Blog Catch-Up: Ophth Week and My Last Week Here

Catching up on blogging... here are the last three blogs:

Thursday, July 22, 2010
Last night, every time I closed my eyes, I saw the replay of a cataract eye surgery … it was strange! I guess I had just watched a ton of them!

Yesterday, I got to help Dr. Don Loconte with pre-op and post-op consults. I had the best time! I think I want to be a type of doctor that gets to sit down one on one with her patients in an office. I got to translate between the doctor and the patient. I got to tell the patients where to position their hands, feet, chin, and forehead, in order to look into the eye piece machine for Dr. Don. This was quite difficult. And trying to get the patients to look straight ahead and not look around… wow, tough. I probably said, “Mire recto,” “No mueva la cabeza,” and “Mire la luz” over a hundred times. I would say, “Look at the light,” and some people would look all around. One person even closed their eyes tight! Oh my gosh. Yes, it was frustrating, especially for the doctor, because we couldn’t get good readings on their eyes, but I was getting SO tickled with each patient! I loved to just sit and talk to them before and after the consult. So many interesting personalities!

I got to instruct the patients on how to use the big black spoon to cover one eye and read from the visual acuity chart. You wouldn’t believe some of the things people do! They cover one eye with the spoon. Then, we say, “Now cover the other eye,” and they use their hand to cover the other eye ALSO! And then they say, “I can’t see anything.” Haha!


Saturday, July 24, 2010
So, we had an amazing week at the clinic with our eye surgery team. There were 29 of us, and if you weren’t helping out medically, you were painting the patients’ nails, braiding their hair, or praying with them. It was neat to watch everyone participate.

Last Tuesday, I got my MCAT score back… and I improved and got what I wanted! I was so excited and relieved! The group was so kind and congratulated me and celebrated with me!

I loved translating for the patients all week too. Especially in the OR, where it was critical that I communicate the correct things to the patients. It was my job to relay messages from the doctor to the patient such as, “Please keep still,” “You’re doing a good job,” “It’s almost over,” “Can you see the doctor’s fingers now?” etc. Also, when the patients would muffle something from underneath the tarp, I would have to try to understand what they were saying and translate it for the doctor.

On Thursday, we only had one patient, so afterward, we went out for an excursion. I went to a coffee farm in the middle of the jungle. I saw crazy-looking fruits and a huge tree, which took 55 steps to walk around! Late Thursday night, we played an ultimate Frisbee tournament in the soccer field next to the clinic. It had poured rain all day, so it was super muddy -- we were slipping all over the place and covered in mud by the end of it! It was my first time to play ultimate, and we played past midnight… so fun!

Friday, Macie and I got to travel with the group to Antigua, before they flew out on Saturday. We went with a group zip-lining through the jungle right outside Antigua! We flew over coffee farms and saw the city of La Antigua from above. I got to fly upside down above the trees -- a great time! Our hotel in Antigua was an absolutely gorgeous resort. We had a black infinity pool right outside our hotel room! We went downtown after dinner for a concert in the park, and then came back to hang out around the pool and talk. It was so relaxing and fun!

Saturday morning, we dropped the group off at the airport and said goodbye. :( Dany drove us back to Chicacao. On our way back, we stopped off at a restaurant on the side of the highway for lunch. There were ostriches in a pin right next to the restaurant. We tried to order ostrich burgers from the menu, but they were out!

Today was our last Sunday here! We went to the market and church. I saw my first baptism in the Church of Christ. The baptistery is downstairs below the church, next to the pastor’s kitchen. My “dad,” Papa Pedro, baptized the man, and we got to congratulate him afterwards. Now, I’m waiting for the rain to let up a little, so that I can walk back to my house from Macie’s house.



Monday, July 26, 2010
Today is my last Monday in Guatemala. I am spending this entire week going out with Dr. David Lux to mobile clinics. (I first met him when I was throwing up my first week here.) Today, we went to "Las Margaritas" mobile clinic. I got to talk to Holly on the phone for the first time in a long time... I miss her!

Well, we saw a total of 27 patients at Las Margaritas, which isn't very many. I decided to write down some of the things I saw today, just so that I can remember later...

An older man came in complaining of painful urination. He handed us his lab reports, which said he had an enlarged prostate. Eek. I saw a baby boy with Staphylococcus infection all over his skin. I saw a 5-year-old boy, whose mom had brought him in because of problems with his eyes. I could tell something wasn't right, and Dr. Lux told me the boy had a nervous tick. We sent him off to have a psychoanalysis workup to see if it was a type of neurosis or some other cerebral problem. I got to palpate two people's enlarged spleens... the spleens were huge! You didn't have to be a doctor to know that something wasn't right with a massive bulge in their left side! I listened to Dr. Lux consult a diabetic woman about how to eat. He told her only 5 portions of sugar every day; with sugar including potatoes, rice, tortillas, soda, fruit juice, papaya, bread, cookies, etc. She was shocked that she could only have 3 tortillas at each meal! We also saw a man who came in with a torn cornea. It looked like something had sliced his eye, but he didn't remember ever having been hit with anything. I saw a 3-year-old little boy who had "syndactyly." He only had 4 fingers on his right hand and two of them were fused together. Dr. Lux told me that all embryos start out with their fingers fused together. Then, the cells in between each finger die so the fingers can separate. The little boy is going to have an x-ray to see what bones in his hand he has, to see if plastic surgery is an option. Our last 3 patients were crying babies. Dr. Lux did nothing to them, yet right when they entered the room, they started screaming and grabbing on to their moms. I love little kids and have often thought I would be a pediatrician, but if the very sight of me sends little kids screaming, I don't think I want to do it. It was difficult to hear their lungs and look in their ears. I don't know how pediatricians can make accurate diagnoses without eing about to properly examine the patients! We had some extra time afterward, so I talked with a neighbor girl and got to pet a rooster.

Now, I'm back at Macie's house, drinking coffee while in pours rain outside, waiting for church to start at 6.