Last Day of Clinic ...

Today was perhaps one of the busiest days in clinic for my whole trip! Go figure, that my last bit would be so nuts!! We were short staffed even more today because someone was sick and there was a funeral that some staff attended (and 2 others left early) and it was the first of the month, which means many of our chronic illness patients come in to get their medication refills (usually around the first of the month, but today it seemed like everyone was gung-ho for the 1st). Anyway, we just had an absolute ton of patients and we were run off our feet.. good thing I learned so much about prioritizing this rotation! We saw so many patients and had a totally full day, so I hardly had time to realize this would be my last day at the clinic. Then just as we were getting out the door (later than usual, and a Friday at that..) 2 trucks pull up the driveway. A pregnant woman steps our of one truck, visibly in distress calling out 'Doctor, Doctor, I need help..' So several people helped her inside to get her vitals, while an older gentleman got out of the other truck and approached us. He is a fairly common patient who were were all familiar with and he looked quite distressed as well. He calls over to us ' Doctor, I need you to come to my house and help me,  I think my wife is dead. I came home and finded her on the floor and I not waked her up! I couldn't lift her neither" [I know his wife and she is easily 250lbs] He had tried to call us but the Dr's cell was dead and we were outside chatting and didn't hear our clinic phone.. then he had driven to the hospital but they couldn't help him. So Dr Raymond agreed to go with him to his house and see what could be done for his wife and we took care of the other pregnant woman (who Dr Patrick ended up driving directly to the local gynecologist's office because of the complicated diagnosis he had for her.. ) So our day ended with quite a ruckus.. of course, I go out with a bang! It was too bad though because I didn't really get the goodbyes that I was hoping for because everyone rushed off so quickly. Hopefully I'll make it back to Clinica Esperanza again in the future and I'll be able to make my goodbyes better the next time. Either way, I think they know I'll be thinking and praying for them often!

Oh other exciting note I forgot to mention about yesterday.. Thursdays is gynecological day - we do all our gyn consults that day and all our pap smears are scheduled that day. So often this is performed by a OB/GYN resident (if we have one) or another female Dr/PA, however it can be performed by a nurse and they decided that Thursday was the day to teach me (they had been promising all along but we never found the time.. so yesterday since we weren't too busy and Peggy stopped by, she took over my nursing duties so I could go learn to do pap smears!! ) It was awesome.. its one thing to learn it in class or practice in lab on the manequins but totally different to be doing it to real patients!! It was so fun and I found a cervix on my first attempt!!
AND our Dedication went really well!! It was a great party and tons of people showed up to support us! God really blessed us and it was so evident by the number of supporters and past patients who have been blessed through the ministry here! It was fun to be part of the event too!! And we all made local tv! The crew was there filming the whole ceremony!!

Peggy giving her speech

Dr Raymond thanking everyone and the community for their support

Ok so back to my last day.. Tonight we all went out to Rotisserie Chicken (my pick) for my last meal in Roatan! We had a delicious meal and I even got dessert!! Then I picked up a few last things I wanted at a little shop in the West End and my closest friends came over to our apartment and we just hung out for the rest of the evening. I packed and we chatted! I'm really going to miss these girls!!! Especially Laura (my preceptor and nurse from clinic) and Danielle (my roommate for the past month) !! We had an ice cream party (not that any of us needed the ice-cream.. lol, but since my clothes are too small already, what difference does one more bowl of ice cream matter! So we had ice cream sundaes and enjoyed our last night!! I'll see them all in the morning one last time to say goodbye then I'm leaving! I leave here for the airport at 10:30am and fly at 1pm.. so hopefully all my flights and stuff goes smoothly!!

Nearing the End Yet, So Many Blessings!!

So here I am, on Wednesday night reflecting on what an AWESOME trip this has been!! But its not over yet.. but I only have 2.5 days left and they are already jam-packed!! I'm trying to soak up every last moment and make memories of this crazy adventure!! I have been so blessed.. and continue to be so blessed!!

I had my final evaluation for nursing today and PASSED!! Such a relief to have it over and done with.. now just a poster/presentation once I get back to Canada and I'm officially done!! How nuts is that!?! And I went to say goodbye to my tutoring kid, Mycol today because I wont have a chance to tutor him anymore before I go. I was really sad to leave him, and he wasn't really fond of me leaving either. He kept begging me to stay or to come tutor every day until Saturday when I leave.. but I explained that I just wouldn't have time. He gave me a quick hug (which is a lot for a 'too cool' preteen boy) and headed off to baseball practice. I'm really going to miss him, but hopefully one of the new volunteers will take him on so at least he will continue to have a tutor. 

I also spent the last 2 evenings trying to get all my souvenir shopping done. Its funny that I have obviously had weeks to do it, but when its 'real life', you don't buy touristy stuff.. but I had a lot of fun buying a few things (but to all who don't get anything.. you're not missing out, most stuff is really cheesy and overpriced so I was too broke/cheap to buy much - I still love you, just didn't bring you anything tacky you will never use! lol) I got most of my stuff from local people who I know or through missions that I support, so I know that the money is actually put to good use!

Mycol (my student), Vanessa, Emmy & I - at their school today

And tomorrow is a big day!! The clinic is having its big 'dedication service'. It was supposed to be the 'Grand Opening' of the birthing facility/pediatric inpatient.. but the government of Honduras has been dragging their tails getting the licensing sorted out, so they technically are not 'opening' but as soon as the paperwork is finalized they will be.. so tomorrow we will be cutting the ribbon and everything, but won't actually be able to have patients quite yet. This is a BIG deal! It will be a huge open house, everyone who is anyone on the island will be there.. and it has been such a long time in the making (like 4 years since the building was built but even longer if you count all the years of visioning for it) and its finally ready!! I'm so excited to be able to be here during the dedication and to have had a hand in getting things ready!! I was blessed to be able to provide a lot of donations for that part of the facility and also help to sort and set up the physical space. Along with the dedication of our facility the clinic is going to make an substantial official donation to the public hospital of a crash cart full of emergency supplies. God has been so good to our clinic that we frequently have donations that are not suited for our facilities (ie/ we do not do surgery or until now, any form of inpatient care) so we always pass on these donations to the hospital (ie/ catheter supplies, IV supplies, OR equipment etc). In general the clinic is able to bless many of the local health care facilities with supplies that we have in excess from time to time. This donation of a crash cart (fully stocked) will be the first real cart that the hospital has and obviously mean they will be able to save many lives and provide so much more care! This is such a blessing!! God is just doing AMAZING things here in Roatan and I'm so blessed to be a part of it!!

