all in a week's worth

Written July 17, 2010 (Saturday)
The Tobelo/Morotai mission is officially finished! All of the kids, minus Santi (8 yr old left cataract removal), got on the band-aid boats this morning and went home. I really enjoyed taking care of the kids. I got to know some of them before their surgeries. Most of the kids were cleft lips or palates, inguinal hernia, and two eye surgeries. I worked in the peds wards and took care of pre and post surgical kiddies, which meant I didn’t get to go on any medaps. That was a bummer, but I was able to go on an island tour yesterday with 16 other shipmates. It was absolutely worth more than a medcap or comserve. Initially, I said that I would rather go on a medcap or comserve even if I had to give up the island tour, but I take that all back. We left the on a band-aid boat, then got on a smaller boat to the island. The island seemed like it was completely inhabited and people only go there during the day for the tours. It cost $3 to rent snorkeling gear and $5 for a meal, which consists of a plate of fried bananas, peanuts, and fresh young coconut juice. Did I mention that they also had 22 ounces of beer for $3?! We convinced the local folks to get us what we’ve been craving…local food. We gave them $15 for four dishes, which also paid for the boat trip back and forth. The food were wrapped up in waxy, brown paper and secured with rubber bands . Randy (one of HOPE’s primary care NP’s) was shocked that they brought back a whole, fried, head-on fish. You ask for fish, you get the whole fish! As cheap as it was, we knew we paid too much, being in Indonesia and all, but we didn’t care… we had a blast! For snorkeling, we didn’t have to go far into the sea. We were able to see bright corals (sea blue and yellow), brain corals, sea turtles, eels, different kinds of fish, and BLUE starfish! Kathryn, Randy, and I walked down the shore and found an Indonesian couple who was grilling fish that they caught. The whole day was heavenly. We got back to the pier and found out that we just missed the boat, and had to wait 2 hours for the next one. Randy and I walked by the street stores with one of the translators, tried a snake fruit (picture to follow next time), and almost missed the boat...again! We sprinted to make the boat as we were the only two everyone was waiting for.

July 18, 2010 (Sunday)
Just got back from Sunday mass and I definitely had an “ahhhh” moment . The first two weeks were physically, mentally, and emotionally challenging. Physically because of the endless amount of stairs we had to climb every day. Mentally and emotionally because we didn’t have anything to do during the time we were sailing, except questioned why we came in the first place. It became a bit depressing. During the briefs and musters, it seemed like our help wasn’t needed, that they had more than enough people to do one job. Meal times became the focal points of our day. We ate, not because we were hungry (wasn’t always the case), but we did because it gave us something to do… sad, but true. At the confirmation brief last night, Commodore Franchetti talked about the success of the Tobelo/Morotai mission, the number of people we saw and treated, the animals we helped, and the communities we served. All of a sudden, it all made sense. We are all needed. I felt a sense of accomplishment and a proud moment to be a part of this mission, and excited for the upcoming islands that we are visiting. In the homily, during the mass, the priest talked about “less is more”. It hit a soft spot because I have been struggling with the fact that people were emphasizing numbers - over 5000 people seen on meddencaps, 53 surgeries performed, over 400 animals treated, and 3900 sunglasses handed out (to prevent eye damage since this part of Indo is near the equator). It seemed like all people cared about were numbers. In reality, every little treatment we provided were a huge deal to each and every single person and family we served. I heard that people were so eager to receive any medical treatment at the meddencaps, and most times, they didn’t require much. The people of Tobelo and Morotai knew that we were not be able to treat everything, but at least we could provide SOME kind of treatment, whether it was de-worming medication, anti-malarial prophylaxis, Tylenol, or sunglasses. The hardest part was patient teaching with medication. Although we have awesome translators (most are med-students or nursing students from Jakarta), it was still difficult to cross cultural differences. While discharging patients home yesterday, we found out that people were “trading pills” in the MESDEC, before getting on the band-aid boats. We had to revise our patient teaching and add not to exchange medications, not to give them to their other children, and also not to take it themselves. One mom asked, since she was breastfeeding, can she take the medicine instead of her son, who doesn’t like the taste. I never considered that before but I’m glad she asked. We had to clearly explain that pain medication for the belly should be given by mouth and not rubbed on their bellies.
Last night we had a karaoke night… great fun! Everything is coming together and I definitely love every minute of this experience. A part of me cannot wait to get to Darwin, and to get back home to NYC, but there is also a part of me that is dreading to leave. I have met amazing people on this trip, such generous and selfless individuals who have all volunteered their time to provide care and treatment to people and animals. In that sense, I am with the people who love doing what I love doing… and it really doesn’t get any better than that.