Clinicas!

September 13, 2010:

Mini clinic – to get our feet wet. The medical group worked along side with the dental group in kilometro 21. Some people came in to get their teeth checked and others came in with fevers, headaches, and diarrhea problems. We signed them up to either see the dental group or the Doc.

Many of our patients had children that were sick or not feeling well. They were having problems with fevers, vomiting, or diarrhea. The majority of adults had problems with dizziness and headaches. In total we had like 10 people. So it was very slow.

I assumed that there would be a huge line wanting to be seen by the Doctor. However, I had forgotten that we were in a very small village and most of them were out working while we where there.

The dental group had about 12 people signed up to be seen. Unfortunately, they were only able to see 6 of them. Some who had signed up didn’t want to wait to be seen and decided to leave. We where there for about 4 hours. I think that for our first clinic it went well. Doc says that tomorrows will be busier and with more people; a more realistic clinic.

September 14, 2010:

First Clinical!! Way different from yesterday. Yesterday was only half a day (10am-1pm) and today we worked from nine to one, then two till 7. A total of nine hours. We started by registering people to see the doctor. I would ask for their name, age, birth date, if they were allergic to anything, if they were taking any meds, and so on. Then after getting their symptoms and problems I would take their blood pressure.

The hardest part of it all was writing down their names. I could almost never catch it the first time and then spelling it was a total different story. Ha ha Bless their hearts, they were so nice and patient with me. At times I just had them write down their own names.

After an hour had passed Pastor Puma came over to help. All this time while I was registering Rachel was at the pharmacy (a table near the doctor with our one box of meds behind her) handing out the prescriptions that the people would hand her. I let Puma take over the registration and I went over to help Rachel out. One of the first things that the Doc told us a few week ago was, “Never hesitate to ask, especially if it concerns a patient.” So, we took him up on that. Considering it was our first real clinic we had no idea what his chicken scratch meant. So every three patients we were asking him, “What does this say?”

We hated having to ask him so many times, but we knew that it had to be done. Going over the meds the week before really helped us out decode some of the meds. If we knew what the problem was, we could figure out what med he had prescribed.

One thing I’m sure about. I like the registration MUCH more. I could talk with each person one on one, interact with them, and at least get to laugh or sympathize with them. Giving meds is such a fast paced process: read the prescription, look for the meds, pack them, write out instructions, and then tell them the instructions. Hardly any interaction.

At some points of the morning the Doc would ask for a med and we would have to shake our heads and tell him that we didn’t have it. He would shake his head and move on. We felt so worthless and stupid. But then again no one showed us how to pack or what to pack. He gave us a short list of maybe 15 meds and that was it.

We had our 1 hour lunch break. We snarfed down some food and then went into our pharmacy to restock on meds that were running low and then we grabbed extra meds that he had asked for earlier that day. At two we were back at it. In the afternoon it got a tiny bit easier. We also got to see our first tumor removals. One was on a mans forehead. It was really big. The tumor was the size of two grapes. Then the second one was on a girls hand. Hers was harder to get at because it was much deeper. After their surgeries Rachel and I administerd our first shots. I gave the man his shot on his butt and Rachel gave the girl her shot on the arm.

Now, at night in my bed, I’m super exhausted. And I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep. My mind is very restless. So many errors, so much improvement, so many knew things. I’m a bit overwhelmed…

But I guess its only my first full day.

September 15, 2010:

Clinic day #2. So yesterday was only half a clinic even though we worked for 9 hours and had 99 patients. Today we were at a new location; Santa Elena. Yesterday we were at Santa Teresita. Because of an unexpected accident we had to start late and we arrived at our destination at 2pm. This time we had a better place to set up our meds and administer them to the patients. We weren’t all crowded in a small room. In fact, Rachel and I had a large table, plenty of room behind us to place our stuff, and the doctor had his own little room. With his own office it gave him more room and it gave the patients more privacy. What was also really handy was the extra room we had to work with. It was a small room with two beds. Rachel and I used this room to give butt shots.