So keep our dedication service tomorrow in your prayers and praise Him for all his abundant provision and blessings!

Outreach and Other Fun Cultural Experiences

I've realized that I'm getting very slack at blogging! I haven't posted for a week! I just have so much to say that I can hardly cut it down to one post, so I just put it off and then I forget to do it. Its so strange here because I have so much to share with everyone, yet at the same time its all become 'just regular life' so it seems odd to blog about, if you know what I mean. 

Exactly a week from today I'll be landing in Houston.. how crazy is that! I can't believe how the time has flown! And sadly I think I spent part of last week caught up in the 'going home fever' (because this is another turn around weekend and all the other students are going home this weekend) and wished my week away. I still had a great week.. but I'm sad that I spent it wishing the time away, when now I only have a week left! God really challenged me to look for his guidance in each day and not to spend the day simply 'getting through' but look for the unique opportunities He gives me. He began changing my heart halfway through the week, so I think I experienced even more the last few days than earlier in the week.. but hopefully I can make the most of my last week and soak up as much of life here as possible!

view fr the clinic doc as someone came by

our supplies bins

Clinic was great this week.. this blog could go on forever if I share too many stories so I'm going to focus on the outreach clinic I helped with on Wed to Oak Ridge. Oak Ridge is on the eastern ( more rural and secluded) end of the island. There is a physical clinic building there but no staff so we make an effort to get out there once every week or so to see patients. It is absolutely beautiful! Well, the entire island here is beautiful! But Oak Ridge had a flair all its own. Like many of the little towns or communities here, it is build on the coast, near a little inlet (or bight); which means many of the houses are right on the water, and rather than walk they take boats. The same is true for 

Elizabeth with a little patient

the clinic and several of our patients arrived at the clinic by boat, stepped onto our little dock and into clinic. The clinic went well but it was pretty slow getting started because we hadn't told them in advance we were coming.. but we went back on Friday too and it was much better attended that day. It is so interesting to see the mix of local/traditional medicine with North American medicine. One woman had headaches so she was told to shave her head, and she honestly believes that keeping her head shaved, wards off her headaches 0- and who am I to tell her it doesn't? Outreach clinics definitely stretch us to be resourceful and make you thankful for the supplies you do have! Its amazing what kinds of things you can do with a bin of assorted medications, stethoscope and BP cuff! 

To avoid this blog becoming ridiculously long (like many of my others) I'm going to skip right to the other fun cultural experience I had this weekend. Last night, Peggy got us all invited to a thankyou/farewell party for a group of spring break college students that helped by rebuilding the hospitals ER. Their coordinator was throwing a huge party and asked if we wanted to come too.. so of course, you never say no to free food and a chance to get out of Sandy Bay! We drove down to Brick Bay and boy, did we get way more than we bargained for! The party was HUGE! They were bussed in locals from several different communities who were helped by this mission group (not only did they help rebuild the ER, they also built a bathroom at a local school and did vocational sessions in another town!). Each group of people from the different communities wanted to show their appreciation for the group and all their help - so each community did a different performance for us! There were songs, dances & lots of drumming! The Garifuna people (who are indigenous to the island and live more on the eastern end) were there and they did a lot of their tribal dancing, drumming and storytelling! It was fabulous! And we eventually ended up leaving just before a group of firedancers were coming up. Plus there was a ton of local food and lots of people to hangout with and enjoy the evening with!!

2 weeks to go..

So I will officially be home 2 weeks from now! :)
I'm at the point where I really enjoy being here, but I'm getting excited to be coming home as well!!
My weekend was really great.. it rained on Saturday but we made the best of it anyway. We went for a kayak and snorkel at 7:30 am.. which turned into quite the adventure because we got caught in a rainstorm.. but once your wet, who cares! :) And by the time we got home we were soaked, cold and exhausted all by10 am, we spent a good part of the day just hanging out and warming up, then went to West End for the evening. Sunday was the typical beach day! I had a blast at Rchurch service in the morning, then laid out by the pool and snorkeled all afternoon! Top it off with a beautiful sunset and the company of great friends! :)

Clinic today was good.. busy as always! We had a new volunteer in today who will be with us for the week. I oriented him and spent the day working with him in triage. He was a quick learner and eager to be helpful! We love those ones!! And it was nice to mentor him and be able to share my knowledge and be supportive. Recently there has been a bit of a competitive air in the clinic where some students want to look better and will do so at the cost of humiliating or pointing out the flaws in others. I'm glad I got a chance to work with our newbie so I could save him from some potentially hurtful situations (he is a cautious new grad Certified Nursing Assistant.. so like an RCW at home). We had a good day in triage - worked a little slower than usual but we saw a ton of patients and some interesting cases. I'm getting to the point where I can practically diagnose typical things just in triage.. like the few cases of malaria I saw today, a case of chicken pox etc. Overall just another fun day at clinic.. and sadly most of the girls are headed home this weekend, so this is their 'last Monday'.. but not for me.. not yet anyway! And Laura & I ventured to French Harbour to get my package from my family! They held it up in customs for over a week because I didnt have a detailed invoice to give the specifics on what was inside and its estimated cost.. who knew that a few Canadian chocolate bars were worth holding in customs.. but whatever! They finally released them to me! :) So I'm eating well tonight! :)

Few Clinic Highlights of the Past Few Days..

Our birthday party surprise for my roommate last night went great! She ended up knowing that we were going to have a party but she didn't know the full extent of it.. which was still super fun! We had a real cake and ice cream, plus we got a card and flowers... all of which she had no clue about! And she was so surprised!! And very excited.. I overheard her skyping her parents later on that night before bed and she was so happy! We made her birthday here in Roatan so special! And it made my day, to help her celebrate and feel at home here! 

