Like this:

So this was a great week.  I mean, it wasn’t all good, but all in all it turned out great.  I’ll get the bad stuff out first. I had to be rushed to the hospital on tuesday night.  I was kind of achey all day and just thought I was getting sick, and was a little nauseated.  Then around 10pm I went to the kitchen to make some chicken soup and keeled over in pain on the counter.  I couldn’t really stand so I crawled toward the bathroom but couldn’t make it and just layed on my back rithing in pain (noah actually does a great impression I hear).  Ben called the paramedics who rushed me to the hospital and told me I had pancreatisis.  I had never hit a 10 on the pain scale before, it was a new experience for me and at least now I know what it is like.  But now, at the end of the week, I am feeling better, back to work (too early some would say, but hey I like my work), and getting things done.  I also got rejected from another medical school. I applied to 30 schools, and so far all the one’s I have heard from rejected me, except for GW which put me on hold (which is better than a rejection I guess, so I’ll take it). I mean I don’t really blame them.  My grades were okay, but not great. I probably should retake the MCAT again, and besides co-founding Floating Doctors I have not done that much to distinguish myself that much, and Floating Doctors hasn’t even run its first clinic yet.  But I still have 14 more schools to hear from, and maybe one of them will be the school I meant to go to.  Who knows, but my spirits are high. 

They are high because all in all it WAS a great week.  We scheduled our haul out for January 21.  We have up to two week s in the yard, and then we leave.  We have set our sailing schedule.  I have done all of the electrical work I can until we get more supplies (hopefully some that will be donated…please be able to Blue Sea Systems!!)  But the boat is running great, we ordered our replacement windows today and they should be here on Monday or Tuesday.  Yesterday we finished apoxying the hull underneath my bunk (of course it would have to be under MY bunk!!), so now we just need to fiberglass over it and we can put the floor back on and I can finish building my room.  The good part about having to wait so long is that I have been able to help everyone build up their rooms and both learn how to do things better and…because I helped all of them, they get to help me J.  Some of the crew are still back in CA, so there are only 6 of us here in FL finishing up the prep work, but the dynamics and attitudes have been a lot of fun.  It is a little like it was back in the beginning.  We are able to spend more time with each other, and I think it is doing us a lot of good.  We are all getting along and talk a lot about what it is going to be like once we get underway and in our first clinic.  We are all very excited, but also nervous.  We have all worked so long, and so hard for this, so the excitement is more than I express here in the blog.  The nervousness is setting in though, especially for me.  Will I know what to do when we get there?  But luckily my coping mechanism for nervousness is more useful than harmful.  Whenever I start to think about the clinics and get nervous about my knowledge level, it inspires me to sit down and study more.

I also started confirming people who are going to be joining us along the way.  Today I confirmed a Canadian Medical Student who will be joining us in Belize.  I have talked to her on the phone a few times, and she seems like such a sweetheart.  One of those people who is genuinely excited to help people, but also seems to have the skill set to not just want to be of service, but actually will be.  I, and the rest of the crew, are excited to have her coming out.  I am also sending out an email tonight to all the people who are waiting to get our schedule from me.  Hopefully that will bring in a few more confirmed people.  I like this part of my job.  Working out logistics for people in this setting is cross between and game of chess and putting together a giant 3D puzzle.  You always have to think 3 moves down the road and balance everything just right, or the whole thing will fall apart just as the queen puts you in checkmate. 

I have also been in a better mood the past few weeks.  I was starting to spend way too much time inside my head, which is a dangerous place to be for too long.  And it was sucking all the energy out of me.  But now I have been able to just let things be, and for a while now, I have been a lot happier.  It sucks every time I get a rejection from a medical school, but I have done everything I can for this round of apps and whatever will be, will be.  I have done the best I can, and I am content with that.  It is the same with work.  Sometimes it is stressful but I, along with everyone else here, have done everything we can to get the job done, and it is getting done great! We may be leaving later than we expected, but in many ways it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.  If we left Nov 1, we would have been hit head on by hurricane Ida, and the additional time has given us a chance to get better equipment, training, and resources from many avenues.  The production company we have been talking to has been great, and because of the additional time we have worked out a fair deal and we are excited to work with them.  I am especially excited to have Bryan and Lona back here.  They are great people, both of whom have a great ability to make me laugh.  Plus they are great at what they do. (Bryan is a cameraman, and Lona is a line producer.  Both of them are the ones that found us and have been trying to turn our project into a documentary TV show) I am excited to have them come back and very excited to see what of job they can do with filming our project. 

Well it’s about 1030 and I have to start filling out some more grant applications.  A few years ago, I never would have thought I would be spending my Friday nights filling out paperwork preparing to sail around the world.  Life could be worse.

Advertisement