Rotation #9 Honolulu, Hawaii

Well, you got the daily run down while I was in Honduras, but decided I couldn't, nor wanted to continue the daily write-up.  I was too busy exploring the island!  This rotation was practically a cake walk, but a nice needed break just before starting my trauma rotation, graduating, and studying for the Boards.  My friend Sariah came with me for the whole 6 weeks and we just had the most AMAZING time.  We'd both been to Hawaii before and we talked about going this last Christmas break, but alas it didn't happen.  So when I found out about this assignment, I didn't have to do too much talking to convince her to come.  I can't imagine being there by myself... boring.

My rotation was in Dermatology (my one and only elective) and I worked with an 85 year old VERY experienced German Dermatologist on the Pearl Harbor Naval Base.  THREE DAYS A WEEK.  That's right.  So I had 4 days to play.  I've always had somewhat of an interest in Dermatology and I could probably go into it in the future (I love cutting out skin and suturing people back up), but I also realized I love Emergency Medicine much more.  This rotation wasn't very challenging, nor did it involve other aspects of the body system.  My preceptor was a joy to be around and was literally a walking history book.  He grew up in Germany behind the Iron Curtain, even stood next to Hitler once, flew for the Luftwaffe (German air force), and escaped to America.  He had some amazing stories to tell.  I loved it!  Not to mention plenty of jokes!

Sariah and I ended up living on the North Shore with my high school volleyball coach's sister and her husband, Auntie & Uncle.  It's amazing that worked out and we just loved them, not to mention they loved us too :)  It was an hour commute to work for me, but not bad only having to do it 3 days a week.  We shared the rental car with another PA student and her friend so it worked out pretty well (although I will never do that again... a royal pain in the neck, schedule-wise).  I would drop her off at work and then pick her up on the way back.  Then we'd generally all do things together on weekends.

So more about Hawaii!  We were on the island of Oahu.  There are SO MANY beautiful beaches there and SO MANY great hikes to waterfalls.  Also SO MUCH delicious food - shave ice, acai bowls, fresh fish, sushi, thai food, pineapple, kalua pork, coconut pancakes.  You know me and food!  We saw lots of tropical fish snorkeling, green sea turtles, geckos, and even a giant monk seal plopped on the beach.

My goal was to learn how to surf while there since we were there for 6 weeks, but I only got the chance to go once.  Surfing is hard work!  I maybe stood up once for like 1/2 a second.  Next time I will take lessons.

I've never been to the other islands, but I feel like there is WAY more to do on Oahu.  Here is a preview of things we got to do:

BEACH DAYS

WAIMEA BAY

DOLE PLANTATION

STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN

MAKAPU'U LIGHTOUSE

HAWAIIAN SUNSETS

DIAMOND HEAD CRATER

USS ARIZONA

VALLEY OF THE TEMPLES

LAIE HAWAII TEMPLE

PALI LOOKOUT - incredibly windy!

POLYNESIAN CULTURAL CENTER

MANOA FALLS

KALIHI ICE PONDS

KOKO CRATER

WAIMEA FALLS

SPITTING CAVES

MORE BEACH DAYS!

RAINBOWS ON A DAILY BASIS

LAIE POINT

I was and am still terribly sad about leaving.  I've been in Portland for a total of 3 days and the weather is atrocious - overcast, gloomy, and rainy.  However am I going to keep up this tan?!  I just love the island way of life, how everyone enjoys each other and takes their time.  There is no rush to get things done or no fashion statement to show off.  Already planning my next trip back!  Who wants to come?

Roatan - Day 39

M convinced us to take the day off today to have one last play day before we leave tomorrow.  J and I didn’t need too much convincing.  We’ve really been working hard here (contrary to what Instagram might show you…).  M picked J and I up this morning bright and early to meet B and her parents at Earth Mama’s for breakfast.  Nothing like banana nutella coconut drizzled crepes with fresh fruit to start the day!  Then we all piled into the truck for a 30 minute drive up north to the Iguana Farm.  J was a little hesitant about going since she thought the iguanas might try to bite at her feet and she wouldn’t feel them, but that wasn’t the case.  All they want is fresh leaves to choke down whole.  Those suckers were HUGE.  I even dared myself to pick one up!  Those are the craziest creatures ever; they are like miniature dinosaurs.  There were also turtles, monkeys, and giant fish including a barracuda.  J introduced herself to the Iguana Farm owner and proceeded to chat it up with him, which won her a free Sprite (after I paid a steep $2 for mine…).  I like her tactics.