God blessed me with this awesome roommate! I'm thankful for Danielle every day! We get along so well, which is key when you live in such a tiny apartment! He really just made a way for us.. neither of us can imagine what we would have done without the other! :) I love how He always knows best, even when we have no clue!

Clinic has been interesting the last few days and I actually have a few fun stories! Clinic is always such a mis-mash of patients.. we get a ton of 'cold/flu', back pain, you know.. the typical clinic/ER client load. But we also get the more interesting tropical things.. like diarrhea, dehydration, parasites, worms (which are different!), malaria etc. Here are a few of my favorite stories of fun 'nursing' stuff I got to do these last few days:

- we had a very dehydrated older gentleman.. he was honestly 101lbs and taller than I am.. very emaciated (basically he was starving.. in the literal sense). His blood pressure was REALLY low, so they wanted him to get fluids..the PA student wanted to practice IV insertion, so Laura & I (the nurses) setup all the equipment and taught/guided her with inserting the IV. I was a bit disappointed at not getting to insert the IV myself, however as lame as it may sound, I really enjoyed the opportunity to ‘be with’ the patient. He was really nervous and I held his hand and talked him through the procedure. I was frustrated that she didn’t exactly do the insertion smoothly, thus ultimately caused him a bit more pain.. but she was learning, so what can you do. I provided comfort for the patient and felt I really improved the experience for him.

-Teenage girl who originally came in with very distressed with severe abdominal pain and shortness of breath, who rapidly became a priority case! We were running getting her on oxygen, taking her vitals and trying to calm her down. It turns out she just had a severe panic attack, which caused her worsening shortness of breath, but it was a bit dicey for a bit while we tried to get her calmed down and breathing more effectively on the oxygen. Again, not only did I enjoy the technical skills of administering the oxygen and monitoring her vitals etc, I really enjoyed spending time reassuring her frantic mother and providing her comfort while calming her down.

We also had some interesting cases of communicable diseases, such as a woman with active TB, and a case of adult varicella (chicken pox). It is difficult when these patients are living in poverty because the precautions or treatment that is necessary may just not be an option for them. I was trying to educate the patient with TB about  the medication we were providing her and about the follow up tests the Dr had ordered for her. But she looked at me and admitted that she wouldn’t be getting the necessary tests because they would be too expensive and she simply couldn’t afford them. Without the tests and definitive diagnosis of TB she wouldn’t be able to get appropriate treatment and if she simply returned home, she would expose many more people to TB. I provided as much education as possible to this woman, but she just didn’t understand.. its hard sometimes for the clients to take my advice when they look at me and know that I have never been in poverty like theirs; they think I couldn’t possible understand.. and maybe they’re right.. Thankfully this story ends well because I spoke with the Dr and he educated her further and found a way for her to get the necessary tests without paying.. but how many other cases don’t end this way.. how many other untreated cases of communicable diseases simply return home because they cannot afford the necessary health care, and just spread the disease further. It really helps put into perspective the care we provide at the clinic.. how vital our services are. Many people would be very sick and some may have died without the treatment and medications provided by our clinic. God has really blessed the people here with the clinic.. and often they will say that.. we just brush it off with a ‘thank you.. and yes, God is good to you’ but truly, He is! How blessed have I been to simply serve here.. but I can’t even imagine how blessed they must feel to know that God has provided such an important medical resource here in their community.. so that they can be taken care of! 

Scary nights and a birthday surprise!

Things have been pretty average here at the clinic this week. We saw an American couple today who needed some serious stitches in the face after a motorcycle accident. Word to the wise: if you travel in Central American, DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT get on a motorbike! They are like a fast track to death! I have seen tons of scary motorbike accidents, although these are our first victims to arrive at clinic. Today was this couples first stop on a week long cruise.. guess they ruined that one quickly!
So clinic has been good.. I've been really tired recently because my night time gecko friend is getting more and more bold! Last night he either pooped forcefully on me or fell on me.. eitherway, the force of something falling from above was enough to wake me from a dead sleep (which is impressive, since I truly mean dead sleep). I just shook it off (literally) and went back to sleep, not even a half hour later, it happened again, and I woke up again. I was trying to calmly shake 'whatever it was' onto the floor, when it scurried and touched my skin... that was the end of being calm! I jumped up frightened and shrieked.. which needless to say, woke Danielle my roommate! Anyway, she graciously offered to let me sleep in her double bed with her.. and when I went to investigate my bed in the morning, whatever it was had gone. But I was quite frightened! And I dont know what I'll do tonight! Plus on top of crazy critters.. we have a pack of dogs who hang around our porch now. One of the other volunteers here has a real soft spot for animals so she took to feeding one of the really mangy sick dogs. But now they all crowd around our door (go figure, not hers!) and want to be fed!! Its VERY annoying.. and they are flea and tick infested... which means we find fleas and ticks in our house. I even found a tick in my bed! Which only adds to my nervousness about my bed. And no only do the dogs hang around, they FIGHT! So all night, every few hours there is a huge brawl outside our windows and each time, I'm sure that one dog has been eaten by the others!

Anyway, the nighttime annoyances aside.. I'm very excited today! My care package was supposed to arrive from home.. which is a HUGE deal! If you have never lived away from home, where Canadian (or even North American) goods are few and far between, you really appreciate a little taste of home! I have been ridiculously pumped for my parcel, it was supposed to come yesterday but didn't, so then it was going to come today but for some reason it did yet.. its just dragging out the excitement and anticipation of what my family has sent me! :) And on top of the parcel excitement, we are having a  big birthday party for my roommate today! Its VERY exciting!! And we even got someone to bring us a real American cake mix and icing.. and we are just beyond pumped about it! I'm off to help ice the cake  now while others take her out for a snorkel so we can set up! I love surprises, but this one is even better than most!!

