Roatan - Day 20

Yay for Friday!  ER #2 and I pumped through the patients this morning.  We had a good system going – I would ask all the questions and do my physical exam while ER #2 typed away on the chart note (as I translated).  Then we would decide our final plan and what medications to give together.  It was perfect.  I got the experience of doing everything on my own without having to type the note.  Now we’re talkin’.  One patient even told me she thought I was a model at first because I was so thin and tall.  She was surprised to find out I was her “doctor” (PA’s don’t exist in this country).  She is my new favorite patient.

I have to laugh because ER #2 tries so hard with his Spanish, yet patients just give blank stares back at him.  Take for example, early today he asked a question… the patient had no idea what he said so looked at me… I then asked the same EXACT question and they immediately replied appropriately.  Haha, so dang funny.  We all give him a hard time.  He even went so far as to show a patient how to gargle salt water for his sore throat.  In one hand, “agua.”  In the other, “sal.”  He then proceeded to actually gargle both together in front of the patient… and the patient still didn’t get it!  Or the time he told a patient 3 times in a row, “Me llamo doctor ___.”  The patient’s response after 3 times, “No te entiendo.”  I DIED LAUGHING.  He’ll never live it down.

After work, J and I laid out on the dock in Sandy Bay for a while then went snorkeling.  Not our favorite spot – way too murky.  However, we did find LOTS of brightly colored fish and even saw an octopus!  I almost thought it was going to come out after us.  Can the small ones squirt ink?

Remember a few days ago when M never showed up for volleyball?  Well, he was actually there this time, along with a whole lot of other peeps (or people, if you prefer).  We were 45 minutes late, but they were still only on the second game.  Finally it was our turn to play.  M, ER #1, ER #2 and I all formed a team and proceeded to win the next 3 games in a row.  So the islanders all teamed up with the best players and finally beat us off the court.  Not my best games, but beach is always much harder to play.  The very first play of our very first game, I made an awesome block over the setter of the opposite team.  She looked up at me with eyes that said “not fair” and made a remark about me being too tall.  Booyah.  Later, M told me that when all the other players saw me walk up and how tall I was, they all got worried.  Too bad I didn’t deliver more of my skills.  I was a little rusty… But can’t wait to play some more! [Side note: the same dog that bit me had to be tied up due to his bad behavior.  Maybe he DOES have rabies.]

We all spent the next couple of hours at Cannibal Café, enjoying steak fajitas, mango smoothies, ice cream sopapillas, serenaded songs from the local guitarist, great company, and plenty of laughs.

And what better way to top off the night than with our $2 pirated DVD we bought on the street?  Can’t beat that.

Big news: NO WORK ON MONDAY.  We will be celebrating the island’s revolution.  Other big news:  NO WORK THE FOLLOWING MONDAY.  It’s a national holiday.  Don’t be jealous.

Roatan - Day 19

This morning J and I worked completely on our own to do women’s health exams.  Yep, we did it all.  We didn’t have all the fancy equipment we are used to in the States so it was a bit challenging.  We made do.  And glad we are done!  Hope they don’t rope us into another day of that…

We tutored the kiddos again this afternoon, just J, M and I.  I worked with Esmerelda, who after reading a story out loud about sharks, adamantly refused that sharks lay eggs.  With my knowledge of ocean life, I could hardly refute that.  I had to stick with the book, which said they do.  Can anyone confirm this?  Apparently she took a liking to me (despite my instance that shark lay eggs) and wrote my name out and decorated it all fancy on a piece of paper.  Then when she told me she didn’t speak any Spanish (she was pulling my leg, of course), was extremely shocked to hear me spout off multiple questions in Spanish trying to get her to answer them.

The school bus then dropped J and I off in West End where we lounged on our favorite dock (I can’t believe J brought a change of clothes and didn’t even tell me!  Mostly I was jealous since I was still in my scrubs).  Just as we were getting ready to head in for some dinner, two European boys joined us on the dock so we chatted with them for a bit.  One was from Madrid (oh how I miss that accent!) and the other from Germany.  They were nice enough.

