Pictures! Pictures! Pictures!

Finally getting strong enough internet to post pictures! So I thought I'd post some photos of our last month here to give you guys a sense of what I've been talking about! :)

 Hope you enjoy them! :)

Me, Kate, Beth & Amy (pharmacy students) painting the local hospital

Kate and I up on benches painting! (super warm! over 30degrees indoors!!)

our painting crew in front of the local hospital

impromptu drink picnic as the boys change our tire that blew on the way back from the beach

Me & Kate at the secluded beach

Beth putting in my IV during rotavirus.. note the attempt to smile with bucket very close by! :)

local kid playing in a beautiful sunset

Oh and some people have suggested I post some prayer requests here, so..
Prayer requests:
- for the overall running of the clinic, that we are able to see patients and provide the best health care possible
- for the volunteers and our 'community' here - for an ease in relationships and learning to grow/get along with others in a tight space and strange environment and bond us together in love
- for health ( I'm still getting over my Rotavirus and I have a sore throat, so I'm just hoping that I'm not getting a cold after that nasty rotavirus knocked my immune system)

Our Tiny Taste of Home via our Cruise Ship Visitors!

So since recovering from Rotavirus last weekend, I've had an incredibly busy week!! Monday I was off clinic and thats when I wrote the earlier post.

Tuesday was a VERY busy day at clinic we saw over 80 patients!! It was just a jam-packed day! Lots of chaos like usual, plus just a really busy day with lots of IV fluids etc and add in the decision to keep a patient overnight in the pediatric ward (first time that has happened since we have been here..) it was nuts! It was 'just one of those days'... and it just wouldn't end! We would get to a point where we thought we could see the end, and we would find another stack of charts.. lol. And we had a number of people on IVs who we were monitoring, then the pediatrician Dr Rafael decided he wanted to keep a sick baby overnight to monitor her and give her IV fluids (she had rotavirus..) and so Katelyn & I left clinic a few hours early to go home and rest because we came back to do an afternoon shift in the inpatient ward upstairs. We decided to go as a pair for the company and because it would have to be 100% in Spanish (with a non-English speaking family and Dr, if we ever needed to call him). We had a really interesting afternoon shift! When we got there, we had 3 patients: two kids and a pregnant lady on IV. We got a quick crash course in Honduran nursing paperwork (how to read the Dr orders, where to fill in vitals, where to write our nursing note.. etc) and started monitoring  our patients. Everything went super well. We were able to discharge the pregnant mom after about an hour when her fluids finished running. Then we discharged the 8yr old girl about 45 mins after that when her IV finished up too.. she has sickle cell anemia and was in sickle cell crisis and since we can't give her blood (there is no blood bank here and blood transfusions basically don't exist) we just gave her a ton of IV fluid to try to flush her bloodstream. She was pretty cute though! I had fun chatting with her and she thought my spanish was a hoot! She just kept laughing at my fumbled sentences! But at least I was making her smile! :)
Our time with the baby was also basically uneventful. She started to spike a fever, but didn't get high enough for us to administer tylenol, so that was nice. And she started to come around quite a bit.. by the time we passed off to another nurse she was up playing with the toys and babbling a bit (whereas when we arrived she was just lying in her dads lap too sick to be interested in much..) We went right from the clinic to Coxen Hole where a bunch of the volunteers went out for chinese food for Megan's birthday (she is our lab tech). So that was a blast!
Wednesday was another busy busy day at the clinic and it kinda continued on the same path of 'just one of those days..' But everyone went for a nice snorkle in the afternoon which seemed to make things better!
Thursday was our highlight this week! Katelyn and I took the day off clinic and we had 16 people from Belfast come in on a cruise ship to visit! It was a coincidence that their cruise stopped in Roatan but it was a huge blessing from God!! So we got Bob Cowan (my host dad from last yr) to help us, and we hired two vans and meet them at their dock. We took them out and toured them around and showed them our island for the day!! I just had SO MUCH FUN!!! Its the same kind of fun that its been showing Katelyn life here.. like just driving along and pointing out, this is where I buy my groceries, this is where we go to do this.. etc. Just sharing my life with people I know and love! It was SO AWESOME!!