On the way back, B’s dad and I kicked it in the back of the truck and talked about everything from the housing crisis to why people behave the way they do to places I must visit when I go to Maine.  He’s a very likeable guy, both of her parents are.  We enjoyed the scenery on our grand tour of the island.  Riding in the back of a truck is definitely the way to see it best.  I wish I could have captured the people and things I observed (typical island life) in photos to show to you.

M took us for a tour through the public hospital in Coxen Hole, the only one on the island.  I’ve seen hospitals in third world countries before so I wasn’t too shocked at what I saw.  Let’s just say the clinic we’ve been working at here is 10 times nicer.  To give you some indication… the door into Labor and Delivery was an old front screen door and the door into Surgery was two pieces of plywood making a swinging door.  The word out there is that you only go to the hospital for two reasons – either to have a baby or to die.  So true.  There’s no way I would ever want to spend ANY time there.

B headed back to the clinic for her afternoon shift and then M, J, B’s parents, and I headed to West Bay to drop B’s parents at their hotel.  But first we ate lunch at Nice n’ Spicy where I enjoyed a delicious Thai beef salad.    M dropped us off at our apt. where we took a short nap then I headed off to basketball practice to assist the hondureño doctor with his basketball teams. 

I love how important God is in the lives of the people here and how much recognition they give Him.  The doc/coach always starts and ends practice in a team huddle with a prayer.  So he had me lead out with a prayer today, a real honor.  I introduced some new drills, worked with the post players on their inside moves, coached one of the girls teams playing 5 on 5, then played with the girls’ team against the boys.  Oh yeah.  I embarrassed the heck out of myself when I airballed 2 free throws IN A ROW (I literally haven’t shot a free throw in 2 years, sad I know).  But I redeemed myself on the next free throw and made basket, not to mention defense.  The hondureño doc (who calls me “Doc”) said the kids were impressed and thought I could probably dunk it.  If only that were the case….

Well turns out I was at practice for 2.5 hrs and still had to leave early to meet up with the rest of the gang in West End to say goodbye before they all took off.  The hondureño doc just up and left his practice just to drive me to West End.  We stopped for a delicious pastelito on the way.  Caught the gang for a few then M drove us all home.  We said goodbye to B and her parents.  Now we get to spend late hours into the night getting evaluations done and packing.  Can’t believe 6 weeks has already gone by…

CANNOT WAIT to take a warm shower, drink water out of the faucet, throw toilet paper in the toilet, wear cute clothes & jewelry, and actually do my hair and makeup.  It’s going to be a good day to be back in the U.S.

Roatan - Day 38

Once again, J and I had complete autonomy seeing patients today.  J is fighting some type of upper respiratory virus and was grateful I gave her the opportunity to talk and cough it out (she saw the first 3 patients).  Today was our last day working at the clinic so we took pictures with everyone and said our goodbyes.  Hopefully in the future someday I can come back for a week or two to volunteer (and vacation).  J and I had a great experience at the clinic.  I feel like I fine-tuned my knowledge and management of diabetes and hypertension, not to mention really progressed in formulating my own plan for the patient.

And it’s a good thing I’m leaving Central America soon… I’m sure I would get diabetes myself if I stayed too much longer.  I just can’t seem to stay away from the tortillas, beans & rice, fried plantains, coconut puffs, and Coca-Cola.  SO GOOD.  But way too many carbs and sugar.

