11/24/11 Thanksgiving Day in Hilo, Hawaii

I was on-call today, so I got up early to provide the early morning in-port clinic. Upon arriving at the clinic I found Dr. Sloane and one of the students already there. The student was experiencing severe abdominal pain and Dr. Sloane had already called the ambulance to take him to the hospital in Hilo. Since I was on-call, it meant that I would be accompanying the student to the emergency room that day instead of hanging out on the beach with my family. Since we only had one day to spend in Hawaii, I was more than a little disappointed.  I decided that feeling sorry for myself all day didn't sound like much fun and told myself that this would be a grand adventure in which I got the opportunity to help someone in need.

After getting to the ER, getting the patient settled and the testing started, I got a chance to call one of my friends from back home since our cell phones work in this country. I also got to text friends and check email. It was great! I'd forgotten how much I love my iPhone, since I haven't been able to use it much at all over the last 3 months. My patient was sleeping peacefully in morphine-induced la-la land, so I asked the nurses if there was a place I could get a cup of coffee while I waited for something to happen. One of the ER docs and 2 of the nurses quickly decided I needed to go explore the island rather than sit in the ER all day. They promised to call me right away once they knew something about my patient and then provided me with a list of places I should go and things I should see. Then one of the nurses handed me her car keys and insisted that I use her jeep for the day!!! I tried to protest, but she (Cindy) marched me out to her yellow jeep and sent me on my way. I could not believe it! I called Jeff, picked up him and the boys from the beach, and we all went to a lunch of greasy American food (burgers, fries, onion rings, and the best Mahi Mahi sandwich I've ever had). Then we found a Safeway full of food we recognized (for a change) and stocked up on snacks for our second Pacific Ocean crossing. Upon seeing the macaroni and cheese aisle, Reade exclaimed, "I'm so happy I could cry!" I dropped Jeff, the boys and the snacks back at the ship, and stopped for a quick look at Rainbow Falls (BEAUTIFUL) on my way back to the hospital. I thanked Cindy with a full gas tank and a box of chocolates, and checked in on my patient, who was just receiving the news that all his tests had come back negative and that his pain had not been caused by anything serious. After getting back to the ship, my family and I went for a walk down the coast before I had to be back on the ship for afternoon clinic. Thanks to the kindness and generosity of nurse Cindy, I had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day that I will never forget. The world is full of amazing people, and for that I am very thankful.