Katelyn, JoAnne, Me & Graham at 'the View'

 I can't even describe in words how great our day was and how encouraged I felt!! I got to chat with everyone and hear about home (and its not that I'm homesick.. but its just nice to hear whats happening..) and I got some really great hugs! We gave them a little tour of the island, saw some authentic stuff and met some real people. We had a really authentic lunch in Coxen Hole, then we gave them the flying tour of the clinic and our house. We stopped for a group picture on the dock after a quick recharge of apple bananas and cold water. Then we headed back to the port because people were getting anxious about missing the boat.. and for all those who know I'm habitually late.. we had them back in plenty of time!

our group shot on the dock (I have a funny squinty face but its the better shot of everyone)

I hope they had as great a day as I did! And in addition to the awesome day, they brought me a little package of stuff that my mom sent me from home.. mostly stuff I forgot! lol. But there is a little Easter gift (its wrapped and says don't open til Easter morning on it! ) It was hilarious though because Kate and I got back to the house after seeing them off and we opened our packages from home and it was kinda like Christmas! I was so exhilarated from the whole day and still full of adrenaline and excitement.. and I said to Kate that it was more exciting to see what was in the package and I felt about opening my gifts this past Christmas!! I got some nice cards and things and it was just soooo great! So thanks family and friends who sent us stuff! We loved it!
The whole day was just what I needed!! Clinic has been tough and I was getting a bit discouraged. This is a big turnover weekend/next week. Most of the people we spent all month with will be leaving in the next few days, and it creates a bit of a lull. Our visit with the group from Belfast was a really nice burst of energy that I needed. It was encouraging and reminded me that this is what God called me to. I'm here because He wants me to be and He has great plans for this trip! And it gave me a fresh perspective of how much I truly love it here and do love what I'm doing. When I was telling them all about it and showing them things, I was grinning from ear to ear. I could hardly contain my passion! So it was nice to be reminded that I am passionate about this!
We finished our Thursday off by tutoring and going out to supper with our roommate Lexi for her last night.
Friday was another day at clinic and Lexi left so we are currently down a roommate (but Danielle, my roommate from last year is coming in today and she is going to stay with us!) Friday afternoon a bunch of us went shopping. A lot of people were interested in getting souvenirs because they are going home. We stopped by Bob & Debi's and people bought stuff from the Made in Roatan shop, then we went to Coxen Hole and shopped for hours in the market and local shops. We ended our shopping adventure in Carrion (a local clothing store) and a bunch of people left to go watch 'the game' (some important american college basketball game on TV at a local bar..) and there was just 5 girls left. We had a hoot trying on stuff and just shopping! We all bought stuff and it was such a great night! We topped it off with supper in West End and came home to collapse into bed.

This morning I'm just sitting on the porch in the relative coolness of the morning, enjoying writing this blog and reflecting on my crazy week! :) Never a dull moment here!!

Great week that ended with Rotavirus! :(

I wrote this post on Monday while I was recovering from rotavirus.. just didn't get a chance to post it til now.. so here it is.. and hopefully I'll have post from this week up tonight or tomorrow! Trying to get better at posting frequently! And some pics on my next one too if I can!

Another week has flown by! Man, I never seem to have enough time for things here… It seems like when you live on a Caribbean island, life should just slow down or something.. nope! Not true! Each day is so jam packed and I feel like I just have so much to share with everyone!!  Clinic has been busy as always and we are undergoing some changes amongst the staff and I have moved into a new role. I will be working some now as the charge nurse/nurse manager of the clinic. It has been a big switch for me, but I feel like God knows what He is doing, so I’m just trusting that He will sort it out. It has been a transition, and I feel like its more of a shared job anyway but I’m just moving a bit more into leadership than I was before. But prayer for this new role and the transitions would be greatly appreciated. We saw some really cool stuff at clinic last week too… a lady with active TB (who greatly benefited from some donated N95 masks, because she can now protect the grandchildren she cares for from getting it), guy with serious chemical burns on his right arm/leg which we cleaned and dressed (he will continue to come to the clinic to have his burns debrided/cleaned/dressed on a regular basis), we had a 28wk young pregnant lady on the fetal monitor because she showed signs of preterm labour and we gave her some medication to hopefully stop the progression of labour (Kate was having a field day reading all the fetal monitoring strips!! ), a little girl with facial injuries from a car crash, and so many more. We are enjoying lots of opportunities to use our skills to help and teach, such as putting in IVs etc. So the nursing side of things is going really well.

Tutoring is going well. We are really getting into a groove with our students and I’m really enjoying Emmy. She takes some getting to know… she is a typical preteen girl, but I think we have bonded now. After tutoring we ran into Bob & Debi (the family I lived with last yr) in the Colonia and ended up going to their house for awhile. I spent some time catching up with them and Kate enjoyed hearing about their shop (quick promo for them.. check out www.made-in-roatan.com). Also they are going to help us set up that adventure we have planned for the group coming from Belfast on a cruise ship this coming Thursday. 