After work, we hit up Marco’s one last time for our last baleada.  We invited the new pediatricians to join us for lunch.  I think they appreciated the new $1 baleada discovery.  I’m sure Marco will be sad not to have us frequent their place at least 3 times each week.  I’m sure their income is about to hit a steep drop off…

M picked us up for a quick drive to Flowers Bay for our last purchase of coconut puffs.  I don’t know what I was thinking when I bought FIVE of them!  How on earth am I going to eat them before they lose their freshness and savor?  I’ll do my best.  Those small pieces of heaven cannot be wasted!

Today was also our last day tutoring.  I worked with E one last time.  E is a first grader who does extremely well in math, but dislikes reading very much.  Her pronunciation is still off so she struggles reading aloud.  Not until today did I come up with a good method to help her read.  We would read the paragraph together at least twice, I would guide her through at least twice, then she would read on her own twice.  This really helped improve her fluidity.  It was super cute… she took my pointer finger in her hand and moved it along with each word as she read.  It was a successful day and I hope she impresses her teacher tomorrow.  I like working with kids and teaching them.  So naturally, I’m grateful for the opportunity for the patient education that comes along with being a PA.

Made a few quick stops in West End this evening and regretfully decided to share a pepperoni pizza with J for dinner, after I had just eaten a third of my coconut bread.  Bad idea.  I’m STILL full.  But I just had to eat a coconut puff for desert later tonight.  If I’m not careful, I’m going to easily gain back the 9 pounds I lost over the last 6 weeks.  No way!

Roatan - Day 37

Today was pretty uneventful, but a good day just the same.  J and I had forgotten to look at the schedule on Friday to see when we were working this week.  I even tried to call the nurse that makes the schedule, but to no avail.  So we decided to just show up in the morning and hope that we didn’t have to take a taxi ride straight back home.  Well, it was our lucky day.  We in fact were scheduled to work in the afternoon, but one of the nurses enthusiastically asked us to stay and work in the morning instead as there were no doctors on duty just yet.  So we immediately set to work seeing patients for the rest of the day, just J and I.  That’s what we like!  We had a good variety of cases too.  We were pumping them out right and left.

After work, I dropped J off at a souvenir shop while I took a quick trip to West End to restock our mango supply for the night.  Yes, I spent an extra $2.50 to get 4 more mangos, but definitely worth it considering the amount of time we have left.  Ha, there was another man at the fruit stand buying his own supply of fruit who complimented me on my Spanish, “You have very good Spanish, doctor.”  He was very liberal with his commentary as the only word (yes, just one) I said was “sesenta” (I was conversing with the boy about how much my 4 mangos were going to cost).  He was even more impressed as I continued speaking in Spanish.  His compliments are NOT to be trusted in the future…

This afternoon was the most boring one of them yet.  I had a community medicine project and paper to write for this rotation (J already did hers for another rotation) so I worked on that for one too many hours while J got to chat it up with her friends on Skype.  Jealous.  I mostly got it done and now I am looking forward to a dinner of mangos, plantain chips, and Coca-Cola.

Roatan - Day 36

Just another typical Sunday, yet our last Sunday in Roatan.  Met a few ophthalmologists at church this morning that will be working with the clinic, then set off for Infinity Bay to meet up with J.  The taxi driver wanted to charge bookoo bucks to get there, so I took a water taxi from West End instead.  On the ride to West End, the driver first said that he wanted to work at the clinic with me (never mind he has no medical experience) then said he wanted to come visit me in Arizona (never mind he’s never been to the States).  Oh boy… I guess being a foot taller really doesn’t account for much down here.

B’s parents flew in today so they all met up with J and me later in the afternoon.  We went out for our last snorkel (no exciting new sightings to report…) then we all took a water taxi back to West End to dine with her parents, super great people!  I struck out twice today with food...  The baleada I convinced our waiter to make for me at lunch (not on the menu) was less than satisfactory, ok not good whatsoever.  I mean come on, it wasn’t even made on a homemade tortilla.  $7 for THAT when I can get an authentic one for $1?!  Never again.  Then my nachos at dinner weren’t that good either.  That’ll teach me to eat out on Sunday I guess…

With just 3 days left here, J and I have to make EVERY minute count.