Day Forty-Six

29 September 2006

This is a picture from 2004, the last time I flew on a helicopter - bringing medical supplies into a remote village in Honduras with my husband during medical school.

I just came down from the O8 level, enjoying the end of the sunset after dinner. It was wonderful tonight. The weather is so much cooler now. I actually had my sleeves rolled down all day and had those cold doctor hands again. I love it! Outside tonight, the breeze was soft from the humidity and cool. The sliver of moon lit up the water but I could still see stars. The constellation Orion is out right now and it is a nice reminder of home. It is a blessing to have something familiar in a foreign part of the world!

I had a wonderful experience yesterday that I really needed because I was fighting against the humdrum of ship life. In the afternoon, right when I was going to start studying (Thursday’s afternoons are my days to study ship-board info and to prepare for my Bible studies in the evening), I was told that I needed to go up to Flight Deck Triage to catch a helicopter to pick up a patient. Apparently, our ship was called by a smaller Navy ship that was nearby to get help with a gentleman who was having chest pain with symptoms suggestive of a heart attack. The smaller ships do not have doctors but have a few corpsman and a specially trained corpsman call an Independent Duty Corpsman (IDC). They also do not have very many resources including a full EKG machine. Therefore, I donned my little green life vest, put on a flight helmet, grabbed a few monitors and medications from medical, ran to my room for an overnight bag (you just never know where you are going to end up), and waved at Valerie in the pilot’s chair as I entered her helo. I had one of the nurses with me (who happens to be an x-Navy Seal—you just do not feel the need to have any fears when you are with him), and we had about a 20-30 minute ride to the other ship. It was great. When we got there, the IDC had the patient all squared away on a backboard with bags packed. All we had to do was clarify a few things and return to the helo. The patient was stable and just needed some monitoring and pain meds while we flew back. Good times! The patent ended up not having any cardiac issues, thankfully, and will be released from the ward tomorrow. He gets to stay with us for a while, at least until we are close enough to his ship again to transport him back. Many people asked me how my flight was when I returned, and I am sure I was glowing. It is times like this that I really feel like a Navy officer. I like that.

Now I am all set to hopefully fly some more. There are not many land-based medical facilities where we are, so we might have more patients from other ships that need some assistance. I was ordered a flight suit and I am going to put a medical bag together. Thanks be to God for safety flying, an improving patient, and a bit of excitement in a rather humdrum time on board ship!