Very interesting start for the day! When we woke up we were in front of the breakwater for the Kahului harbour – with our “bow view” window it looked like it was going to be a slim fit getting through that passage! My picture did not work out (too much reflection) however I found one online which shows the entrance. We basically hung out until a large tug appeared to assist us through the breakwater and to the left (port) to where the dock is located. We went in bow first. It was amusing to see a little speed boat which was coming from the right, to try and pass in front of the fairly large tug boat which was heading out of the breakwater from the left to right and all of a sudden the speed boat slowed right down and then passed behind the tug boat. We saw the captain on the deck wave his hands and we think yell at the stupid person in the speed boat to beware of what they were attempting and go around instead! Nothing like Goliath (Noordam) bearing down on an ant in the sea and having a intermediary, which I have no idea what I would envision the tug to me, take command of the situation!
I was very thankful that we were 3 hours behind Vancouver time, as when I got up at 7:30 am in preparation for breakfast, it was hard to move! Not sure if it was the cumulative at sea days and the different parts of my body having to compensate to balance, the after effects of the massage on my legs or still the withdraw from the Opioid medication that I completed last month, however I was not comfortable.
After breakfast, I phoned my pain specialist and left her a message that I needed to chat while I was in Hawaii – either today or tomorrow as after that we were going to be at sea and my phone would not work and then called the Pharmacy who I routinely deal with and asked them for what they would recommend me to do. The challenge is that when you have decided to stop opioid medications, there are certain medications, outside of being hospitalized, that one cannot take. I am used to taking those medications on previous trips as they are in the opioid category for pain management when my pain spikes. I had left Vancouver with Extra Strength Tylenol, I am on a medication that assists with the continued opioid withdraw and I was given a medication that is not an opioid type medication for pain management to take when I needed to (PRN). None of these were working and I was unsure of what I could double up on as these were new medications. I had a great chat with the pharmacist on duty, who is actually the owner of the pharmacy and knows me well, as to what type of medications that I can get over the counter in the USA (basically none that can help) and he gave me some other tips and then Andrew and I decided to go to Paia which is a small town close to Kahului, basically about 10 miles away on the other side of the airport on the way to Hana. We have been to Paia several times previously and I like to just walk around and see what is going on.
As Uber cannot pick people up at the dock in Kahului, we took a taxi to Paia – I had planned to take the bus, as Maui has a great bus system while unfortunately not frequent, it is only $2 a ride. The next bus would not have been for 45 minutes so taking a taxi was going to help with time management! Also I did not have to walk a kilometre to the bus stop! I think the taxi driver was disappointed with us. He wanted to show us the “sights” and I said, we just need to go to Paia. He offered to take us again to other places that Andrew and I have been and at that time I said we were from Vancouver and had been to Maui many times and we really just want to go to Paia to visit the town. Then he put on some Hawaiian music and we drove in silence to the town which was about 15 minutes away. Most people miss Paia as it is basically the first town on the way to Hana, as I mentioned which is one of “the drives” to do when on Maui. Paia is a very quaint town with an awesome Fish Market to eat at! We arrived at about 11:30 am and already there was a line up out the door of people queuing to order food and then I presume to sit down to wait and eat it. We have eaten there many times before and took a pass this time. We checked out several stores selling Hawaiian crafts – again my rule when shopping, which is a bit rough, is I do not go into a store unless it is accessible. So that cuts out about 1/2 of the stores in Paia as they have steps. Some stores have caught on and either have a sloped entry or one has a portable ramp out front.
One store that I have been to several times now is one for the Maui Crafter’s Guild. I always enjoy visiting this store and it does have a slightly sloped entrance. When we entered we were greeted by a nice lady and she asked if we had been there before which I replied yes, that I like this store as it represents Maui handcrafters AND does not have any steps to get into the store! She replied that the lady owns the store, which she has 3, has made that a requirement for all her stores and that the stores not be cluttered so that people can easily move around (which is true). She then let me browse which was nice. I knew what I was looking for and found my target item and then she came to help me and at that time pointed out the paintings on the wall above us and asked me if I liked them! I said they were really nice and that one looked like it was up by Kapalua (other side of Maui) and she was impressed that I knew that! I told her that we normally stay near Napili Beach and I recognized the bay which is just behind the resort where we normally stay. She was the painter of the 4 paintings for sale. For the other 3, two were done on private property and the other one was of Baldwin Beach which is right in front of Paia.
Andrew and I then checked out some more stores (well me more than Andrew, my shadow) and then we stopped for a beverage and bite to eat at a local coffee house/pub that we had not previously visited. It was lovely sitting under cover however outside and enjoying the breeze running through the building! Andrew of course had a local IPA where I had an interesting drink, which I thought would be colourful, but it was clear, that was a fruit quencher with green tea infused caffeine. It went down very well! We shared one of my favourite salads which was a beet, orange and goat cheese with macadamia nuts crushed on top. I am used to pine nuts so the mac nuts was a nice twist!
