4.5.11

Wake up. Brush teeth with bottled water. Braid hair. Bug spray. Sunscreen. Scrubs. Toms. No makeup. Grab Granola. Walk UPHILL to clinic. 95degrees. Busy all day. Home. Lunch. Tutor. Dock with a book. Supper. Friends. Bed. Good times! This is my typical day!

Yesterday I spent the day teaching a premed student to triage. I even let him take my blood sugar! I really enjoy teaching. Maybe someday I will precept students. Today I saw 8 of my own patients. I diagnosed a woman with diabetes and started her treatment today. Also saw a patient that could possibly have Chagas disease. She had heart failure without a known cause. There are definitely some very interesting things here.

Tonight I walked in the kitchen to my Swiss roommate (or flatmate, as she calls me) singing the American National Anthem while washing dishes. I found it funny. She knows so much more about American history than I know about other countries. Makes me feel like a “stupid American.”

Sorry my posts are so random, but I always think of things I wish people knew about the island and there’s really no good place to put it so here goes:

There are no addresses on the island. When you ask a patient about their address they reply with something like “Down from the blue bridge, by the super market.” Seriously. No addresses. We asked the “manager” at our hotel what our address was and he said “white diamond” (which is the name of our hotel). There is also no mail on the island. Apparently you can get mail, but the PO boxes are actually in Florida. A plane goes and picks up mail once a week. You can rent a box if you are expecting a package I think. But it is RIDICULOUSLY expensive to get mail because you basically have to pay for gas for the airplane.

Another fun fact: I’m pretty sure our hotel managers smoke weed. Every. Single. Night. Lots of it.

Last random piece of info: Today at the clinic I got to hold a little Honduran baby while her mom had a procedure done. She was so incredibly beautiful. I wanted to take her home.

Lace