Rainy Saturday adventures in Roatan

So I've had some crazy adventures over the last few days.. we have several resident geckos living in our house and I'm ok with them.. I don't love them, but whatever, they eat the bugs.. but last night we had a little run-in. Its been rainy and gross for the last 2 days, and my bed is wet because it leaks above my bed. So I was about to get into bed last night and I had changed the sheets to relatively dry ones and then got ready to crawl into bed and heard this nasty gecko sound, and something fell from the ceiling above me... and landed on my pillow. Thankfully it was not the whole gecko I guess.. but it was either his poop or his tale. He was just chillin out above me (minus his tale mind you..) and there was nasty gunk on my pillow. So I cleaned it up and changed the pillow case again, but I slept in fear that either the gecko would fall on me or poop on me again in my sleep!
 Which fast forward to just now.. I was chillin on  my bed hanging out with the girls and I flopped over so I was laying in my bed.. and when I sat up I realized the gecko had pooped on my bed again.. and I laid in it!! NASTY! I had gecko poop on my bed, my hand and in my hair! Yuck! I just wiped it off and got it out of my hair the best I could because I just showered and my hair hadn't even dried yet.. so I couldn't really justify showering again.

And so aside from my gecko adventures today, I have had some other adventures. Its been pouring rain (same torrential downpour as a few weeks ago) for 2 days now. It is the perfect excuse to stay inside and just chill, which is great! I poked away at some of my schoolwork this morning, but then when the rain let up a bit around lunch the girls wanted to walk down the beach to a restaurant we heard was good. So we set out on what was supposed to be a 10 min walk up the beach.. but turned into a hour long adventure to this restaurant. Since it had just rained, tons of little streams that carry sewage out of the Colonia and neighbouring areas were twice the size they normally are. Usually you can just hop over the nasty streams and continue on your walk down the beach but these were sometimes huge gushing streams that we had to wade through... yes, I know, wade thru a poopy stream.. GROSS. We got to several places along the way where we had to scale some big rocks and another spot where I came within 10 feet of several big nasty vultures! Vultures are totally as big, nasty and scary as you imagine!! When we finally got to the restaurant we were starving and thankfully the food was great. Then on the way home, we decided to grab a cab rather than take the beach back. But we jumped in a little 'collectivo bus' - which is a 15 passenger van that looked like it belonged in the scrap yard, full of sweaty Honduran workers and it took us up into the Colonia and all over (half way along its normal route and some unexpected side routes as well) and eventually we got out somewhat near our house and walked the rest of the way home. So in the end, our whole trip up the beach and back was quite the adventure! :)
Hopefully the power and internet will hold the evening and that it will clear up for tomorrow. We have planned a girls night of watching movies and eating popcorn.. because what else do you do when its pouring!
Here are a few shots of our house and the sunset that we took during a break in the rain..

Starting towards the end.. with a busy busy week at clinic

Sorry to everyone who checks my blog frequently.. I haven't posted in ages because I've been SO busy! But I'm trying to get back on track.. here is my quick rundown of the last few days:

view from the doorway of the new apt

Wow! The last week has been a whirlwind!! Since moving into my new apartment, I’ve been so busy! Our house is the hub of volunteer activity around here and everyone just stops by to visit, which is great but busy. I spent the weekend writing my last nursing paper.. which I have known about all semester but kept putting off.. but man, it takes an awful lot of focus and determination to sit inside and write a paper about nursing theory, when you’re on a Caribbean island and all your friends are going snorkling, to the beach or whatever! It was perhaps the most beautiful Saturday I was here.. and I worked on my paper from 6am-6pm.. but I got it done and passed in on time! What a weight lifted off my shoulders! J

my little daybed (its like 1.5 bedroom, so I don't have a room, just the bed)

our kitchen

Then Sunday, I was still editing a bit, but I allowed myself to go to Rchurch (the name of a Church here) and then to the beach for a bit. Church was really great! I was really encouraged and some of the other volunteers came so it was just a nice time of fellowship. Then we continued to the beach and enjoyed more fellowship and great conversation into the afternoon. There are 3 pharmacists here from Ohio for the week and they have been a real blessing to me. Two of them are strong Christians so it makes for really great and encouraging conversation, as well as they are having a bible study in their apartment each morning before clinic.

Danielle my roommate

Clinic has been really hectic this week.. lots of volunteers and just a lot going on. Its been good, but long days and I’m ready to crash when I get home. Plus there is always something going on in the evenings too.. which is great, don’t get me wrong, but I also just like down time. Like last night we went out to ‘All-you-can eat chicken wings for $1 US!’ Crazy eh! But it was good and we had tons of fun. I’m really enjoying being more a part of the ‘volunteer culture’ these days. Plus everyone just hangs out at our apartment and we all cook together and just hang out. I got a great deal on potatoes at the market and I’ve been cooking potatoes for the masses!  Well maybe not the masses, just like 6 people.. but still, that’s quite a few for me, seeing as I’m used to cooking for just Gran and I. We seem to cook for whatever volunteers are in the apartment and now the girls bring over raw food when they come to hangout, and we put together some interesting combinations!

sunset from my new deck and thats our dock!

Today, clinic was busy and after clinic I met up with Mycol (finally figured out how he spells his name.. its pronounced Micheal.. but spelt like that) my tutoring kid and he took me home to meet his mother. He lives in the Colonia and its quite a walk from school.. through a really poor area. His mother was so sweet and so gracious! She was very excited I was tutoring Mycol and very proud of her son.. although she thinks he doesn’t study enough! Lol! But what fifth grade boy does! Then after hanging out with him at his house for a bit, I met up with Laura and a group of med students here on a medical mission trip from Texas who put on a health fair in the Colonia. I helped out with the health fair and just showed them how to do HIV tests and did some translating, just basic facilitating type of stuff. So that was fun. Then I got home tonight after 7 and just collapsed on my bed. I’m always so exhausted! I think the heat tires me out so much more than normal.. and I suppose since I had been on the go for 12 hours that helps exhaust me too! Overall a great day, just busy. Busy is the name of the game these days.. but I want to make the most of my time here.. so bring it on! Sleep is for the weak! Lol. 

oh, and last minute blessing to share.. I was really frustrated after clinic today, and just felt so undervalued and appreciated at the clinic, but one of the other girls came and left a note on my pillow which I just found that basically says she really appreciates all my help at clinic and is glad I'm there. Such a small gesture, yet it means SO much. God is so good to put those little things in our lives! Praise Him!