We then walked back up the other side of Paia and past Mana foods, where we normally go when we arrive in Kahului as it has gluten free products that we then stock up the kitchen where we stay up near Kapalua. I did not go in, as I have enough food on the ship! At that time I called an Uber to take us back to the ship, as I had a 2 pm meeting with my new Health Mentors group for this school year! The Uber came fairly quickly however I had mis-judged my timing and how long it was going to take to get back to the ship so I learned how in Uber to change my destination! The Uber driver, Teressa, was quite impressed that I figured it out as I had also messaged her if she could instead take us to the pier instead of the mall. So we were dropped off near the pier and wow – was that walk LONG to get back to the Noordam! I think we walked over a kilometre back in the HEAT! Thank goodness they provide water with lemons in it prior to getting onto the ship – I was parched! Then it was up to our cabin, as it was time for my Health Mentors meeting and lets just say I was running a BIT late! My red faced also showed just how hot it was in Maui at the time!
With regards to the Health Mentors, which I mentioned yesterday, for those who do not know, I am part of a program at UBC, which for the first 10 years was actually a research study, on how people either with lived experiences or those who support them in dealing with chronic conditions, can meet once a month with a cross students from various health disciplines. The students sign up, generally in their first year, for this program. The benefit to the student is while they are learning from books it provides a continuous patient perspective on life on the “other side” when receiving health services. As a Health Mentor, I am generally assigned 3-4 students each year – for the 5 years I have done this, I have had a Medical Student (MD) each year along with at least one Occupational Therapy (OT) student. Some years I have had Nursing, Physiotherapy, Speech Language Pathology (SLP) and a Masters Student in Population Health. This year I have the pleasure of mentoring 3 ladies – one MD, one OT and one SLP which is just awesome as those are areas of health practice that I have some experience in! Obviously I see doctors, my aunt is an OT and I have had lots of OT experience myself and my uncle is an SLP! Not as much SLP experience other than my sister, Joanne, my uncle says is a “clutterer” when she speaks, and I am aware of what SLP’s do within the hospital system in terms of swallowing studies and aphasia assistance.
I met the 3 ladies at the Kick off meeting for the year, which was held at the Italian Cultural Centre this year. We met there for about an hour, however as there were about 35 other groups meeting in the same hall, it was noisy and so we basically just introduced ourselves at that time, shared email addresses, got paperwork done and planned when we would meet next, which was important for me, as I was leaving on vacation in a week and we would have to meet online!
Today, well for them, tonight, was our first meeting! Today’s discussion was “Words and their Meanings” which is the first topic that is discussed in the Health Mentor program for various reasons. First, the students are learning how to take histories and interview their patients or clients and how important it is to address people the correct way when it comes to speaking about different medical conditions. There is quite a diversity between how Medical students speak and those in Allied Health Care such as OT’s and SLP’s which I find is always an interesting discussion to be had and the ladies were very engaging today! One example is for an MD, the word they use is Patient, where in Allied Health, they use Client. Then we discuss other words such as “I am a person living with Diabetes or Celiac Disease etc” which is more person centric, the medical condition does not define the person. A lot of this has changed over the years though and there are some diagnoses that people still use to define them and we did discuss those situations as well – such as “I am deaf” or “I am autistic”. The take home message is always let the patient/client lead and for the health professional to follow with the language that is presented to them. All that said, I learned something new! One of the students told me that they are taught that this process that I just described is called “reflecting” which really encompasses the description well – if someone indicates something to you, you “reflect” back to them in the way it was presented to you to ensure that you have understood it properly. The old addage, you learn something new everyday – that is what I like about this program – it is a give and take from all of us! The other brilliant process that starts happening, which I saw in our 2 hour session this afternoon, is that the 3 ladies came out of their “silo” of their chosen profession and heard how other similar professions address similar issues so it really rounds out their education.
After that was done, I took some time to relax (read nap) before we headed out for dinner. Tonight we were going to the dining room and as we dined, where our table for 2 is in the middle of the dining room, we were able to watch the lights on the shore and try and figure out how the ship was going to maneuver out of the small harbour! We finally figured it out – the Noordam backed up (which is where we were sitting in the dining room) and then swung her bow out towards the breakwater to go through. She was assisted out by at least one tugboat!
Diner was good – a little disappointed in the creativity of the chef tonight – I had ordered the macadamia nut crusted mahi mahi for dinner and normally when I ask for it to be gluten free a similar dish comes out – where they will use corn starch or something similar to crust the fish. Tonight I just got mahi mahi. It was delicious anyway! I also got more veggies on my plate than normal – they are so stingy on veggies here! April Joy, one of our waiters, knows I like veggies so she asks them to put more on my plate. The desert was “Eton Mess” which I first ran into in Ireland. It is naturally gluten free and is fruit, whip cream and meringue all “tossed” together! It was simple, small and delicious!
Now, we need to get a good nights sleep tonight and tomorrow is a BIG day! We have an all day tour planned – 8 hours long, in Kauai! More on that tomorrow!