For dinner we had lionfish tacos and a fresh mango smoothie (he cut it up right before our very eyes), my dream come true.  And lunch was a baleada and mango.  LOVE the food here!  [Side note: at dinner a cat put her mangy paw on my lap and almost jumped up to join me in feasting on my fish tacos.  J is the one who loves the animals here, yet they keep coming to me…]

Roatan - Day 18

Saw a TON of patients this morning, but my most interesting case was a young man with Dengue Fever, a mosquito borne illness.  Both Dengue Fever and Malaria are transmitted via mosquito and both are prevalent on the island.  It’s important to differentiate them because the possibility of death with Dengue is greater.  Tropical medicine has been interesting to learn.  That, along with what to do about a Lionfish sting.

J and I changed into our swimsuits at the clinic, stopped for a brief baleada at the bottom of the hill (where I also gave J a short Spanish grammar lesson), and headed to our favorite dock in West End to catch some sun.  We didn’t get much since it was almost 3 pm by the time we got there, but enough to keep us content.  Until our next beach day anyway. 

So our new volunteer coordinator at the clinic used to play professional volleyball in Europe for almost 10 years (we’ll call him M).  He said I should come play some beach volleyball this afternoon, with some of the islanders.  He also invited ER #1 and #2 as well.  So after a couple hours on the dock, we set out to find said volleyball beach court.  After conveniently blocking the narrow path of some tourists riding horses trying to get to the beach, we finally spotted it.  We had to backtrack a bit to actually find a way for J to get to it.  Turns out there was NOBODY there!  Also, turns out as I was walking back to J, a slobbery dog decided he wanted to bite my hand (no warning mind you.  A bark would have been nice)!  J and I have this joke about dogs here.  She feels sorry for the whole lot of them and constantly wants to pet them all.  I, on the other hand, realize full well that most of them have fleas, a handful have rabies, and one or two could end up as your meat taco you plan on eating that night.  I just don’t do dogs in third world countries.  I have been taught to stay away, mostly because of rabies.  Well, J was smart and got her rabies vaccine.  So…. I was freaking out that the dog bit me and couldn’t believe J didn’t even warn me it was coming up behind me!  At least he didn’t break the skin.  I’m safe… for now.  Also, so you don’t think I’m a dog hater, I LOVE dogs (big ones only and in the States only) and miss my dear pup, Hershey, terribly.  Wow, that was a long paragraph to simply say, there was no volleyball to be played tonight.

So dinner it was.  On the way back into town, we ran into ER #1 and #2 who were also coming to play volleyball.  We waited around for a few for M to show his face, which we never saw.  So we ventured down the main drag to find some din din. 

Speaking of Lionfish (I mentioned it earlier, ha), we decided to try LionFish Louie’s and actually ate lionfish for dinner, along with “fried potatoes” (aka french fries) and fried plantains.  If you don’t know what a lionfish is, Google it.  They look incredible – brown with white stripes and all kinds of fins extending from it, which are actually barbs and which actually are poisonous.  But the meat of those suckers is delicious!  What better way to spend the evening than eating fresh fried fish while reclining on the beach and watching the sunset?  We sat around on the beach for another hour or two chatting with ER #1 and #2, their friends from the hostel, and M who finally decided to show his face.  Our longest day yet away from Ed’s apartment…

I could do a repeat of tonight every night while we are here (minus the dog bite).

Roatan - Day 17

Another day of seeing patients was swept right out from under my feet.  I’ve been excited to work with the hondureño doc this week (and probably my only week), but then I got asked to work in the pharmacy today instead.  Ok… I’ll go where they need me.  At least I snuck in some translating for ER #2 here and there.  Then on Thursday, J and I will be doing pap smears and breast exams all morning.  Can’t wait (actually, I can).  Nah, we’re pros by now.  Maybe more information than you wanted, but it’s common talk among PA students.  Welcome to the club.

Berta, one of the nurses at the clinic asked me where I was from and when I said Arizona, she pointed out the fact that that’s where all the illegal immigrants cross into the U.S. and that now she knows to come to my house whenever she wants to come to the U.S.  Haha, that made me laugh.

