As I reach the mid-point in my internship, I already feel a sense of belonging but also that sense of departure. But the memories that remain of my time here in Roatan will nourish me until my next trips into Latin America. This week was certainly not my best as I got very sick for the first time. I started out with a sore throat and quickly my ear became infected. Towards the end of the week the infection moved into my other ear and now I feel very fatigued. Ultimately, however, I feel oddly proud of this sickness because it is almost like a testament of what I am willing to subject myself so that I can better understand a people and their healthcare system. I haven’t been able to get some meds for my infection because the hospital has been fairly busy this past week. We have been getting about 23 patients each day and we usually finish up by the time Clinica Esperanza has closed. Hopefully on Monday I can go and not to mention before the tropical storm hits. The part I do hate about this sickness is that I was not able to even go to the daycare this entire week to start my health workshop initiative because I didn’t want to pass on what I have to the kids. I was able to get them the nebulizer mask they needed at the very least though.
One of the things that I find great about the hospital is that there is no strict guideline that says you are only allowed to see x amount of people and anymore would be a violation. It isn’t uncommon to have a patient ask if their other child who they bring that day to also get a consultation. A particularly sad case that we encountered this week was a little girl who had a fungal skin infection throughout her body. The child was brought in by her aunt because her mother was adamantly against bringing her in to get checked out. I can’t help but think that the little girl’s household situation is the source of her sickness. I saluted her for having the courage to intervene and actively take responsibility for the well-being of another family member, even though it is truly the responsibility of someone else. When the aunt came in, she was originally coming in for a consultation for her daughter but asked if we could see her niece as well. Kristen agreed and she was sent on her way for a prescription. Juxtapose this image of a mother’s potentially severe negligence, with another mother who came in with her newborn. She brought in her baby because she had a high fever. She said that she knew her baby had a fever because she detected it with her thermometer. I don’t even have a thermometer at home.
Continuing, one thing I admire about physicians is their tenacity especially when dealing with a patient who does not seem to be improving despite taking their medications. A little girl this came in for the 4th time since I’ve been here. Apparently her coughing hasn’t been getting better, but I admire Kristen for not feeling defeated that the previous medication regimen did not function as hoped and that she must be limited in her actions given the low resource environment that we find ourselves in. Lately I’ve been reading a copy of “How Doctors Think” and I read that this happens a lot in medicine. Plenty of cases get passed along to different specialists and sometimes it seems like there is some sort of mental issue at hand with the patient. But the physician should work toward thinking differently about the preceding diagnoses so that a better solution may be reached.
