Getting sick of having three first aid kits and a badly organized medicine cabinet I finally got my act together and conglomerated all of them to create the mother of all first aid kits. All it took was one trip to the La Sirena (DR’s version of Walmart) to buy a plastic toolbox and a couple of hours and I reorganized all our meds. Kurtis says that I cannot get seriously injured now though, because I am the only one who knows the method of my organizing madness.

   We never went out and bought really specific meds for our sailing adventures because we expected, and it turned out to be true, that you can buy pretty much everything you may need, and for cheap, at any island that we were stopping at in the Caribbean. I also never saw the value of paying for and stocking up on pills that have an expiration date and will probably go bad before we ever need to use them. We just wait and if a sickness does occur during our adventures then we visit the doctor’s office and get meds for 1/8th of the price that we would back home. Keep in mind we are not crossing and ocean or going to remote islands, everywhere we have visited has had some sort of medical facility. Outside of the regular things that a first aid kit comes stocked with we only made a few additions, but I will go over everything here.
   I separated our first aid stuff into three sections, for easier access. The first kit was for all first aid needs, the second kit was so all the seasickness meds we have acquired over time and friends visits, and the third area, in our medicine cabinet, is dedicated to the girls regular medicines.
First Aid Kit # 1

Top section are for most used things:
-alcohol wipes
-bandaids (when you combine 3 first aid kits you now have enough bandaids to care for an army of wounds, of every size and shape)
-princess bandaids – for the more finicky amoung us
-medical tape
-travel packets of Neosporin and burn cooling gel
-TruKid Sport Stick (this is for children, to help soothe muscles and joints. The stuff smells great, its all natural, and makes for the perfect “magic cream” when the girls get bobos. It works so well that they often pretend that they are sore somewhere and ask to be massaged with the magic cream.)

Inside Shelf:
-bactine
-antiseptic ointment
-new skin (liquid bandage for all those annoying blisters or small cuts)
-after bite (both the adult and kid’s version, to help with all the itchies that we aquire living out here)
-Polysporin and Neosporin
-eye wash
-razor blades
-digital termometer
-amonia viles
-travel Tylenol, motrin, and Imodium packs

Bottom Compartment:
-Too many Sterile Gauze Pads
-larger sized bandaids
-three triangular slings
-three instant cold packs
-three tensor bandages
-large nail clippers
-two sets of tweezers
-two pairs or bandage scissors
-latex gloves
-survival wrap
-15 rehydration packets
-aloe vera gel
-glycerine suppositories
-tiger balm (for those painful muscles, its like adult “magic cream”)
-Voltaren (its like A535 muscle rub)
-Ciprofloxin tablets (these are a kill all antibiotic, literally you have stomach bugs, this will kill it, you have an infected skin wound, this will kill it, but beware it also kills all your good bugs, so you only want to take this if you really need it. We only bought them ahead of time because they were extremely cheap in the bahamas, something like $5 for a box of 10 tablets.)
-Crazy Glue (superglue works wonders for keeping small cuts shut
-1 small first aid book
Sea Sickness Kit #2

-Dramamine and Bonine. (Guests left these on our boat, we don’t use them as Eben has had adverse affects from both of them. Hallucinations are never good when you are sailing).
-Children’s Gravol (we have never used this yet, but this trip we will give it a go with our girls, since they were both seasick on our last day trip)
-Transderm-V Scopolamine. (Eben swears by these. He uses half a patch behind the ear anytime we go out, or even when he goes spearfishing, and no longer gets seasick. He has never had any side effects from these. In Canada these are very affordable at about $10-$15 for a box with two patches, but the US are pricier, and the Bahamas are insanely costly at $90 for a box of two)
And then there is the All-Natural section of the seasickness box, since I have always been pregnant or nursing while sailing I have never wanted to take any “real” meds not knowing what might get passed along to the baby. I couldn’t tell you which of these really works since I have always used a mix of all of them, but I have never been seasick, or I may just have a stomach of steal.
-Seabands (the bracelets with the pressure point for your wrists)
-MotionEase (drops you put behind the ears)
-Ginger gum and Ginger pills
-Cocculine (a homeopathic tablet a friend swears by).
Medicine Cabinet #3

This we keep fully stocked with medicine for the girls. The reason we stock up on these is because they are Tylenol brand, which the girls have always used and it works for them, and it is in the flavors they will swallow. These are not always readily available in all countries, so they are often on our list of things for guests to bring for us.
-Childrens’ and Infants Tylenol for pain and fevers
-Childrens’ cough and cold
-CVS brand version of Benadryl for allergic reactions (thankfully ours girls don’t have any yet, that we have discovered anyways)
-Childrens’ Advil
-Childrens’ Vic’s Vapo Rub
-Histal cough Expectorant (got this from the Bahamas)
That’s it. Our whole kit(s) of anything we may need and have, now, easily accessible to us. Everything else is just a pharamcy’s visit away.