3rd day of YTTC

random things:

530am wake up, 6 am tea, and 615 nasal cleansing... makes for a good morning!

practicing for 2.5 hrs in the morning and 2 hours at night makes me one exhausted yogi but blissful in mind.

Everyone here is happy!  All we worry, if that is even the right word to use, is waking up on time for yoga, and doing more yoga.  Hard life!

A monkey almost jumped in the classroom on the first day of practical

my hamstrings feel like they have been beaten and abused, but i'm sure they will thank me in 6 weeks.

YTTC is like rehab as I feel like I am detoxing from all the processed food I've consumed in the past years.  Rishikesh is vegeratarian by law.  Yogpeeth doesn't even serve eggs, but they do serve milk on occasion.  

It will be really weird not seeing monkeys and cows in the streets when i go home.

Still contemplating if I should extend and take the 300 hr YTTC.

Or maybe go up to Dharmsala and say hi to the Holy One.

In a pool full of travelers, I still feel like a newbie. 

Happy Easter from Rishikesh!

Hi guys,




It's only day 1 and I already like the vibe of the city.

I've made friends with the girls i shared the car service with from Delhi. We all went to town today and walked across the bridge. I have pictures on my phone but since i dno't have wifi, i can't upload them. it's $40 to get wifi for the entire 6 weeks but it feels liberating not to have it so i might opt out. All the other girls jumped on it as soon as we got here. Two of the three girls have bf's back home. One girl is from Australia (Rebecca), another from Halifax, Canada ( Kathleen), and the 3 rd girl is from Minnessotta (Brittany). Everyone seems like yoga pros so i'm a little intimated. I feel like such a newbie. There are other girls here who just finished the 200 hrs yoga course (the one i'm doing) and decided to stay and take the 300hr course. If I really like it here, I might do that but not definite.



I went to town to get some stuff for my room to make it feel a lil bit like home. I bought a floor runner, electric kettle for tea, and some toiletries. I found myself squatting on the floor, washing my underwear by hand in a bucket and it felt like dejavu. I said to myself, "man, i'm glad mom taught us how to wash our clothes by hand!". I bought tape so I can post some pics of you guys and my friends. Once i get wifi I will upload pics of my room, the place i'm staying, and the town. So far so good though. We have an orientation class at 530pm tonight. I'm really excited about this. It feels like being a freshman in college except i like what i will be learning.



ok, going back to my room to read a book but most likely fall asleep. They serve us food and we had an amazing lunch with roasted corn and dhal soup, semolina rice, and veggies.



I wish i can somehow send via email how it feels like being here. It's so peaceful and unlike jaipur or delhi, no one drags you to their store and haggle with you. The markets tell you the price and if you don't like it, they let you go w/o a problem. Everything is much cheaper than the big cities. I am totally obsessed with these pants I've been wearing since Jaipur. Stacy and I paid 250 rupees for our first pair in kerala, thinking we scored a bargain. We got to Pushkar and were able to talk the man down to 150 rupees for the pants so I bought 3 more. In Rishikesh, you can find one fo as little as 100 rupees (less than 2 bucks!). I def need to buy a bigger suitcase before I go home.



Ok, that's all for now.



love,

me

trying to make my room feel like home

my room is the one with the door open

after orientation

got my mat and reading supplies

and my lovely bathroom

Anchor's away

started on aug 20, 2011

anchor's away

we got news that there is a possibility that a hurricane/tropical storm will hit Haiti sometime tomorrow night.  This led to the decision to take down the MEDCAP site, and pull anchor to sail south until Tuesday.  No one really knows what's going on or what will happen.  Everything is TBD.  Basically, we are planning to come back to Haiti after the storm clears (if there is a storm).  We will continue the mission as planned, however, if the storm turns out to be a hurricane then the mission may potentially turn into a disaster relief mission.  The Comfort is equipped with a 1,000 patient bed capacity, 80 ICU beds, 12 operating rooms, Interventional Radiology, Endoscopy, Dental, and Opthamology suites, CT scan, and more.  The team from Project Hope includes three Orthopedic Trauma surgeons, a general surgeon, a Certified Registered Nurses Anesthetist, Internal Medicine physician, a pediatrician, and and critical care nurses.  No one wants to see Haiti go through the same casualties it did from the earthquake in 2009 so we are all hoping for a calm effect.

