Prepare to sail!

So I've returned just in time for one thing in specific.... Sailing!  How could I possibly miss the sail?  They're always fun!  Preparing to sail, though, is a lot of work.  There are things to be re-secured (since somehow there's always a lot of stuff that seems to get untied, even here where we're busy fixing things up and not actually running the hospital.) 

The deck team has the joys of playing with the crane and bringing all the landrovers back onto the ship.  We tie them all securly on the top deck, but to get them there, they need to fly!  It's usually fun to watch them hoist a few...

There's also making sure we have enough water for the sail and the first few days in Guinea.  Making sure we're fully fueled, all the paperwork that has to be ready to present once we get to Guinea, and many, many other things that go on that nobody tells me about!

On the hospital end, there are a lot of other things happening.  We are having meetings to discuss plans, vision and roles for the new field service.  Our amazing manager Kirstie had the best advice at our first meeting.  She wanted each of us to go spend quiet time and come back later that day to discuss where we feel God wants us to be in the next year.  What vision does He have for the hospital.  I can't think of a better place to stand than there, where God has placed the foundation. 

Beyond our team leader meetings, the OR staff have been busy with an inventory of all their instruments, determining how many they need and which ones are actually EVER used.  Having set aside multiple boxes of instruments, they put out the word to the other departments(inpatient/outpatient/crew clinic/dental... anyone medical really), and we went over to have some fun digging through it all.

Some things we found were.... interesting.  We didn't know what many things were, and even Jen (OR Nurse extraordinare!)  didn't know the names or uses of everything!

We pulled a few things out for teaching purposes, and a few for "name that instument", and some just 'cause they were interesting.  Oh, and we also filled some bags with instruments that will be useful on the wards, for dressing changes and such.  Note Laura always has a hammer in her hand.  A little scary how attached she is to the hammer she found! 

After having our fun sorting through things, we moved onto the wards where some items had been untied for various reasons and I learned how to ratchet strap.  We strapped things so tight that the cords played a tune!  Nothing's going to move on the wards during the sail if we have anything to say about it!!!

And we've been told that the first day or two of the sail will likely bring some of the rockiest seas we've encountered in a while!  I think I'll be taking Gravol about an hour before we're due to head out!!! (Whenever that is.. it keeps changing!)