Wednesday we had a nice going away party for Trish, one of the volunteers from here who was returning to the US. It was a nice chance to have everyone hangout outside of clinic and we had a really great lunch out. In the evening we had a bunch of people over to our apartment and taught them to play Dutch Blitz! It was hilarious!! But it has really caught on, we’ve played it a number of times since then... I almost wish we had 2 decks so we could play bigger games! And man, my competitive nature is really coming out, I kept yelling ‘cheater! Daniel you are cheating!!’ ironically, it didn’t seem to be effective! Lol.

Friday there was an ‘American’ band playing a big concert here and it was a big deal.. so we all went to this concert. It started over an hour late, in typical island style! And to be honest, I enjoyed it, but the band sounded exactly like every other Caribbean band here! But it was a cute night out and it was fun to say we did it... and we did some good clinic promo.

Saturday was a day of jam-packed fun! I started early in morning by going to Bob & Debi’s to distribute some more of the donations I brought down. Debi has a bunch of local girls over to her house on Saturday mornings to learn the art of jewellery making (using donated beads, cord etc) and they sell their creations in Bob & Debi’s shop. For Debi, it is a way to mentor young girls and spend some time investing in them and helping them learn skills and what money they make from the sale of their jewellery helps support their families. Anyway, I had some donated clothes, shoes, toiletries etc which I brought over to the house. The girls were VERY excited and grateful for the gifts! So it started my day off on the right foot! Then a group of volunteers from the clinic all headed out to a more secluded local beach (out behind the dump actually.. on Mudhole Road) and spent most of the day there. It was so nice to be at a beach where we could walk along the shore and not be tripping over hundreds of other tourists! We just really enjoyed the peacefulness and it is a unique beachfront that isn’t like where we normally go. The beach is actually great for beachcombing so we picked some pretty shells and took lots of pics! Then we all had a potluck picnic lunch! I love sharing food and good company here! What a great way to spend my Saturday! We hardly got home from the , when Angely (the receptionist from the clinic who is 19yrs old) called us to ask if we wanted to go shopping through Coxen Hole with her. She wanted to take us around and show us the market etc. So we headed straight to Coxen Hole to meet her. We spent the afternoon shopping in the market and around. We got delicious milkshakes from a stand downtown, that were more like McDonald blizzards (I got Oreo!)! By the time we got home, everyone one else had headed out to celebrate St Patricks Day already. We got dressed in all our green gear and met some of them for supper. Then finished the day off at home with some green cake and sweet game of Dutch Blitz!

Unfortunately.. I got really sick overnight! : (  I got rotavirus! It was absolutely terrible! I’ll spare everyone the details but I was violently ill and much to my dismay (and protesting), I had to stay home from church and the beach on Sunday. Katelyn and Beth gave me Zofran IV before they left for church which took a bit of the edge off my nausea.. but mostly I just had to let it run its course. I was MISERABLE! I could hardly move, I was too weak to even sit up, little alone use my computer or hold a book.. I just laid in my bed all day. I had a terrible fever and when the girls came home that night, I was holed up under fleece blankets while our room was over 30 degrees Celsius. Beth and Katelyn gave me a litre of IV fluids in the house (very bush medicine.. lol. Appropriate equipment, but some makeshift things like we hung the bag on the blinds.. lol). Daniel (one of the pharmacy students) went to the local store to get me some Gatorade and found it closed.. so he knocked on the door to the house next to it, til someone came out and opened the shop so he could buy me the Gatorade! How sweet of him! I was really blessed by how great everyone has been through this!

I am feeling much better today! I wasn’t well enough to go to clinic, but well enough to use my computer! Thankfully it only took me a few days though, most other people with rotavirus are sicker longer.. it was definitely all the prayer and the IV fluids prob helped some too. 

Busy busy first few weeks in Sandy Bay!

Well its been quite the adventure these past two weeks.. each evening I come home, I say to myself “I’ll write my blog tonight..’ but the time gets away from me and suddenly its late and I need to get to bed and I just didn’t get it done. So here is my attempt to describe nearly 2 weeks of my busy life in a single blog post and not bore anyone to death..

So we arrived mid-week and jumped into work at the clinic right away.  Things at the clinic are really different than last year, yet really similar too.. its hard to explain even. The atmosphere is different this year and there are a ton of volunteers in right now, so things are always busy and hectic.. but it’s a bit more of a disorganized chaos this year. I think it will just take some getting used to and I’m getting onto it. Katelyn went to work in triage and I was put to work doing ‘extra’ tasks.. since I had been here last year, I was able to organized and sort a lot of donations and things. Many of the organizational systems on the shelves etc was what I had put in place last year or was exactly the same so I was super familiar with it already.. so I jumped head first into all of that. So thus far, I have really been functioning as a ‘jack of all trades’ at the clinic.. sorting and organizing in the back room mostly, but being pulled in other direction when more urgent tasks come up.. like testing/fitting a patient for eyeglasses, passing meds, dressing wounds, etc..

