Thursday
- Thursday again started with a joyous walk to Hospital Civil at 7:30 am. I met up with Lauren and Sarah before making the half hour trek to the hospital. When we arrived, we waited for a little bit before Dra. Yazmin arrived and gave us our assignments. She asked what specialty I wanted. Lauren and Sarah were both feeling somewhat under the weather, so we decided it would be best if I was the one exposed to the most abnormal things. Tococirugía it was! They both didn't feel up to standing in an OR and watching procedures and instead headed off to pediatría.
- Surprisingly tococirugía was not as busy as it was on Tuesday. I quickly changed into my scrubs (green this time), threw on my booties, cap, and facemask, and sought out Dr. Quintero, one of the attneding surgeons on the floor. There was not a lot going on, and he had a surgery in about an hour, so I instead joined what seemed like the rest of the medical staff on rounds with the chief of tococirugía. We went to each bed and listened him present each patient's case and what should be done. Hourly checks are done on all the women to monitor the foco fetal and their vitals. After all patients had been presented, I joined a couple doctoras I met Tuesday, Andrea and Deborah, as they went around checking on patients. Both young ladies were very helpful and explained all the things they were doing to me. I really appreciated that! Eventually we came to a patient who had started having strong, frequent contractions. She was also a candidate for a live birth. Deborah sat beside her and asked her some preliminary birthing questions while another doctor monitored the progress of the baby's descent. After a good 30-45 minutes, the woman was wheeled off to the birthing room. I was going to witness the magic of life!
- Dra. Deborah and the other doctor who had been examining the woman prepped the woman for the birth. She was in a lot of pain with every contraction, but you could tell she was determined to follow through and get through it. Again, I will skip all the gruesome details that are fascinating to me, but that you may not want to stumble upon in this reading. But I will say that witnessing the miracle of life was something so incredible. A tiny little head comes out, and then is quickly followed by the rest of the body. After a big gasp of air, the baby cried and all was well. Funny how life starts with quite possibly the only time in your lifetime where crying is applauded by all! Another awesome moment was when the new mother saw her baby for the first time. You could see the sense of thankfulness, admiration, and love in her gaze. A really powerful moment to witness, no doubt.
- Like I said, things were pretty slow that day, and unfortunately watching the live birth prevented me from watching the c-section in one of the ORs. But one thing that is nice about the tococirugía floor is that you are free to roam about wherever you would like. I would occasionally slip away and just observe things for a few minutes. It was nice to have that freedom, and everyone there was super friendly and willing to show me something.
- I finished up on the floor, then returned home for la comida. At 3:00 pm, we had our final meeting with our medical director for the program, Dra. Magaly. We headed to her workplace, a private hospital called Hospital del Carmen. It was more a meeting to make sure we were happy with how the program had gone and that we enjoyed participating. She is a very busy woman, but it was great to have some time with her to talk about healthcare in Mexico and some of the challenges faced there. We said goodbye one last time and headed to school for class.
- At the school, we were met with more goodbyes after class. Andrea was not going to be there Friday, so we had to say goodbye to her. She was so fun and really helped with the conversational aspect of our learning. Not to mention she gave us some of the insider information on some of the mexican slang!
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| Sarah, Me, Lauren, and Andrea. She was an awesome teacher and was always a lot of fun! |
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| Me, Manuel, and Lauren. Manuel was another awesome teacher and he always had some cool stories to share! |
- After class, we all headed to a restaurant that Lauren had raved about, El Quinque. She was absolutely justified in raving about it; it was phenomenal! German Alex, Dani, Lauren, Sarah, Shan-Shan and I all went to experience the food and have one last dinner together. The food was outstanding. I had a chicken breast stufffed with cheese and chiles and smothered in a mango and tamarindo salsa, and a side of potatoes. It was so sweet and savory, and filled me right up! After eating there, we went to the churreria right across the street for a dessert. Of course I ordered two, one regular and one covered in fresa (strawberry) sauce. The churros are prepared fresh right in front of you, and are a new level of great taste. It's safe to say I will miss fresh churros when I want them!
Friday
- Another early morning marked by a walk to Hospital Civil. Lauren was sick today, so only Sarah and I made it. When we got there, a surgeon was presenting a lecture on anal incontinency in the hospital's auditorium. It was pretty interesting, and I was glad that I understood a good percentage of the talk. After the talk, Sarah left because she also wasn't feeling well. With my options wide open for placement, I chose pediatría again.
- I was again matched up with Dra. Sandra. She was so sweet, and always tried to give me something to do. While the ward itself was not very busy today, we did keep busy updating patient charts on the computer. After a while of reciting medicamentos and lab values to her as she entered them into the database, I went off with Dra. Nancy to watch and ultrasound on a girl with probably apendicitis. I was somewhat surprised at how many cases of apendicitis I saw, but it is a relatively simple and non-threatening procedure that is pretty common. Dra. Nancy was also very kind to me, and filled me in on what was going on regularly.