Malaria prophylaxis - feels a bit like "one flew over the cuckoos nest".  someone has to witness you taking your malaria med everyday.  I had to change my sched from night to days with my med because they check it during morning muster.  Apparently, the last time the Comfort was in Haiti, a few people were infected with malaria and that's why they have been very strict.  

So far we have provided 10 surgeries in one day.  Three of the ten were pediatric patients.  One girl had a piece of wood stuck under her eyelid that caused abrasions in her eye that Optho removed  She did well (see pic below).  When our peds nurse received the call from the PACU, we were told that the child was a "brat".  Let's think about this -- a 5 year old girl who has never had proper healthcare, probably barely saw a physician in her life, was taken on a humongous ship filled with Americans who do not speak Creole, takes her to a room full of lights and had a stranger open her eyes and poke around it.  This was a frightened child, not a "brat".  Kids on these kind of missions go through the same trauma of being passed around, poked, cut, bandaged up and mostly without explaination.  There is no Child Life Specialist on the ship who could explain the procedures to them in a way they can understand.  Their parents may not even understand the process of the surgery.  Everything is new and scary. 

Another patient was a 9 year old with Familiar Juvenile Polyposis - a syndrome that presents as multiple polpys in the gastroinestinal tract.  She had polyps removed in 2009 (probably when the Comfort was last year for CP 09).  The surgeons successfully removed 3 colorectal polyps but since they are re-occuring, she will need a follow up and polyp removal in the future.   

Aug 23 - we are on the way back to Haiti after word that Hurricane Irene made a right turn, and skipping Port-Au-Prince.  We are finishing the mission as planned and so far there is no word that we are extending our time in Haiti.  

Aug 24 - back in Haiti and it seems like there's no damage done or need for a disaster response.  We boarded some of the patiens who are scheduled for surgery for the next few days. The plan is to perform surgeries that were scheduled for the days we were in sea and compensate for time loss by extending the OR day.  I will be at a MEDCAP (Medical Civic Assistance Program) tomorrow. 

picture from the flightdeck - home of the helos.  the boys behind me are playing football.

dinner - cabbage, potato, watery tomato soup... beggars can't be choosers.

Continuing Promise 2011

Dejavu!

That feeling like I was just here, as if I never left, is overwhelming and difficult to decipher. Am i excited? Anxious perhaps? Happy to be back? Sad to re-live some memories? I'd say all of the above. Being on the USNS Comfort, which is a carbon copy of the Mercy, brings back a lot of feelings -- good and some unwanted. However, I feel a sense of comfort (no pun intended) that I am currently sitting under the lifeboats, facing the ocean, listening to the roaring sounds of the ship, and surrounded by military personnel. It takes me back to last year when I enjoyed a summer in the middle of Indonesia around people whom I have never met, but had the most memorable time of my life.

Let's start at the beginning. Driving from the airport to the port where we got on the band-aids to get on the Comfort was the least enjoyable part of my day. With that said, driving down the streets of Haiti and passing the street before making a right turn onto Bernard Mevs Hospital was a warm welcome that I am in fact in Haiti. As much as I talk about how the mission at Medishare kicked my ass, that we worked 7 nights straights, and throwing our scope of practice to the back burner, in retrospect (just like everything else), it was a best trauma experience I have ever done.

