At sea...

April 10^th, 2011

Today marks one week aboard the ship, and 2 full days at sea.  So far, no seasickness, but lots of homesickness. L

This first week has been inexplicably exhausting.  There has been no real “work” to be done, but somehow I’ve been falling into bed every night by 9pm completely wiped out.   Today was a down day, and after an 8:15am muster (1 hour later in honor of it being Sunday), I spent my time in church, outside on the “fantail” (the back of the ship) getting some fresh air, and in a man-overboard drill (where they intentionally hide several crew members to make sure we can appropriately account for ourselves). 

Yesterday and Friday, I spent all day in the Military Medical Humanitarian Assistance Course (MMHAC), which was a fantastic overview of, you guessed it, Humanitarian Assistance in the military.  The rocking back and forth of the ship and the lack of palatable coffee made staying awake a challenge – but it was a great course.

We’ll be arriving in Jamaica in a few days, and then the fun (read – work) will start.  I’m still not entirely sure of my role on this mission.  There are 6 internists on board the ship – myself, a cardiologist, nephrologist, ID doc, endocrinologist, and general internist.  Between all of us we’re pretty well covered.  We are rotating call as the “MOOD” – the medical officer of the day.  The MOOD is responsible for any on-ship calamities (man-down, code blue) that may occur.  Once the mission starts, the MOOD will also cover pre- and post-operative internal medicine consults and cardiac clearances.  It has potential to be busy, but we only cover that position one day of every six.  So far, the preliminary schedule has it so that the following day (post-call), we have down time, to rest, and then the following 4 days will be spent doing MEDCAPS (Medical Civilian Assistance Programs – ie, shore care).  This is VERY tentative however, as the motto of the medical crew seems to be “Semper Gumby” – be flexible.  Apparently shore time is extremely physically and emotionally challenging, and some have suggested we should only do 2-3 days at a time.  So we’ll just have to see.

On shore, I imagine I’ll be seeing standard internal medicine patients – just not sure how much I’ll be able to do for them.  A big part of this mission is surgical, and we have on board several general surgeons, orthopods, urologists, ENTs, dentists, and optometrists/ ophthalmologists.  As time passes I imagine I’ll have a better feel for my role.

As for ship life, I have gotten a great appreciation for how the sailors live.  The ship is pretty big, 896 feet long and >100 feet wide, and there are officially 887 people on board.  It is pretty damn crowded.  As a field-grade officer, I am very, very lucky.  I am in an 8-bed stateroom, but there are only 3 other women assigned to it so far.  We may be picking up some NGOs (non-governmental organization volunteers) once we get into country – although several are on board already.  Most of the other staterooms are near capacity.  Company-grade officers and all enlisted are in 80+ person rooms.  I never appreciated privacy so much – and again, I only share with 3 others.  The cafeteria (“mess deck”) is separated into 3 areas – one for enlisted, one for CGOs, and one for field-grade officers and above.  I think the enlisted get better food selection.  With that said, the food is pretty good.  There is definitely no lack of it!  The saying going around is, “Eat until you’re tired, and sleep until you’re hungry.”  Pretty much sums it up.

I have made it to the gym a few times so far – to compensate for all that eating and sleeping.  Last night was my first night there since we left port.  The seas weren’t particularly rough, but running on the treadmill made me laugh out loud – half the time, I was running downhill, the other half, uphill – due to the boat rocking back and forth!  Something I never even considered.  The boat rocking is pretty noticeable, but after 2 days at sea, I already have my sea legs, apparently (evidenced by the constant leaning back and forth while standing).  The rocking is also the world’s best sleep aid.

There are about 45 Air Force members on the ship, total, with about half of us being medical and the other half linguists or logistics crew.  We are definitely outnumbered by the Navy!  Over the last few days, I have frequently found myself grateful to USUHS (my med school) for the tri-service connections.  There are 2 physicians here from my med school class, and several other “friends of friends” and other USUHS alumni – it really is a small military community and it’s nice to have ties and common experiences to share.  Everyone is very friendly, but it’s nice to see an even friendlier face from the past when you’re otherwise surrounded by complete strangers.

On a lighter note, we had our first bathroom back-up this week.  Apparently someone had stuck a toilet-freshener (you know, the one that makes the water blue) into the bowl, and it clogged the pipes.  This resulted in a sewage backup into the enlisted berthing area, about 3 inches deep.  I didn’t see it (or smell it, thankfully), but no one was able to use the toilets for several hours while it was fixed.  I am now a believer in the 3 P’s and a T.

It’s 4:45 and time for dinner – totally at the mercy of the ship’s dining hours, but like Pavlov’s dog, I am ready to eat when they announce “supper for the crew!”  I’ll continue to write when I can.  To those who have emailed – thank you!!!  It is SO NICE to know people are thinking of me and to be reminded of home.  Miss you all!