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