The First Day at Sea

Formal night pose in atrium

    It had been a long evening resulting in late breakfasts. I suppose in several cases many of our group simply had some sort of brunch where they could find it. Debbie and I had a late and limited breakfast (10:45am) on the Windjammer followed by a light lunch at 12:45pm in the fancy dining room.

            We learn later that Ray has come down with “the chills.” This a condition that he gets from time to time, but fortunately it only lasts about 24 hours; this time the duration holds true and while he misses dinner, he was up and ready to explore Athens the next day. Whew!

            And then there was Brian, who wears a C-pap machine at night but somehow this past evening the humidity in their room, in spite of air-conditioning, was causing him problems. Thus he too had a restless night. I am healthy again from my up-chucking earlier, and everyone else is, so far, healthy.

Sunset pose

            In spite of all these ailments, we continue to have a good time, especially on this, a sea day. It is a time to kick back and relax from the hectic schedule that we have been keeping. Each person accomplishes this in their own way:

Ray – by staying in bed;

Monica – talking to strangers who soon were no longer strangers; these from London;

Brian – playing cards and loosing once again, blaming it on his partner, Justin;

Angela – winning at cards (guess who against), lunch with interesting people, and reading;

Becky – drinking coffee on her balcony;

Justin – waiting in anticipation for the magic show in the theater this evening;

Debbie – sitting on the 4^th deck (outside) with me watching the Mediterranean go by;

Sunset pose

Me – going to an AA meeting and encountering a delightful person, “Susan,” who ironically, like Becky, was a neonatal nurse. At age 68 she was trained at Cornell University in New York and later worked in Florida; when I asked her what advice she may have for Becky, it included:

Ø  not to be afraid of new knowledge that is occurring all the time;

Ø  if given the opportunity for promotions, don’t hesitate;

Ø  ventilators these days keep babies alive far too long (to futility); in my day we sat by their bedside with hand-pumps, it is hard to keep babies alive when you know it is hopeless. Hispanics are the worse, they never give up;

Ø  neonatal nursing is such a specialty, regularly trained RNs are not prepared for it; it takes special training;

Ø  and she said, “I wish I had gone into ‘travel nursing’ (like Becky); I just loved it when they came on the unit. They always hit the floor running; knew what to do. I never had to teach them much; they were quick learners.”

Predinner pose while Dad is in bed sick :(

            I couldn’t wait to get to Becky to share especially that last quote. I had warned her that most RNs resent “travel nurses” (often called “frequent flyers”) because 1) they had to teach them so much about the culture and how to do things on their unit, and 2) they were always getting more pay. Well, this may not be the case for “neonatal nurses,” a special brand for sure.

            The Magic Show did arrive that evening in the “Metropolis Theater” that holds nearly 2,000 people. Angela and I fell asleep, Monica and Debbie left, Brain suffered through it, and Justin, the most anxious to see it, was disappointed that we were too far away for him to decipher the tricks. In short, it was a flop.

            Everyone went to bed to get some rest before the big day in Athens, tomorrow. Moreover, it will be Debbie’s and my 18^th Anniversary and we plan to treat everyone to a specialty restaurant in our own honor.