Crazy week at clinic but always good fun..

So this week has been CRAZY!! I moved into my new apartment on Wednesday and its been so busy! I've hardly had time to get things unpacked! The first night I was here, the power went out while I tried to unpack so I couldn't do much in the dark (which is why I haven't posted pictures yet 'cause my camera was dead and power has been sketchy.. but I will take and post some tomorrow). But I hung out with my new roommate, and I'm so blessed to be getting to know her! Then clinic on Thursday was crazy because they did another outreach and we were short two doctors so things were moving slower and just more hectic. Oh and my favorite story of Thursday was that I got to take out my first set of stitches! Which is actually quite an accomplishment for me, because to be honest I get a bit squeamish around stitches.. you'd think I'd like them, with my passion for sewing and all.. but I dont! Anyway, Laura was taking stitches out of a little boy's upper lip and she let me do it! :) Nothing too crazy, just cutting out a few stitches but I thought it was fun! And clinic was just the same old crazy hectic-ness.. I can't think of any specifically funny or interesting story but just long and hectic. We didn't get out til 15mins before tutoring, so I just came home and changed and went straight to the school.
I really enjoy tutoring, and Micheal my student is really fun. It is so awesome to see a 5th grade boy who is so keen on learning and just soaks it up. I mean he is still mischevious and tries to convince me he should be allowed to 'research things on the computer' rather than do his spelling words.. but he just loves to learn! And he is so sweet! He made me a necklace this week just to thank me for being his tutor!
Then after tutoring some of the other volunteers came over and hung out on our porch because we are basically right on the water.. like I'm not kidding, I could probably spit into the ocean, not a word of lie! So we hung out on the porch.. well, I tried to get schoolwork done but they were too distracting! Then I cooked us supper and we hung-out and ate it all together. It was fun to bond with the other volunteers and it was the perfect first supper in my new apartment! I just feel so old and mature now - buying my own food at the market, preparing group meals and eating together.. it is just so much fun!!

Emmy, ME, Vanessa, Micheal, Oscar and Mado (other clinic volunteer)

So then today was a really hectic day in clinic too! We were short doctors again, only this time we were short on of our staff doctors who oversees the students so that REALLY slows things down! So now all the med students have to have their consults checked by only one doctor rather than two.. so this creates serious backlog. Plus one of our computers was down, and unfortunately it was the one the receptionist uses to register patients so there was a long wait while she did registration more manually than usual.  It took us forever to see all the patients and normally if we are short a doctor, we cap the patient load for the day, but since it was friday and we are not open on the weekends they decided not to cap.. and we ended up seeing a ton of patients. I saw a real variety of things today.. I assisted a doctor do a pelvic exam and ultrasound on a pregnant 15yr old who was bleeding a bit, and it turned out she had miscarried... I did an EKG on a woman who was having a heart attack.. we saw a young man who was paralyzed on one side (similar to a stroke) but this was due to a gun shot wound in his forehead from 3months ago. So just a real mis-mash like always.
Then we got home just in time (like 30sec to spare) to do my midterm evaluation with my professor at UPEI, which went well. We did a skype interview, and I think my favorite part is that my roommate didn't realize what was going on and she walked by in the background several times wearing only her bikini (which is hardly anything) lol. I'm sure my professor thinks I'm crazy! lol Then just as we ended the call we heard shouts from the dock and everyone was crowded around something. We called over and found out that a kid had cut his foot on the dock really badly and needed stitches. So we got the keys and headed back to the clinic to stitch him up. One of the students stitched and Laura and I assisted. We got him all stitched and bandaged up, a tetanus shot and some wound cleaner and sent him on his way. Maybe I'll get to take his stitches out in a few weeks when he returns to the clinic.

Anyway, thats a long enough post for today.. but if this is how my new adventure begins, I can hardly wait to see what is yet to come! Thanks for all your prayers and support!

All settled in at my new apartment.. ready for a new phase of the adventure to begin

So its been a whirlwind these last few days because on top of all the normal busy things I do, I've been working on finding a new place to live and moving. Why exactly I had to move is a very long story that I won't bother to get into here.. but the bottom line is, I moved. I really hope it will be a fun new phase of this grand adventure! I was living with a family about 10-15 mins from the clinic and that was great, but now I live like 5 mins from clinic is the owner's basement apartment. My roommate Danielle was living here and was looking for a roommate and thankfully agreed to let me live with her. Its a cute little apartment, which I will post pics of shortly. Its right on the water and really close to all the other volunteers so I'll be more in on whatever is going on.
Yesterday was moving day.. I packed up all my stuff, and man do I ever have a lot of stuff! I may have to leave some of it here or I'll have to pay to bring it all on my flights home!! And then we went into Coxen Hole, the city and bought groceries and went to a sweet fruit/veggie market. I felt so grown up buying food at the market (my other living arrangements included food so I never had to worry about buying groceries.. but I do now)!
Overall, this is a new experience and I don't know quite what to think of it yet, but I'm still excited! God has blessed me with a new opportunity and I feel like He led me here, therefore He will give me the strength, patience etc I need to live here.

A Turn-Around Weekend

So the end of last week was good. I really enjoyed heading up the clinic but at the same time, I'm just as glad to let Laura take her responsibility back. Plus this means I might get to go on some outreach trips this week! :) Outreach trips are my favourite! But whatever God has instore will be great, I'm sure. Like I was a tiny bit disappointed about not getting to go on the outreach last week, but in the end, I had a better day at the clinic than I would have at outreach.. so the Lord knows best.

This weekend is a big turn-around point because most of the volunteers here come for a month (a few come for less and a few for more) and this is the end of the month - therefore, we have a ton of people leaving, and a whole crew of new volunteers coming in. So Friday and Saturday nights were both goodbye suppers and hanging out with the old crew who I have become quite attached to, and then on Saturday we met some of the newbies too. I'm sad to see some of my friends go home, but I realize that is how this works.. and for one of them, going home is probably best. Poor Annie! We have been joking that she is allergic to Roatan because she has had every conceivable illness while here, even things that are unrelated to being in a foreign country! lol. so she is a bit sad about leaving, but mainly she is pumped to be gettting outta here! lol.