We did the usual of giving out the drugs and asking questions. However, by the end of today I feel like we are much better at reading his handwriting. In only 15 hours we have improved our decoding by 30%. We ended the night with a surgery done on a 4 year old girl. She was so precious and it hurt us all to see her in pain. As the Doc gave her anesthesia she screamed at the top of her little lungs, Lauren held her knees down, Doctor Diana held her arms down, her mommy embraced her baby and tried to calm her, and Rachel and I stood nearby with the tools ready to assist.

I wanted to cry, but I knew I had to be strong. As the Doc worked hard at removing the tumor, mommy cried for her little girl. I now truly know that when a child is in pain, the mommy and daddy are hurting too. Probably more than what we children realize. I love you mom. Thanks for all the hurt you have endured for me and for your endless love. I miss you tons.

September 16, 2010:

Clinic #3. Things have definitely improved. I got better sleep last night and was able to work better. Oh I forgot to mention that these last three days I have been battling the cold. I have no idea where it came form. It’s so annoying because it hit me hard on our first clinic and it has slowed me down. Luckily, I have Rachel and many friends who watch over me. I’ve been taking medication, loading up on the vitamins, drinking tons of water, and staying away from any sweets. Thankfully, today it wasn’t too bad.

When I think that my brain has no more room for new material, I’m always fooled. Today the Doc showed us new things. We were administering different meds, dosages, shots, and so much more. Rachel assisted with a vaginal exam and an infected penis. Hope no one minds reading this ha ha. I administered anesthesia on a middle finger and pulled out its nail for the first time. I also learned how to irrigate ears.

Holy Macaroni! I was shocked with how much, ear wax, crud, puss, and so much more could be stored away in an ear canal. My first two ears belonged to two little boys. A 7 year old and a 10 year old. They were complaining of pain and so when the Doc took a look, he found a blockage of ear wax. I was then put to the task of cleaning them out. I first started by poking a hole in stool softener pills and then squeezing the liquid in their ears. I had them lay down for 15 minutes so the stool softener could work its magic. I then took out a huge metal syringe, pulled in some water, then pumped it in their ear with some pressure. The two boys were easy. But then came my challenges. There was a young girl who had a horrible ear infection mixed with tons of wax. I was to remove as much of it and then wash her ears out. When I removed good size chunks I washed her ears with an iodine solution. Finally I had an elderly fellow who couldn’t hear because he was so clogged with crud. I irrigated both ears several times and got a lot out. At one point he said, "Hey, I can kinda hear you." When I couldn’t get any more out I decided to add more stool softener and had him lay down again. I then gave it another go and was able to get more out. However, when I looked in his ears again there was still white stuff deep in his ears. It was impossible to get it all out. So I asked the doctor to take a look, he shook his head and said there wasn’t much we could do. Meanwhile Rachel was by herself doing the meds. Sadly, we had to let him go home because we were backing up with tons of patients. I felt so bad because he was in so much pain and I was so close to getting it all…

We ended the night with two surgeries. A long and difficult hernia removal and a 2 minute tumor removal. The Doc is incredible, he can do anything he puts his mind to. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to be there for the hernia surgery because I worked on packing up and getting things ready for departure. At 9pm we arrived home exhausted but with higher spirits than the night before. We came home to some delicious homemade GLUTON! Our beautiful friends Jenessa and Hanna had prepared supper for us.

What I’ve notices as clinics go by:

We pack more meds

We have less questions

More responsibility is given to us

We learn new procedures

We come up with more efficient tricks (the Doc is all about efficiency 24/7)

Tonight’s quote form the Doc “Buen trabajo chicas, trabajaron duro, aprendieron mucho, y hay mas que aprender!” (Good job girls, you’ve worked hard, you’ve learned a lot, and there is more to learn) There were hard times, but overall its been a GREAT day.