We have 20 people from Project Hope on this rotation. We are the largest PH group for Continuing Promise. It's always nice to see familiar faces so I couldn't help but hug Faye Pyles (medical coordinator who was our Operations Director on the Mercy) and Mary Jane Reed (MJ) when I saw them. There are two orthopedic surgeons, an internist, a pediatrician, few nurses (PACU, OR,med/surg adult and peds, ICU), Public Affairs Officer, etc. I haven't met everyone yet, only the people that came in today. Some of the PH volunteers have been onboard since Norfolk, some came on earlier flights, and the rest will be coming in tomorrow.


Now back on the Comfort. We dragged our bags up what seemed like endless ramps... bla bla bla... I get in CASREC (casualty receiving that has been used as triage/discharge room) and a stampede of conflicting emotions rushed through me. The most distinct was the smell. I can't quite describe it, like a mix of chlorox and the hallways at my high school -- weird. We went straight to the MESDEC to grab dinner as it was nearing1900 (end of dinner). I go down the food line. I remembered why half my luggage was compiled of food. See, the ship has hundreds of stairs that we have no choice but to use and one would think that we'd lose weight without trying, but the food is by far the healthiest so I think it evens out. I didn't lose weight on the Mercy but I left with legs and thighs of steel! Also, one major difference that already sets apart my experience on the Comfort is that I get officer berthing!!! No more dipping down to the floor or falling off the top bed. No more sharing 4 shower stalls with over a 100 girls. No more room restrictions and having to use a flashlight between 1000 to 1600 (lights are off in the entire berthing to accomodate the night shift's sleeping schedule). Now, I get to share a suite with 7 other officers in a two bunk bed with loads of space. I have a locker room that fits my luggage along with 4 drawers for my goodies! It's a total upgrade!

So after getting some housekeeping done (checking in hospital administration, filling out malaria paperwork, and muster [roll call] time for the following days), I take a quick shower and run to the weather deck with my lap top, water, and iphone... with a sad realization that I forgot my iphone in the room as I was charging it... doh! But who cares! I walked around and reminisced on each part of the weather deck. There is nothing more peaceful to me than being outside, feeling the breeze from the ocean, with the smell of smoke because I am sitting by the smoking deck. WHO CARES!?

So tomorrow I muster in the post-op. There is no pediatric ward on the Comfort so I'm assuming I will be taking care of adults and peds. There was some confusion as one of the docs in sickbay asked if I could work there instead or have me do off site stuff? I'm not really sure but I know he was trying to get me not to work in the wards. I guess I will find out tomorrow when all that is sorted out. I'm okay with staying on the ship. I have been ashore in Haiti and I think others who have been on the ship for 6 months would much rather take that spot, understandably so. From what I gather, the people on the ship did not have liberty days in every country unlike the Mercy. They did, however, had a few days of liberty in Peru and Costa Rica.

WIth all that said, I am planning to make the most out of my 10 days on board. 10 days seems so short compared to 5 weeks! I remember when we had 10 days left on the Mercy I thought and felt like it went by so fast! If all goes well, I certainly plan on going back on the Mercy for a FEW MONTHS next year... God willing! Let me bite my tongue and see how this experience goes first.

on the road again... NYC to Cairo

Once again, I am sitting on the floor at JFK, waiting to board a flight to Cairo so that I can join a team of healthcare volunteers for a mission with Operation Smile.  This will be my 3rd mission this year.  I think I am done, at least for this year... I think.

A few years ago, one of my many bestfriends told me that A LOT happens in a year. I spent every year after that waiting for the "big change" that happens in one year.   Well, ladies and gents, it appears that 2010 is that year!

It has been an incredible year -- got my BSN, started grad school at NYU, got my certification as a critical  care nurse in pediatrics, two missions with Op Smile, a 5 week mission with the US Navy in Southeast Asia, traveled 7 countries in 5 continents (Spain, France, Mexico, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, and Egypt), and fell in love with a very nice young man =) .  What more can a girl ask for?

