On Monday we will arrive in Vietnam waters and anchor about 7km from shore. We’ll have to take ribbs (small boats) to get to shore about 40 people at a time. It’s about a 40min trip one way. Based on the recent weather report and my experiences walking outside…I am very grateful to be working on the ship majority of the time. Our job here will be hard too but in a very different way. So far I’ve already heard about 50 cleft lip/palate patients that have been screened and added to our surgery list. There will be other kinds of surgeries going on, but the general surgeons are not sure what they will see. I will have an opportunity to go to a MEDCAP (medical civilian assistance program) one day next week. It will require waking up at 0400 and loading the boats by 0500, then not returning till about 2000 at night. Not sure what my responsibilities will be there since I cannot diagnose patients. I imagine having to take a lot of vital signs. FYI I was told at a brief yesterday this is a $24million dollar mission (not including pay checks or the ship -maintenance, gas etc…).
Right now we are passing through the Philippines. You can see islands on both sides of the ship. All our force protection guys are out with their big guns watching for other ships. Two years ago our helo was hit by a few bullets while leaving the Philippines so they are pretty on edge. Also this area, San Bernardino Strait is a strait in the Philippines known for their pirates so we’ve had to go indoors while approaching other ships. I keep meaning to get up in time for a sunrise and be outside for the sunset…but as I mentioned earlier it’s hard with flight ops and obviously difficult to wake up early.
Tomorrow is our last holiday schedule for a little while…after this we have to work for the next 14days with *maybe* only 1 day off (hopefully). I’m sure it’ll be exhausting but at least we will have patients/kids to play with and will be able to receive mail consistently.
Say a prayer and wish us luck!! J
Good luck! we're thinking about you!
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