Two days before coming to Roatan, I was sitting at dinner with my parents discussing plans for when I graduate next year. Do I want to go to Public Health School, Physicians Assistant, or maybe a nutritionist? I had thought I never wanted to be a doctor. However, after only 3 days working in the clinic I had decided without a doubt that being a doctor was definitely something I wanted to do. It has been amazing talking to people in all steps of the doctor process about their experiences. Dr Mario, Diane and Vicky have been a great help and could not have been more enthusiastic about med school. However, it wasn't until one night when Andrea, who is going to med school in August and Dr Mario, and Dr Dennis (another Dr from the clinic) who are in their last year of residency and I were sitting on the dock watching the sunset and answering the question "why do you want to be a doctor". It was a unanimous answer, "to help people". I am down here working in a clinic, helping people and doing exactly what I want to do in ten years. What could be more convincing?
This week at the clinic has been great. Monday and Tuesday were the busiest while wed (cruise ship day) was the quietest. Also, Dr. Howard and Alice arrived this week and have big plans for the clinic. We have been reorganizing as best as possible and loading up with all the supplies they brought down. They have also been a great help teaching me about the different sicknesses as well as how to exactly take the height and weight measurements of the children. One child came in who had swallowed an entire bottle of acetaminophen (Tylenol) and then had a fever overnight so when the parents came into the ER with a fever the first thing the doctors did was give him more acetaminophen! I feel that miscommunication between patients and the doctors is unfortunately pretty common in the hospital as well as not enough communication between different areas of the hospital. If not for the mother we would have had no idea that this boy was given more acetaminophen that morning. After Dr. Diane made a call to a surprised poison control branch in Minnesota we figured out that the boy was not in danger of poisoning and in fact he tested positive for Dengue Fever. It is very difficult with many of the patients to figure out what is wrong with their children, for how long have they had it, and what medicine was given. I have had to practice a lot of Spanish in order to finally figure out how to get parents to tell me that yes they actually have been giving their child the antibiotic for the last 5 days. Although it is so rewarding, it can also be very frustrating. The next couple days will be busy with Howard and Alice preparing a physicians conference for all of the doctors on the island and Dr. Mario will also be away from the clinic a little bit more.
The island itself is amazing and I am loving the sun almost every day and have yet to get a sunburn thankfully! my task for tonight is to read my diving certification book and figure out how to get the bumble bees out of my shower!
