Grounded

I am back on US soil and have had time to reflect and think about my experiences on the ship and the amazing people I met there. It really was the people that got me through it all. I realized I desperately need sunshine in my life to survive. Although the politics, the lack of leadership skills, illogical scheduling, etc made it a very difficult mission to feel like you were doing something worth while and helpful a lot of great things happened on and off the ship. I just unfortunately didn't really get to be a part of a lot of it. My contributions were very small and maybe insignificant but I know I was suppose to be there. And I am thankful for all the patients I did have the chance to interact with and help out in a small way. I learned that even if a situation is corrupt or not what you expected you don't have to give into it and that you can be there for whatever reason it is that you came for. A sincere desire to help. I've learned that quick judgements of people are useless and only define who you really are when you judge others. We all just need to be loved and understood, which can be really hard to do sometimes. I learned that sometimes even though you want to help so much all you can do is cry with a patient and pray that they will be ok. There is so much hardship in this world but when we reach out to one another there can be joy even if for a brief moment. I learned A LOT about injustice and how we may suffer through that but God still wins because Christ somehow conquered all of that, which is just incredible to me. He forgives so easily while I just complain all of the time. I learned that Nephi and others( the brother of Jared sailing for 344 days!!!) who sailed the seas for many days were saints because they never complained!

The ship scavenger hunt I planned for the new people to learn their way around

Sometimes mormons go wild

Our morale helo flight!!! Highlight of the trip

 Working hard in the scullery

Dance parties in ICU 1

Can't get much more American than that!

My short outing in PI

Happy Canada Day

 Cas REC crew and some "family fotos!"

Mess decks!

Sharing a room with 300 other women

My rack

Top bunk buds

Francisco one of my favorite corpsmen

Looking snazzy to man the rails

Strutting our stuff in the Pways

Our favorite Aussie Scottie!

My personal body guard in Subic Aaron. (kind of like in the film with Whitney Houston in it ya know)

Party in ward 12

oh yeah

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Love the stereotypical tattoo

Don't worry we made the most of our experience too by having dance parties in ICU 1, jamming on the Ukeleles in the chapel, Canada day, Playing games in Casrec, writing songs about the mercy, and flirting with boys (What?! Yes I had to survive somehow ;).

Quarantined

Quarantined  I had an experience of late where I learned true empathy for my patients. I became an admitted patient of the usns mercy. I was super nauseated on Friday night and could not sleep at all which was frustrating because I was so tired from switching from nights to days. I finally decided to go up to sick hall so I could get zofran or something and go back to bed. Well I got medicine but never made it back down to my berthing instead I was quarantined. Which was ok while I was still really sick and tired. But then they kept us there for 48 hours after our last symptoms. There were about forty others that trickled down during the day to ward two the isolation ward! We were all stuck down there with nothing to do, females and males (most of them very smelly). Luckily my friend britt also got sick and was my bunk buddy.

How we felt

Admitted patient to the USNS Mercy ward 5

Seriously we weren't allowed to touch anything!

Playing card games to win crackers, the only appetizing thing there was to eat for our sensitive stomachs.

A lot of them treated us like we had leprosy or something when it was probably just the food or some other gastroenteritis virus, which you just need to wash your hands to prevent from getting. ( guess I wasn't doing a good job of that) While stuck down there I learned even greater humility and gratitude for the little things in the ship. Like being able to have some selection of my food, seeing sunshine (it had been five days since I had seen the sun), being able to walk around, basic hygiene, working out, flip flops, non creepy boys, etc! Although I was able to sustain myself on delicious girl scout cookies, which I was sooooo grateful for!  When I finally was discharged and felt like I had been risen from the dead I saw the sun and that we had arrived in the philippines! Unfortunately I got kicked off my med cap for it :(  So won't be getting off the ship for a rewarding experience but hopefully have one on it. Thankfully i am stuck on this ship with some great people and some cute boys, although some of them become less and less attractive as their sailor expressions get old. Seriously I probably hear the f word maybe a hundred times a day, it doesn't really have an effect anymore. Someday I will look back and only remember the good parts of all this because in the end the bad doesn't really count for anything. I am being challenged in ways I hadn't expected and will be more grateful in life for many things after this. I still have a lot to learn because I still complain all the time but trying to remain positive. This scripture gave me some hope last night too D&C 127:1-2. Back to taking care of some patients hopefully! K in the Philippines now and things are going much better still challenging but I've had some cool patients and feel like I'm helping slightly.

Lice slayer

Sandoval and I on the lice duty that never seemed to end 

The sign Shaun and I made for Krystal who had to be on lice duty far too often!

Today we finally admitted over a hundred patients and their escorts. I was on lice checking duty and treatment for over nine hours or so. It was chaotic but we got a system down and made it through the day. Still not a fan of lice or ranks either! I basically checked every patient and escort that came through today for lice (250) and we had to treat a lot of them with shampoo, then comb out all the nits out of their beautiful long black hair. I also got unduly yelled at in front of lots of people who didn't stand up for me at all. I had to defend my ground on the most illogical argument I have ever been in but whatever. This lady chose to be rude but really she just sounded completely ignorant about her supposed position oh leadership. I will be working nights now too, which means il be turned around again oh well. I had two bowls of ice cream today to get me through it. Please send uplifting emails I could use one, thanks.


Being ridiculously good looking in the isolation gowns

Fire, water, and finally blood

The past twenty fours have been a little more exciting. We were off shore of an island in Indonesia where there is an active volcano!

