia. Usually the pharmacy has an afternoon muster informal in the pharmacy
at 1600 (1630 after medsites) but that was cancelled.
At 0900 we
had an NGO meeting to sign emergency contact/next of kin and wireless access
forms. We also watched videos about ship life, including but not limited to:
trash separation, sewage, alarms, and everyday routines. We killed some time
wandering the ship before lunch where we talked with Colleen, who is the team
leader for Project Hope. Colleen spent around 30 years in the Navy and at one
point she was a flight nurse. She had so pretty amazing stories about her time
as a flight nurse in the Pacific. One description was that there was a mutiny
on a merchant ship and the captain was stabbed several times. She explained the
difficulties of getting there by helicopter, convincing the crew not to murder
him, get the patient up on the helicopter, and then fly several hours to the
nearest hospital…after everything he survived. After lunch at 1300 all of the
Project Hope members met to have introductions since we are all in different
departments and come from different places. Some of the members have been on
the ship since the beginning of the mission so this is their halfway mark of 3
months out of the 6 month deployment. Anchors were lifted at 1630 and we were
finally leaving Panama. We were able to hang out on the flight deck some…not
long until the sun sets this close to the equator…by 1841 its dark and everyone
heads down to berthing to sleep.
July 7, 2015
- Woke up at 0515, had breakfast, mustered at 0700
Today after muster in the pharmacy
we helped prepackage extra medications for Haiti and Honduras. We counted our
Zyrtec, hydrocortisone, and ibuprofen and labeled them in creole and Spanish.
There wasn’t much else going on but we talked to the staff and traded life
stories....
When we had a quick tour of the
pharmacy last night on of the techs wasn’t feeling well and was trying to nap
in the “cave” they have set up in the back…around lunch we actually saw him
(Ziegler) being taken to sick bay in a wheelchair. So as I was sitting in the
pharmacy OR came up to get meds and I was actually able to go with the
anesthesiologist to watch the surgery. Turns out he was actually busy teaching
a new nurse how to record and monitor everything but I was still excited to
stand in and watch the whole surgery. (I was actually in charge of holding onto
Ziegler’s wedding ring since I was going to follow him through PACU).Turns out
Ziegler was dealing with appendicitis for about 3 days. No one was expecting a
surgery since we weren’t in country yet but if you’re gonna get sick there
isn’t really a better place than on a hospital ship. The docs ordered cefoxitin
before surgery and once they opened him up 3 days of Zosyn was needed because
the appendix ruptured as soon as it was touched. Part of the colon was actually
eroded and fecal matter had gotten into the cavity. The whole surgery from the
time Ziegler went under to when he woke up was 59 minutes. Everyone was
thankful for calm seas. Next he was wheeled off to PACU and I made sure he got
his ring back. Its nothing short of amazing that I saw the whole process
before, during, and after surgery on a SHIP!
- Mustered at 1600, dinner, lights out before 2140
July 8, 2015
Today
there’s not much going on…got up at 0530 to get ready and then went to
breakfast by 0600. Mustered at 0700 and hung out in the pharmacy. Went over
what you do for high potassium (Ziegler’s K+ dropped to 2.8 during surgery)…you
give insulin to drive the potassium back into the cell. I attempter to get on
the wifi in the NGO lounge…no real luck. Next was lunch and then back to the
pharmacy. We spent some time going through the shelves. The Navy isn’t very
good at budgeting??? They had sent lots of brand Prilosec, Nexium, and Zithromax.
LT Xie explained that overall they had about $2 million worth of meds for the
mission and around $500,000 that normally stocks their pharmacy for crew.
The pictures for July 8th didn't load, or were they blocked for OMSEP?
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