Java sea-sick

July 6, 2010

Oh boy, talk about motion sickness!  I took hydramammine last night coz I’ve been feeling sea sick since we left shore.  I fell asleep straight after project hope’s brief last night at 1930.  I hope my body adapts sooner rather than later coz this isn’t fun at all.  I am currently thinking of ways to amuse myself esp since we will not have anything in our agenda until we anchor in on 13th.   One of the girls working in the ICU with Laura is another yoga teacher.  I hope to take her up on her offer to do some anusaria yoga.  I need something to do while on board.

Sitting in the berthing lounge, waiting to muster in the peds ward at 0730.  The pediatric team is very…. Pediatric.  Everyone has a friendly face, childish behavior (in a good way), and “cutesie” personality.  There are two nurses from Church of Latter Day Saints.  One of them worked with Marnee, who is a travel nurse that started in the PICU at CHONY before I left.  There are also corpsmen - one navy and one army reserve.  From my understanding, we are sort of training/educating these corpsmen on how to care for pediatric patients.  Most of the pediatric care we are providing will be pre and post op care.  In all honesty, it does not seem intense at all.  Two of us are PICU nurses who are used to the crazy, hustle and bustle of one 12-hr shift.  All the nurses are eager to go on medcaps (Medical Civic Assistance Project), which are off the ship missions.  The coordinators are trying to get us rotated out, so at least we can see life beyond the ship in Indonesia.  It would also be very cool to go on the Helo (helicopter).

So far I’ve learned to incorporate some of the navy jargon into daily conversations, such as muster, berthing, scuttlebutt, the chow, the head, the deck, be lay my last, etc.  It seemed weird at first, but we’ve all got the hang of it by now.

The food they serve on the ship  is pretty good.  Although, I have had to “man-up” and eat fish, milk, even eggs to supplement my protein intake.   My veganism is slowly turning into full blown vegetarian-ism.  My mom is right, can’t be picky while on a navy ship.  It’s either you eat what they serve or you starve, and by the countless amount of stairs we have to walk up and down, I will need energy.  Speaking of, I woke up this morning with muscle cramps as if I worked out yesterday.  My belly, or should I start referring to it as my “abs” felt achy from all the cardio I did (going up and down the stairs).  Even to go on the flight deck, to see the ship sail off yesterday, was an intense elliptical course.   I had some “serious swass”.  Laura, the PICU nurse form Boston children’s taught me that word, which means “sweaty ass”… cute, egh?

Last but not the least, saw the beautiful java sea sunset at 1915... absolutely breath taking.  pictures do not do the scene justice.  besides, it takes an hour to post one pic.  we're running on a verrrrrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy slow internet NGO connection.  that's also why i haven't been able to go online until now.  i had to wake up at 530am to use the internet, argh!

p.s. we're crossing the equator on july 10th, and there's going to be a steel beach party with a "crossing the equator ceremony"... should be interesting.  i hear participants have to do a series of dares that takes about
2-3 hours.  if you pass, you get a fancy certificate acknowledging that you have crossed the equator.  i think i may just do it =)