I am a human pincushion

One of the things I've been working on is our medical kit. I searched online forums, read Mahina's Offshore Cruising companion, and talked to my Mom*.

I created a preliminary list of supplies and we've purchased most of them. A few of the more exotic items (airway kit? suture kit?) we are waiting to buy until after advanced first aid courses. I've ziploc'd all of the items into organized bunches and they are in a cooler bag. Now we have a good excuse to keep the cooler bag which we can always empty and use briefly when we "need" to bring cold beer on shore.

Then, I had a surprisingly good visit to the local travel medicine center where I found my last source of wisdom for the medical kit.

I was explaining our story to the doctor so that she would understand why I wasn't completely sure where I was going but that it would definitely be isolated, rural, and all along the tropical zone of every-kind-of-disease-imaginable and she said "Oh yes, I understand. I've crewed on boats as far as Vanuatu".

I was speaking to a doctor who was also a cruiser. How perfect is that?!

After she ordered a list of vaccines that would make my shoulder hurt for a week and require several follow up visits with even more shots, we went over my medical kit list item by item during which she made fear inducing comments like "oh you'll definitely want something stronger than that for skin fungus."

Then she gave me her schedule so I can come back in a few weeks after looking into a bunch of issues and items she had brought up and get our prescription meds. Sweet!

It is completely legal for a ship's captain to obtain prescriptions for medicines that will not leave the ship, but try telling that to a pharmacist while asking for injectable pain killers and antibiotics. Sounds fishy.

It's easy to remember the "easy" tasks that go south and so I wanted to publicly record one potentially difficult task that went much easier than planned - finding someone willing to give us prescriptions.

EDIT: Added for posterity. The books Where There is No Doctor and Where There is No Dentist are available for free online.

*Although many mothers are wise, mine also happens to be a nurse.