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I ll try to explain things thoroughly before i do them so that i don t try to catch them off guard. this is five, six weeks into a six-month mission. yes, sir. that s a long time. it s a long time. family, friends, you miss people back home. of course. of course. it s hard to be away, but it s also great to be knowing that we re doing really good work here. a lot of mixed emotions. you have those days where you do miss home, but then you come in and see someone s smiling face like marlene, and just so much you can do, and it really brings you up again. after all the waiting, it s finally time. nurse kimberly, marlene, make their way from the overnight ward to the surgical floor. good luck. congratulations. a handover. some goodbyes and well wishes. and marlene is now in the hands of the operating room nurses. the operation she s waited so long for now just moments away. ....
Sight for the first time. line up here in front of this young lady. not one of these selected patients has ever set foot on a ship before. they go through security screening. then, more testing. and every step of the way, making sure they are still fit for their operations. you cannot tell any friends. after her vital signs are checked, marlene and tracy are escorted to another part of the ship. this will be their home for the night. a few more tests, and it s time to get settled in. that s my bed for tonight. tomorrow will be a big day. ....
Operations like marlene s to remove her thyroid get moved down the priority list. she s been waiting to have this operation for three years. presently, i m not on any medication. you know, so the appointment apparently it s on this ship. you heard marlene correctly. she said a ship. against the blue jamaican sky, you can t miss it. bright white with large red crosses. this is the usns comfort. it s the largest hospital ship in the world. it shares that title with its sister, the mercy. the twin ships are actually oil tankers turned floating hospitals. each the height of a ten-story building. and the length of three football fields. the comfort is currently on a humanitarian mission around south and central america and the caribbean. ....
this is one of two mobile medical sites the comfort crew has set up on this stop in jamaica. the other one is across the city at the maxville clinic. it s in a more residential area. easily accessible for people who might not have been able to make it to the sports arena. registration lines are long. but spirits are high. in all, 9,744 patients will be treated at the two sites. but today, back on the ship, marlene maxwell and her daughter tracy find themselves waiting once again. hi, sanjay. how are you? i m doing fine. how are you? well, just bored. you re bored? they spent last night onboard the comfort, and today marlene is having her thyroid removed. it s an operation she s waited three years for. it s finally going to happen in one of the 12 operating rooms on the ship. are you excited? are you nervous? i was nervous, but not ....
marlene maxwell hopes to be one of those patients. she s 56 years old from kingston, jamaica. passionate about her family and her faith. for eight years now, she s been dealing with an overactive thyroid. the thyroid is a gland near your windpipe that helps produce hormones to keep your body in check. it pains on this side. sometimes it will come up, like it will block off an airway. marlene says the health care in jamaica is good, if you can get it. well, i would say it s good health care, but it s just a time plan. you wait longer. in jamaica, nearly half the population lives in the southeast region of the country. that includes the capital city of kingston. a population boom has put a big strain on the health infrastructure here. not enough doctors. not enough resources or operating rooms. it all means less urgent ....