Last night we had an excellent dinner at Rotisserie Chicken to send off the staff/welcome the newbies in style.. true island style! Then of course, the clinic beckons.. we had a big shipment of meds from Direct Relief (an international aid company who sends us meds twice a year or something) so we had to go and sort through the shipment and stock all the meds either in the pharmacy or the storeroom.. so our pharmacy students who are leaving early this morning got one last chance to help us and the newbies got a running start! lol. But that is clinic life for ya!

Now I'm off to try out a new church this morning and then to West Bay to swim/snorkle.. around here, Sunday=beach day! And man, I am up for that! I'll need a good day of relaxing to prepare for the hectic Monday we will have training all the newbies, seeing tons of patients (Mondays are always crazy busy) and sorting through the meds further and doing med inventory! So I'm gonna soak up the rays while I can!

Annie & Mado (pharmacy students) who leave today and  Me & Laura in the Clinic pharmacy

Interesting week at the clinic

This has certainly started out as an interesting week at the clinic! Laura is gone to Le Ceiba (on the mainland) with half the med students to help out with a big surgery clinic that a mission group from the states is hosting. So I'm the new head nurse (lol, thats what happens when you only have 2 nurses, and one leaves.. but I'm still taking it as a compliment!). And thankfully we have a volunteer RN in for the week, so I'm not solo anymore, but I'm still orientating her and stuff, so its still a lot of responsibility. But I'm loving it! :) Lots of critical thinking and problem solving necessary!

And we have seen some cool stuff over the last few days... an infected gunshot wound, really nasty cases of chicken pox, and interestingly enough, some of my fav patients have been gringos (Americans/white people). Gringos seem to get themselves into the most interesting predicaments.. we had a nice elderly gentleman who accidentally overdosed himself on his blood pressure meds (easily enough to do) and we ended up monitoring him on the EKG all morning but he was fine.. then another had a stroke, and my favorite of today was a woman who came in for a HIV test (which normally requires a finger stick which we draw about 1.5mls of blood from) but she had a blood disorder and it clotted too quickly.. so I got to draw her blood (venipuncture, which is not that common at the clinic because we dont have any volunteer lab techs right now, so we send any pts who really need blood drawn away to have it done at the hospital). Anyway, I drew her blood then I got to go use the lab equipment to spin it etc and do the HIV test! It was a blast!! 

So overall, I'm still loving the clinic and I'm totally into the swing of things here. I'm enjoying the challenge of practicing in a new culture and I finally feel like my spanish is improving (The nurse I was working with today was super impressed, but if you dont speak it, even a little seems impressive! lol, but they are getting me to translate some now, so I must be improving..or they are getting more desperate!). And I enjoy working with all the different volunteers who come from many different parts of the world and from many different professions. So much fun collaboration occurs and you learn so many different things! Plus I love being able to share about PEI and Canada with everyone.. and I feel like I'm even representing the profession of nursing well because often volunteers are surprised to find I'm a nurse and a student at that! 

Finally a sunny day! And its a weekend to boot!

So this weekend has been the first bit of sun we have seen in over a week! So you can tell just how excited everyone was when it finally warmed up (lol, that is such a relative term.. I as a Canadian, never really felt it was cold but everyone else sure did complain!) and the sun came out.
I spent Friday and Saturday working on my major project for school which is organizing and hosting a hearing screen for people with hearing loss so that they can have hearing aids made/fitted by an American group who wants to donate them. It was a great project, and I put tons of work into it, however only 5 people showed up. That is both sad and discouraging because I know more people on the island really could have used the hearing aids, but what can you do.. I can't force them to come! And I did advertise with posters, TV and radio ads.

Thats me in the pink with one of the med students, molding her ears

 Then the rest of the weekend I spent catching up on sleep and homework that had been neglected while I worked on my project. Sunday afternoon I took a break from school stuff to go to the beach with my family. Sunday is beach day and I figured I deserved a study break! lol! We went snorkling but I got stung by a jellyfish-type thing and that quickly ended the fun of snorkling for the day. But then I walked on the beach for awhile and we stayed to watch the beautiful sunset and the firedancers. The firedancers put on a sweet little show on the beach each Sunday night and it was really spectacular. And I even managed to get a few decent pics of it.. not that any of my pics do this island justice but its the best I can do to share it with you.

    

                                              

Real taste of rainy season.. torrential downpour, random power loss and no internet since Sunday!

Ok, so we have had an internet blackout since Sunday night. I lost internet during a skype conversation that night, while in the midst of trying to post this blog.. and internet did not return til late this afternoon. So I'm sorry to anyone I worried, but I'm totally fine! It was a big fluke and a lot of factors contributed to not having internet.. we had a HUGE storm which knocked out power on and off for the last few days, plus there was a plane crash on the mainland, which meant our internet issues were not exactly a priority! lol plus things in Honduras always work on 'Honduran time', which means whenever they feel like getting to it.. lol.

Sunday Feb 13th: 

So this blog post will be shorter I promise! Sometimes I get a bit carried away and last post was definitely one of those times.. I just was so excited to share that with all of you!