A little more about the island that I don’t think I’ve explained before… There are 3 types of people living here in Roatán.  1) The Islanders, who are Black and speak mainly English, although they also know Spanish.  There are also white islanders (literally just a handful) who have been here since the British occupied the island.  2) The Hondureños, who are brown/Hispanic and have come over from the mainland.  They speak Spanish only.  3) The Gringos, who inhabit every tourist area and restaurant/bar in West End.  It’s an interesting mix of people and brings a nice variety to the island.

After work today, some of us volunteers at the clinic went to a local school to tutor some students.  I think (ok, I know) most of us were expecting to help poor underserved students who were struggling.  Instead, we were bussed over to the most expensive school on the island to provide one on one help to a handful of kids who would probably get along just fine if their parents at home spent some time with them.  It was a beautiful school (remodeled resort), set on the edge of an unpopulated bay with a cooling sea breeze coming in through the windows.  Any kid would be lucky to attend school there.  The girl I worked with (3^rd grade) had some serious ADD, but that didn’t even compare to the kid ER #2 ended up with.  I’m more than happy to help and love being around kids, but I couldn’t help thinking “I’m so glad I’m not teaching anymore…”  I do miss my high school kids terribly though…

Tonight J and I had a daring adventure in the kitchen.  We had bought the makings for spaghetti back on our first trip to the grocery store upon arrival in ghetto paradise.  So we decided we’d finally attempt to cook in the kitchen.  J chopped up fresh vegetables for a salad and I set to work on the spaghetti.  Background: I trust NO dishes that aren’t in the dish drainer.  Who the heck knows how long the dishes in the cupboards have sat there, collecting dust and other things not to be named.  So we have 3 plates, 2 cups, a couple spoons, 1 fork, 1 knife, 1 pot and 1 skillet to rotate through.  Because I wanted a bigger skillet to warm up the spaghetti sauce, I pulled out a bigger one from the cupboard only to find a bug (earwig maybe) surprised and disturbed that I had bothered him.  I’ll stick to our regular skillet then.  After realizing we only had plates for our salads (they are more like teacup plates), I pulled out a larger one from the cupboard.  After finding a cockroach leg on the second one, I gave up.  I will never use dishes out of the cupboard again.  And I will never cook in the kitchen again.  I am more than happy to spend more money eating out.  We start tomorrow night. 

               

Oh, and I can’t forget that I accidentally squirted J in the face with mandarin orange juice when trying to open the can with our new, less than acceptable can opener.  Oops…

Roatan - Day 16

Back to the morning shift this week.  This morning was madness.  There were 4 doctors and 3 of us students seeing patients in only 4 rooms.  So much for seeing patients on our own.  This week I am working with one of the native hondureño docs.  My first patient of the day was an interesting case.  She came in with abdominal pain and vomiting.  At first I was thinking a gastroenteritis until her pregnancy test came up positive.  After further workup we sent her to see a gynecologist due to a probable ectopic pregnancy.  Hopefully everything turns out fine.

ER #1, ER #2, J, and I had lunch at the bottom of the hill at Marco’s, a hut with a few tables and plenty of flies (where we found out about the Boston Marathon – they had a TV on).  Only $5 for a plate of fried fish (turns out it’s not fresh…tilapia is NOT an ocean fish), fried plantains, rice & beans, and steamed vegetables.  This will be a new frequented joint by us, same place we get the baleadas. 

This afternoon we took a trip to the grocery store in Coxen Hole to stock up on yogurt, salad toppings, peanut butter, Oreos, and Snickers.  Ok, we bought other things too, but we definitely upheld the American stereotype.  On the way back, our taxi driver kindly passed us some Jehovah’s Witness pamphlets and a short discussion of religion ensued.  He said he doesn’t belong to any church in particular (although he does prefer the Baptists), but likes to visit other churches.  I asked if he had been to visit The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons), and said he hadn’t, but would like to.  I told him when and where on Sunday and that I’d be there.  He said he’d come.  We shall see…

J and I passed out on our beds after we got home for an hour or two (that was J, not me…) and are kicking it back at Ed’s for the rest of the evening.  Exciting, I know…