So I’ll going to be really honest and admit it was a bit of a humbling experience at first to be in such a behind the scenes role. I was used to last year when there were only 2 nurses including myself and I was desperately needed out front to keep things rolling.. doing all the typical ‘nursing’ tasks like triage and med administration etc. So when I found myself behind the scenes and going almost a whole day without seeing a single patient, I began to get frustrated.. wondering what good I was if I wasn’t even seeing patients. I’m a RN after all, was my initial selfish/prideful thoughts.. but God soon fixed my attitude. He swiftly reminded me that I’m here to serve. If they need someone sorting donations, pulling meds & packing for outreach, stocking the pharmacy etc.. then that’s what I’ll do. I came here willing to help with whatever is needed, and right now this is my role. God has given me lots of gifts and skills, and organization is definitely one of them, and its where He has me for now, so I sucked up my pride and gave it 110%! J I found it was actually really rewarding because I had some spare moments to talk with other volunteers and to invest in others.. it was really great! Plus I got done a lot of things that have been on the ‘to do list’ for ages! And the storage room has never looked this good! ;)

Oh, and I also did a special assignment for the clinic last week! The clinic promised a school to provide judges for their science fair. So apparently being a RN qualifies me to be a science fair judge! Lol! Who knew, eh? So a few lucky volunteers were chosen and we travelled 45mins or so to a neighbouring town to judge the local bilingual school’s science fair. I judged grade 3-4 pairs. The kids were so cute! And the projects were cute too! Mainly just cool topics that they researched, like “The Sun” or “The Human Brain” and it was cute to see their nervousness etc and this was doubled because many of them don’t speak English as their first language and it was nerve wracking to know that I’d be evaluating them in English! But all of them did such a great job! I may have marked too generously! But I remember all to well how scary it is to be in the science fair! Overall a really great day!

Other than clinic, I’ve been tutoring again.. my student from last year Mycol, already has a tutor so I took on someone else. I’m currently tutoring Emmy, who is in Gr 6 and she is one of the girls I got to know last year (and who I brought down some clothes and things for). She can be a bit tricky to tutor because she is in the preteen phase, but we are pretty tight, so for now we are getting along… hopefully it continues! I’ll let you know how it goes.. After tutoring last Tuesday, Mycol took us up to his house in the Colonia to see his crabs (that he caught and is keeping for his science fair project) and it was quite a little adventure! His mother is super sweet and she remembered me from last year! Then on Thursday after tutoring, Mycol, Vanessa and Oscar (our oldest tutoring kids.. minus Emmy who had to take her younger siblings home) took us for a hike up through the whole Colonia to the top of the mountain. It gives the best view of the island and you can see both sides, it was a spectacular view and totally worth the climb.. but man, it was a really tough climb and it was raining on and off! It was super convenient thought because right as it began to pour, we were really close to Vanessa’s house so we all piled in, nearly taking up the entire house (it’s a small single room with a porch) to keep dry.

( I would be uploading pics but the internet won’t let me right now.. so you’ll just have to imagine the beauty of the island at sunset from the top of a mountain, looking down on the Colonia)

Saturday a group of five of us went into Coxen Hole and volunteered to paint the lobby/hallways of the public hospital. A group of locals have been trying to brighten/clean the hospital up some and the bought the paint & supplies but they couldn’t seem to find volunteers to actually paint. So we agreed to help. We showed up at 8:30 and in typical Island style, we didn’t really get to the painting til 10 or so.. lol but we got a nice tour of the hospital! And with the 5 of us going pretty solid we had it all painted by noon! The locals were so excited and it did actually freshen it up quite a bit! It was a really great way to spend our Saturday and I felt like we actually made a bit of a difference! It was very rewarding! Although I think I may have been a little overly happy due to the ridiculous amount of fumes I inhaled! Lol

Sundays are our day of rest and fun here! We go to RChurch (contemporary Expatriate church) in West Bay in the morning, then hit the beach for the afternoon. Our first Sunday, the water was super rough and a storm blew in, so it wasn’t exactly a beach day. But this Sunday, it made up for it! It was beautiful!! Thirty something degrees Celsius and sunny! We snorkled for half the afternoon then relaxed and read for the other half! It is such a great way to unwind from a busy week! And I got a chance to see my host family from last year, Bob & Debi Cowan. It was super nice to see them and connect with them again!

I think that is the brief highlights of my last two weeks here in Roatan! I’m going to try to be a bit more prompt about my blog in the next weeks!