There are SO many changes going on in my life.  Just when I think, ok, that was huge, things will be calm now... nope, something in my life happens that totally changes the rest of my year.  Things are still changing at this point, and where I will end up by the year 2011... who knows!  My loved ones know I am free spirited, some would call me crazy, and others may just think i'm spontaneous.  I have been the same way since I was young.  Out of my siblings, I'm the only one not born in June (Imee's bday is June 2nd, Lulette's bday is June 4th, and Francis' is on June 5th).  I laughed when my mom said they started family planning with me, ha!  I've always been the social butterfly, always curious and willing to explore.  I can't seem to get enough!  I feel like there's SO MUCH out there to be done, see, and experience until I settle down, although my mom thinks otherwise.

ok, so let's get back on track.  I am mentally preparing myself for a two week medical mission that will create new smiles, and change little people's lives!  How could anyone turn down an opportunity to help others, especially children.  A simple 45-minute surgery, and a child's speech, nutrition, self-esteem, childhood, essentially, their whole life is changed for the better.  A surgery that costs $250 lets a child speak better so that their loves ones can understand them, free them from a childhood experience of being made fun of for looking "different", have nutrition deficiency because it's difficult to swallow food... it's something so simple, yet means the world to these children and their families. How could ANYONE say no to that?  It's an honor to be asked to participate for Operation Smile. 

bottle of water - check, travel pillow - check, fully charged iPhone - check, cheesy magazines - check, teds stockings - check, most importantly, ambien - CHECK!  man, i dread flying.  I'm not afraid of flying, but I have spent so much time on a plane this year.  I love going to other places, but i hate packing, and definitely HATE unpacking.  I am hoping to spend this 11 hour flight fast asleep!  However, I do have to keep up with school work.  For that, I have my laptop, notes, study guides, to make sure that I do not get lost in my classes.

 I am hoping to have internet access in Cairo, and will definitely update my blog every chance i get.  So stick around, you may get a sneak peek of the pyramids, the sphinx, me riding a camel, but more importantly, the children whose lives we are about to change =)

mental note:  must request for a new passport when i get back!

signing off... for now.

sitting at the internet cafe in darwin, waiting to get on the bus to go to the airport.  i spent the morning walking around and found my way by the water.  i had that moment, that moment where i reflected on my whole summer in southeast asia and australia.  it was an overwhelming feeling.  this mission was definitely life changing in more ways than one.  i have met the most amazing, big hearted, altruistic individuals who share the same passion as i do, and care about the world in general. i have never felt this sense of accomplishment, and i have Project Hope to thank for this incredible, once in a lifetime experience.

i have seen, first hand, what poor healthcare and lack of education can do to people, especially children.  it doesn't take much for these children to have a better life, if not, a chance at a better, healthier life.  i did this mission to help the organizations who devote their time by helping people worldwide.  All of the NGOs and military personnel who participated in Pacific Partnership's 2010 mission deserve credit for this success.  it has been an intense 6 weeks, but i will be forever grateful for this summer on the Mercy.  it has been a pleasure and an honor.  terima-kasih!

australia!!!

instead of hearing the usual "reveille" at 0600, we heard "wakey, wakey! welcome to australia waters!" - how exciting!  it made for a good wake up call as everyone in berthing chuckled. 

i can see land (darwin) from the weather deck. i spent most of last night on the weather deck, reminiscing and savoring every minute, knowing that it was the absolute last night that i will have outside.  the weather deck has been my santuary for this whole entire mission. i spent more time on the weather deck that my berthing (minus sleeping).  literally, if i'm wasn't at work or at chow, i was staring at the water, or taking a nap by the lifeboats. 

pretty excited for darwin. everyone on the ship is talking about liberty.  it's gonna be CRAZY!  everyone is dying to party, drink, sight see, and just spend time in land. 

well, that's all for now.  will try to keep you guys posted while i'm in australia.  i am leaving the ship today and will be checking in at a hotel with other Hope volunteers.  official countdown to "home" starts NOW!