Siau volcano

We were able to watch a bit of lava spew from it at night before we sailed away. It was very surreal! As we were watching an announcement came over head as it usually does frequently through out the day but this time it wasn't a drill. Man overboard! We quickly mustered and thankfully the people were retrieved and were fine. That was not the last muster for the night though. We heard an announcement about 12:30 am telling us to report to our emergency post because there was flooding. I was so confused and way out of it but I quickly got dressed to run up to my department. A pipe just burst so also no big deal , unfortunately it had damaged my departments equipment so I had to clean it up the next morning. Today we admitted patients again which meant I was able to do blood draws, and EKGs! Still only saw a few patients though :( not sure why but hopefully it will be busy tomorrow. Politics! It was fun at lunch yesterday sitting with some french, Canadian and Australians so fun getting to meet so many people from All over the world. All for now. Oh and for the familytjey have AFN on the tvs all the time with their great safety commercials just like they did on AFKN love it!

Working in the scullery

Two still really great things about the navy the uniforms and the band are both still classically amazing

Eating snake fruit

Indonesian parade

 Well life has been hurry up and wait lately. Thankfully yesterday we started getting patients though! I was so excited to see all the interpreters come on and then the patients. Made it finally feel real and that I was a part of something meaningful. I don't feel like I'm doing a whole lot but a patient I had yesterday made me feel like my small contribution of an assessment was needed as we prepared him to have cataract surgery seeing he could not afford it in his country. This scripture also brought me comfort D&C 64:32 but all things must come to pass in their time, wherefore be not weary in well doing for ye are laying a foundation for a great work. And out of small things proceedth that which is great. I guess I really just want to get started and really involved but still feel limited by all the waiting and my skill level but I know I need to be patient because it will come and fall into place as I gain more experience. As for today I do get to go ashore and be in a parade as part of the opening ceremonies! So I get to go to Indonesian soil! :)

on the helodeck

enjoying some indonesian food

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Pretty much what we did all day in Indonesia was pose for pictures

On the shore with Pat and Diana. USNS Mercy in the background

Don't rock the boat baby!

Dont rock the boat I am on the usns mercy ship sailing away from Guam now! We left from Guam yesterday and so far no sea sickness! 

Emily Blotter and me before we boarded the Mercy for the first time!

Krystal and I made it!

Jenni our fearless driver in Guam

Party vehicle

Talofofo falls aka tourist trap

kind of pretty?

Swimming!

Sushi birthday dinner, the best!

Everyone is really friendly and helpful. All the navy uniforms are a bit intimidating At first but everyone is very approachable. Actually if you imagine top gun or pearl harbor with more of a navy emphasis thats what everyone looks like, so lots of josh hartnett eye candy everywhere! There are about eight other NGOs here besides the lds charities group that I am with. There are also people from the Canadian and Australian navy forces.  There are people from the air force, army, and marines too. It really is a joint humanitarian effort. Everything is in military time and punctuality is being 15 minutes early, which I guess will help me be more on time to things now. We wake up at 5:30 to go workout ( actually more like three different times a day we go to pt- physical training because besides meetings there isn't a lot to do) and then to chow(eat) as they call it!

Eating Chow in the mess decks

After that we muster, yes that is part of the navy lingo I am learning, which basically means to report for duty and roll call.  We then have to clean the berthing area (where we sleep on racks) and we  have to have our beds nice and neat looking. I am on the top bunk of three, so I am very close to the ceiling, which makes it a bit challenging to make my bed for sure.

 We have little curtains to close off our beds to block the light so we can sleep too. The ship has a ton of stairs! There are 81 just to get from the berthing area to mess deck, which we go up at least three times a day. Luckily all of the stairwells are color coded so you can figure out where you need to go, kind of like the different metro lines.  I am still a bit nervous about what I will have to do for the nursing aspect of it all but we are doing a lot of training next week before we reach country.  I am assigned to the casualty receiving area, kind of like an ER triage. I am eager to get started on it all though and start working! I feel extremely privileged to be here learning from people with lots of experience and knowledge. I don't know yet if I will be able to do any medcaps( getting off the ship to do clinics in country) but I hope I'll get to do at least one to make my JEV worth while. All the updates on navy life for now! Signing off civilian Whitney RN

Bon Voyage

I had a blast celebrating my golden birthday (turning 24 on the 24th) this past weekend with lots of dear friends. I also was glad to see so many people because I leave at 4 am May 22nd for Guam where I meet the USNS Mercy ship. I fly from SLC to LAX to Hawaii to Guam! I have been frantically trying to pull all the last minute details together for the trip, which has been fun and stressful! I finally bought a camelbak backpack, which I have been eyeing enviously for years when my fellow hikers have had ones. Now I am the proud owner one!
It still amazes me that I am going on this trip, project, ADVENTURE! I was thinking about it today and how the timing of everything has just worked out perfectly. Even though I was distraught in the beginning of the year over things not working out as planned, they have all seem to fallen into place so that I am able to go on this project. It has definitely been a lesson to me of trusting in the Lord's timing. I know that now I need to lose myself in His work as I go on this project.

Luke 9:24 For whosoever will save his life, must be willing to lose it for my sake; and whosoever will be willing to lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.


I will try to keep everyone updated through this blog as much as possible. Please pray for the whole project that we will be able to be effective and be able to help in the best way possible those we will be serving. Thanks!

My home for the next 40 days and 40 nights

My home for the next 40 days and 40 nights!