The past two weeks have gone by incredibly fast--so fast that it's taken me until today to finish writing my first journal entry (sorry for the delay!). I've got a lot to recap so I'll try my best to stay organized and on point.. first, after a day-plus of connections and layovers, I arrived on August 20th at the Aeropuerto Roatan, where I was greeted by Vanessa, Dr. Welcome and Dr. Rhee. They showed me around Coxen Hole and took me to where I'll be staying for the next 4 weeks, in the White Diamond apartments in Sandy Bay. My arrival also marked the arrival of Hurricane Dean, which wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. Fortunately, we only caught a piece of it.
There was question as to whether conditions would be good enough to have clinic the following day, but the sky cleared up nicely so Vanessa and I ended up going. Training went fast and smoothly, and I even got to triage a few patients on my own and ether their data on the first day. Over the course of the week, I began to see trends of the more common illnesses brought to the clinic. Viral infections, parasites, and impetigo are seen on practically a daily basis, with cases of lice, scabies and dengue fever also seen from time to time. Because we aren't supplied with the more advanced, technological resources found in the states, Drs Rhee and Welcome often have to rely on blood, stool and urine tests to pinpoint the illness and prescribe medication accordingly. However, seeing as how parents are often either unable or unwilling to bring in their children for follow-ups (whether for personal or financial reasons, ie., living far away, inability to afford another roundtrip cab fare to Coxen Hole, etc), we do our best to treat patients in their first visit, while also stressing the importance of returning to the clinic if their condition persists or worsens.
Although I have worked with children as well as interpreted in clinics in the past, I have never had the exposure to pediatrics that I am now fortunate to have. A number of cases come to mind that I know I wouldn't normally see in an adult clinic. One day, a nine-year-old girl came in with complaint of itchiness on her scalp. Her mother would scratch the top of her head, and the girl's scalp would turn white and flaky. When Dr. Rhee was examining her, the girl quickly reached up and picked some lice off the top of her head. Dr. Rhee joked how sometimes kids can be so cooperative that they do all the work for you. Other times, as I quickly learned, this is far from being the case. Taking ear temperatures can sometimes be an experience in itself, but I've gotten better at it by distracting kids with toys and stickers. I also had to help a mother hold down her screaming six-year-old daughter while Dr. Rhee looked in her ears for a possible infection.
I have also picked up on a couple of things that I didn't expect to see in clinic. One patient needed an x-ray read, so Dr. Rhee showed me the A-I method of examining chest x-rays. Another girl (we get boys in clinic too, but strangely the more memorable cases have been with girls) had an abscess on the sole of her foot, and with the help of Dr. Lidia Prado we were able to open up the abscess, drain out the liquid and fill the cavity with gauze to prevent infection. Of course, with cases such as this we ask that they return in a couple of days for a follow up, but as I mentioned above, we are sure to provide them with enough dressing and antibiotic to get them by.
Since my arrival there has been a lot of movement to and from the island, by volunteers from both Peggy's Clinic and Global Healing. David and Igor finished their time in Hospital Miss Peggy and have since returned to Edmonton and Nashville, respectively. On the Global Healing end, Dr. Rhee returned to New York yesterday, where he will continue his residency and begin apply for fellowships after his board exams in October. We've also had two recent arrivals--Shelly Heil, who will be helping Peggy with computer networking and data back-up, and Global Healing's newest attending, Dr. Kristen Breslin from Washington DC. She will be starting tomorrow with Dr. Welcome, and we may even be graced by the presence of Dr. Prado. Looks like a busy weeks ahead.. unless, of course, Felix says otherwise.
Other highlights:
crab races, constant (aka daily) power outages, getting devoured by mosquitoes on my very first day, helping out at the afterschool sports facility, nightly dinners in West End, playing basketball against the local high school team, and diving certification!!!
