Chapter 1

Brad Parker would never say that working as an emergency room physician was boring. The words he would use in describing the work he does as an ER physician would be “constantly challenging.” He had been doing this type of work for the past five years and had a constant adrenalin rush in using all his skills and knowledge to diagnose the many types of medical problems and conditions of the patients that he was presented with daily. After making his diagnosis of the problem, he needed to decide if the patient should be admitted to the hospital or referred to their family physician for treatment. The medical condition being life-threatening or non-life-threatening was the governing factor in his deciding what to do.

At the same time, he was well aware of how long he would be working as an emergency room physician and what the future held in store for him. That was because his father who also was a doctor and had a large successful medical practice, told Brad what his future plans were. His father said that in a few years, he was going to semi-retire and enjoy life more. Dad’s plan and intent was to become a cruise ship doctor and along with Mom, they would cruise the seas and see the world. Doing two four-month-long cruises a year and having a total of four months off to visit with family and friends was what he said they planned on doing. When Dad decided to partially retire and do this cruising, Brad would leave the ER and take over his Dad’s medical practice.

Brad’s Dad had started his practice of medicine by being an emergency room physician for four years which qualified him to work on a cruise ship. Like it or not, it was said by people that Brad had followed in his father’s footsteps. Saying that didn’t bother Brad as he thought they were good footsteps, but maybe Brad could jump ahead and have his father follow in Brad’s footsteps. That would happen if Brad became a cruise ship doctor during the time he had before Dad decided to semi-retire.

The more Brad thought about doing this cruise doctoring and seeing some of this world, the more he thought he would do it. Because of what his intended plans were, he discussed them with Colin Durkee who was the manager of the emergency services group that supplied the emergency room physicians for this hospital. Brad didn’t want to blindside Colin with his leaving and said he would give him as much notice as he could before he left. Colin thanked him for the heads-up.

Brad surfed the net and read several articles about being a cruise ship doctor. His reading of these articles gave him what he thought was quite a bit of useful information. He would apply to work on a cruise ship that had at least two full-time physicians. He also knew there would be a reduction in his present compensation, but that was offset somewhat because of the benefits that came with being on a cruise ship as excellent food, entertainment, and travel. He would sell his condo and either do a short-term rental or live at his parent’s home during the four months he was off the ship. Living with his parents could affect his extracurricular activities in his social life with women but he thought he could work around that.

Brad submitted his resume to two cruise lines and received similar responses from them. Both cruise lines thanked him for his interest, but they both said there presently were no available positions. They would keep his resume on file should an opening occur. Two months later one of the cruise lines contacted him and said they did have a position available but it was on a smaller ship that required only one physician. Brad thanked them but said to let him know when there was a position on a ship that required two physicians.

It was about two months later that the other cruise line contacted Brad about a position available on a large cruise ship that required two physicians. This cruise ship’s present itinerary was cruising the Caribbean. The position required that Brad sign a four-month employment contract. The salary was a little more than what Brad was expecting but considerably less than what he was presently making. He laughingly thought to himself that he was off to see the world.

Brad accepted the position and gave his termination notice to Colin along with putting his condo up for sale. He surprised his parents when he told them what he was going to do and asked if he could store some of his items at their house. Of course he could do that they said, and they told him to enjoy himself and to stay in touch.

The cruise line sent him information on where to purchase the uniforms he needed, the costs of which were on him. Brad’s height of six foot two inches and his thirty-four-inch waist made him a solid forty-four-long suit size. He purchased the suggested uniforms. He also spent time reading what he would call the “Code of Conduct,” the cruise line sent him on what to expect aboard the ship and the ship’s facilities he could and couldn’t use.

After the flight down to Fort Lauderdale, the Uber driver dropped Brad off at the pier where the cruise ship was docked. He gave a good look at this ship before he boarded and thought it was a monster as large as it was. It had to be that size because the passengers and the crew totaled over five thousand people. Like it or not, with that amount of people, there would be medical problems that would require the passengers and crew to seek the services of a physician.

Brad being a ship’s officer enabled the boarding process for him to be handled more swiftly than it was for the paying passengers. He did need to momentarily stop to have his picture taken for his ID card. His two large suitcases were immediately delivered to the cabin that was available for him.

He was in his cabin toward the front of the ship on the sixth deck which was the standard size and had a porthole. Rafael, the cabin steward knocked on the door and introduced himself to Brad. He told Brad that he shouldn’t hesitate to ask him if he needed anything. He also handed Brad an envelope addressed to him. Brad made a mental note to periodically tip Rafael.

Brad thanked Rafael and after he left, Brad opened the envelope and read the note it contained. The note was from Donald Conway, the physician Brad was replacing on this ship. The note welcomed him and gave him some insider information on the crew and the ship. It talked about the medical staff along with giving a few do’s and don’ts of being this cruise ship’s doctor.

Brad was impressed that Don had taken the time to write this note. He thought it was a class thing for him to do. He also thought he would save this note and write a similar note when he would be leaving the ship after his contract expired. Don’s email address would be added to Brad’s contact list in case Brad needed to contact Don in the future.