So yesterday was my first introduction to the Roatan rainy season.. technically its been rainy season this whole time I've been here, but it hadn't really rained since I've been here. Some mornings while I walked to the clinic I would see damp ground or the odd puddle, but nothing substantial. 

pouring rain on the front step (look closely)

my sopping wet laundry

So yesterday morning I was up and running early to get some schoolwork done and decided to do my laundry bright and early so it could dry on the line all afternoon.. but no sooner than I had it on the line, it started to pour. I figured oh well, it will only rain a few mins and then it will stop, but no, no it rained and rained and rained. Torrential downpour! And we lost our power, which is a common occurrence on Roatan (like every few days) so I couldn't get the schoolwork I had planned to do done. So I just lay on my bed, listening to the rain hit the roof and was lulled to such a peaceful rest. Eventually I got up and did other things, like take some pics of the rain which I will post here:

look close you can see the downpour.. and this was only the beginning..

side angle out onto my deck

my room from the door

I also thought I should post some pics of my house, so here are some pics of my room here at Bob & Debi's. Its a beautiful house and I have my own room, bathroom and deck! :) 

   

Then today, was a similar day to yesterday. Although the weather did eventually clear up yesterday and the sun came out for a brief period, but the rain was back in full force to lull me to sleep at night. Then today I woke up to the rain and now, as I get ready for bed its still pouring!! I don't mind the rain though, it does cool things off a bit and it helps me focus on the mound of schoolwork that I really should be getting done! Plus this rainy season has been fairly dry compared to other years and it ends on the last day of Feb, so we dont have much time left before its over. Plus, rain is nothing to complain about when there is a good dumping of snow on the ground at home! :)

Wed, Feb 16th:

So rainy season sure is rainy! We had a crazy storm these last few days!! A Noreaster they say.. but not quite like the snowy cold Noreasters we get at home! lol. Although it has been cold by Roatan standards, and most people have resorted to long pants and sweaters.. lol, not me though! I'm still loving the heat, its probably still in the low 20s..

So we have been without internet since Sunday evening, and man that can be a long time! Our power has been on and off and with all the rain its been a bit crazy! I ran out of schoolwork that I could do without the internet and I have read several books since I've arrived, so I'm was trying to ration the books so I wouldnt read them all too quick, but when there is no computer, no power and pouring rain, there isn't much else to do. And clinic has been pretty slow too with the rain.. one day we only had 15 patients, which is nuts! And some of our staff got stuck on the mainland after going to sightsee this weekend because the ferry couldn't cross to Roatan in the storm. (But everyone is home safe and sound now) We arrived at the clinic the other day to find several inches of water on the floor too, which caused a bit of a rush to move any supplies that might be on the bottom shelf of our storage cupboards and thankfully not much got ruined! The issue is just SO MUCH WATER!! It was coming up through the floor, in between the grout of the tiles! You basically can't understand how much water there is, its been raining like torrential downpour for days.. rivers have overflowed, streets are flooding, bridges are under water, and its really dangerous for many people to leave their homes because everything is on a slope here and there is a real risk of mudslides.

This is someone's front lawn under at least a foot of water

Anyway, today the rain finally stopped this morning, and though there has been scattered showers all day, its 95% better than the last few days. And people started coming to the clinic in droves! I did triage by myself today (I've been practicing solo for a while but usually on a busy day they send me a volunteer to help even with things like weighing patients etc). And man, today was like the day of screaming babies! Not one kid seemed to be in a good mood, they were all shreiking even when all I wanted was to weigh them! lol the other volunteers were joking that my triage room was a house of terror and it sounded like I was murdering people! I wasnt. I wanted to kill a few people but I didnt. lol. 

Oh another fun medical story for those who care: we had a 1 month old baby come into the clinic today and I triaged her.. she was only 8lbs and really small. But her most distinguishing feature was her cyanosis. Like this baby was BLUE with a capital B! We put the O2 sat on her and I thought the machine must have been broken, I couldnt get a reading higher than 84% but it was hovering much lower most of the time. Even putting her on oxygen didn't help much.. thankfully we have a pediatric resident with us, and an emergency pediatric doctor, so after a full work up, they diagnosed her with a heart defect which meant her body wasn't getting much oxygenated blood. They wanted her sent to the capital of Honduras, on the mainland to get treatment.. but the family was from the Colonia and flat out said they could never afford it. They couldn't even afford a cab to the local hospital on Roatan. They were content to take her back home to whatever fate that might be.. but this story has a happy ending! Jacob our pediatric resident is here with a group called Global Healing Health Missions and he got on the phone and after a bit he was able to get them to agree to sponser her. They were going to send a helicopter tonight to come get her and her mom so she could be flown to the capital to undergo treatment (all paid for by Global Healing Health Mission)!! It was such a happy ending! Definitely the highlight of my day.. well aside from getting the internet back! lol! 

Anyways, thats enough for this blog.. I have tons of other internet stuff to catch up on, but thanks to everyone for reading my blog and for those who were worried by my absence online!

Outreach to Crawfish Rock

Note: this is an extremely long post! Sorry for the length but I wanted to tell the story properly and its hard to shorten it much because even this hardly does it any justice! :) Enjoy the read and feel free to stop reading at any point if it gets boring or redundant.. blogging is as much for me to share my experiences as it is for you to enjoy them!

So Wednesday was a big day for us at the clinic! Well a big day for me at least.. and man, it was long (13hrs), exhausting and sweaty.. but absolutely AWESOME! We did an outreach clinic to Crawfish Rock which is a fairly remote community so many people can't get to the clinic when they need urgent care, little alone on a monthly basis for follow-up for chronic conditions like diabetes or hypertension. Dr Patrick left me in charge of gathering all our supplies and packing all the gear we needed for the trip. I was super pumped for the responsibility, plus it just fits my desire to organize and make sure things are packed really logically. He gave me a basic list of what to pack, but I added some extra stuff I figured we might need too.. and man, am I ever glad that girl guides taught me to be prepared! We ended up needing almost everything I packed extra of, and there were definitely things I didn't pack enough of (we went through a pile of supplies and medications!! Way more than anyone expected!)

So let me start this story at the beginning.. our drive. So we packed all our gear in big tupperware bins that we secured on the back of this rusty old king cab 4x4 truck. The truck has certainly seen better days, and would never pass inspection by North American standards, but it was pretty decent by Honduran standards! Only a hole rusted in the floor so the front seat passenger could see the road and brakes that hardly worked on a good day. So we rounded up our crew (basically half the clinic staff and pretty much everyone who didn't get a chance to go the brothel on Tues) Laura & I for RNs, Annie our pharmacy student, Deidre the med student, Steve our med resident and Dr Patrick (you'll remember him from my previous brothel post). Dr Patrick is our fearless leader for all outreach clinics and he has travelled to Crawfish Rock the last few times and knows the people. So we set out with all 4 of us girls squished into the back seat, and Steve riding shotgun with Dr Patrick. We drove a short way outside Sandy Bay and then turned onto Mudhole Rd. We had heard that Crawfish Rock was an isolated community and that the drive could be very treacherous, hence the strapping our gear onto the back of the truck.. but we had NO CLUE what we were getting ourselves into! The beginning of Mudhole Rd is a typical dirt road, but for some of the girls, Annie specifically who grew up in New Jersey, this was a totally new experience. But the road very quickly turned into a crazy rutted nightmare! It was nuts! The road basically goes up or down on a nearly 90 degree incline.. and the ruts in the road are sometimes several feet deep. We drove through basically the jungle part of the island! The views were spectacular (and I don't even have good pics.. hopefully I'll get some copies of the ones Annie and Steve took with their snazzy cameras and add them here too) and seeing some of the most beautiful parts of the island almost made the drive enjoyable. But man, we bounced and jostled our way to Crawfish Rock. 

view out the window as we drove up to Crawfish Rock

 

this gives some sense of the height but none of these pics does the real thing any justice

  

Poor Annie was soo sick when we got there! So when we arrived we stopped just inside the community at Miss Rosa's house. She is the towns matriarch and she 'gave' us permission to hold the clinic in the town. She said she had been praying we'd come to help her people and began shouting out praises to God when we showed up. She has some absolutely awful ulcers on her feet (diabetic foot ulcers) and really needs an amputation, but she refuses. Once before she had terrible ulcers and she moved into Sandy Bay to be nearer to the clinic and a nurse visited her daily to clean and dress her wounds until they healed, but unfortunately they are back. We tried to convince her to come in to Sandy Bay again so we could treat her feet but she wouldn't hear to it. We cleaned her feet up the best we could and left her granddaughter with supplies to continue dressing it for at least a month (prior to our visit she was using traditional remedies (aka: bush medicine) on it, but this wasn't doing the trick.. although I'm sure it made her feel better). Another interesting note here for the nurses who read this.. her BP was well over 200.. but she ran out of meds so wasn't taking any. Plus she said she only takes her 'pressure pills' when she feels bad, and right now she feels fine, therefore she said I was lying about her pressure being high! :) And its not that uncommon to see BP's over 200 and people be completely functioning! lol. Their bodies just adjust here.. I'm sure its not good for them, but they have no choice so they just keep on going. 

Welcome to Crawfish Rock!

this is just past where we set up the clinic but many locals don't attempt the road but take the sea instead

 

Once Miss Rosa gave us permission to set up, we continued down the road a bit further to the local school and set up there. Laura & I did registration/triage and I don't know if I have ever taken so many blood pressures or blood glucose tests ever before! Then we would send them on to see Drs for a quick and basic consult (since we didn't have much portable equipment it was pretty much based on whatever the patients could self report). Then the Drs would write prescriptions that Annie would fill at her pharmacy table. So what I just described was how it 'should' work.. but instead we just had tons of people going every which way.. we tried our best to do it that way but there were kids running all over the place and people just kept coming out of the woodwork! The line to get in was NEVER ENDING! We just worked and worked and worked! Once we finished registration, Laura & I moved over to help Annie dispense medications. Poor Annie who was already not feeling well after the drive was in the midst of a swarm of people all insisting they were here first. Everyone was terrified we'd run out of medication and they wouldn't get theirs. And honestly, we did run out of some things.. but we were able to find something similar or that would still work to treat whatever their diagnosis was. We became very creative and ingenuitive! Plus we learned sneaky ways to get kids to drive 10mls of nasty smelling/tasting de-worming and parasite medication! By the end of the clinic we were all starved, hot, sticky and ready for a nap. But we still had to pack up and drive back to the clinic. We stopped in French Harbour (local city) on the way back to grab food at a local burger place so that we could keep from starving! lol. 

this was early on too, so the chaos was only just beginning!

you can see the little table where we were doing registration, with the BP cuffs hanging off it.. that was my post!

   

Laura and I dropped everyone off and drove back to the clinic to drop off all the stuff. We just had everything put back in the clinic when we realized that we had scheduled another health fair (like a mini outreach clinic) at SOL foundation, a local drop-in youth centre for 5pm.. and it was already 4:30. So Laura and I restocked and repacked the gear for the next health fair. We called the organizer and she said it would be like 30-35 people, so we estimated an hour at most. We recruited help and ironically the only ones who agreed to come were the people who spent all day in Crawfish Rock (plus the other pharmacy student Mado and a new RN volunteer, Hannah).

this is the pharmacy girls doing health education at the SOL foundation

this is only the first 15 mins, and look at the crowd already! It only gets bigger from here!

 So we got to the SOL foundation's site (basically a soccer field) and set up. Kids and their parents started showing up so we began doing heights and weight for all the kids and blood pressure & blood glucose for all the adults. We wrote all their information down on cards, so that the next time they can bring the to the health fair to track their progress. The Drs set up and did quick consults and referred people to the clinic while the pharmacy girls did health education, mainly around dental hygiene & gave out tooth brushes. And again, the people kept coming and coming and coming! We saw well over 100 kids and many of their parents! It was crazy!! We didn't start packing up until 8:15pm!! By the time Laura dropped me off at home it was nearly 9pm... so I had put in over a 13 hr day! 

Like I said earlier, I was hot/sweaty, hungry and absolutely exhausted, but with a huge smile on my face! I was bursting to tell everyone how great my day was and I just have this sense of accomplishment when I think of how many people we helped or were impacted by our day!

It was pretty hard to get out of bed before 6am this morning though, I must admit! But today at the clinic it was even more rewarding when I did triage on several parents from the SOL foundation health fair. They had come to the clinic for follow up for things we had told them at the health fair (like for a consult about high blood pressure etc). It just made my day that our one day, has such a long lasting ripple effect! :)

Sorry for the length of my post, but I've been just dying to share my day with the world.. hope you enjoyed a glimpse into my experience doing outreach in Roatan!