I helped Dra. Sandra with some more data entry, and ran around with her to other areas of the hospital to schedule consultations or deliver forms to ther services. I also got to see the little boy with the gluteal tumor again. He was scheduled for a CT scan at mediodia, but this time he was to be anesthetized (because he put up quite the fight last time). It looks like surgery will be the best option to remove the mass.
I also noticed that the little girl with viral encephalitis was not there anymore. Can't be a good sign. Pediatrics really has big ups and big downs. You get to see the resiliency and joy that kids have, but you also see kids in awful situations that seem so unfair to someone so young. This case was one of those. I can only pray that see is ok, but chances are not very good there.
- The doctors of pediatría were all so kind and helpful. Dra. Sandra, Dr. Jhonny, Dra. Griselda, Dra. Nancy, and Dr. Emmanuel all taught and helped me at some point during my two days in pediatrics. They opened me up to another area of medicine that has great appeal to me. I love working with kids. They generally have good spirits, and you just never know what might find its' way out of their mouths. They always keep things interesting, and giving a child a new lease on life would be such an honor.
- I returned home for my final la comida with my family. It was so delicious, with a soup and main dish of chipotle chicken (yum!). We also had my favorite agua that I had while down there, agua de límon. It is so fresh and so green, green! The perfect drink for a warm summer day, and it is always prepared fresh! I said goodbye to Mikael and Carina, the swiss couple who had been staying with us for the past 3 weeks. They are actually taking a whole year off from work and travelling. They've already been to southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, and next are going to some South American countries before returning home in December. Talk about a great way to do things! They were very kind and down-to-earth people, and had fun accents to boot! I also said goodbye to Severa, the maid who has worked for the Cuevas Carrasco family for 22 years! She was another sweet lady, who was a servant at heart. She loved her job, and did not see it as a burden, but an opportunity. And she made a fine breakfast!
- After la comida, it was off for one last Spanish class with Manuel. We didn't really do a whole lot of grammar and instead focused on conversation. We talked abut a lot of things, ranging from differences in our countries to our favorite things we did in Oaxaca. It was actually a very helpful conversatoin, as I feel it opened up some sort of floodgate in my Spanish language abilities. I was able to really converse, and not just add a sentence or two here and there. It was a great cap to an awesome month of learning. After class was over we took some final pictures with Manuel and then received a Becari diploma from Sandra for completing 50 hours of language classes. Manuel was a great teacher, and somehow found ways to make grammar interesting and fun (that is a tall task!). Sandra too was always so personable and caring. She was instrumental in helping us get acquainted with the city and in making sure our trip and program went smoothly. I will dearly miss everyone at the school, and I hope I can return sometime to check in on them!
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| Shan-Shan, Manuel, Me, and Sarah. I'm glad I had the opportunity to meet everyone I did! |
- After class was over, Sarah met Shan-Shan and me and we slowly made our way to Café Mayordomo one last time to indulge in a delicious Malteada (everyone should have a knowledge of them, easily one of the best things about Oaxaca is the chocolate!). We then headed up to the Santo Domingo Plaza to meet up with Dani, German Alex, and Swiss Alex one last time before we all headed our separate ways. However, mother nature had other plans. It started pouring like no other, so we quickly found refuge in a clothing. We had to make it appear like we were interested in the overpriced artesanial clothing for 15 minutes before we decided to go to a coffee shop three doors down (not the music group, this is the physical location of the shop). I decided to order a huge piece of carrot cake, and boy am I glad I did! The rain finally stopped, and then we found the rest of the gang before heading of to Comala, a local bar and restaurant with 2 for 1 drink specials. Seeing as I was down to my final monedas, I didn't purchase anything. After about an hour I decided it would be a good idea to get home to hacer mi maleta (pack my suitcase). I said good-bye to Sarah and Shan-Shan one last time and then headed home to pack.
- When I got home, I said a final goodbye to my host parents, Gilberto and Inelva. They were an awesome host family to stay with. They always had suggestions for things to do and were always a wealth of information with respect to Mexican and Oaxacan customs and traditions. They really made the homestay experience a great one, and I am very thankful I was able to be their "son" for a month.
- The day of my return trip began early, even early than the rooster's crowing! At 4:30, a driver arranged through the school picked me up and chauffeured me to the airport. When I got their, I saw Dani again. She was on the same flight as me! Being able to talk to a familiar face definitely helped to pass the time in the airport. After about 50 minutes of waiting, it was time to board the plane and kiss Oaxaca goodbye. It was still dark out, so when we were in the air all of the Oaxacan valley was illuminated. It was really a neat view, and when coupled with the rising sun over the mountains made for a serene depiction of the Mexican countryside. A good memory of the area, no doubt.
- My flight touched down in Mexico City around 7:30 am. I had a quick layover before my flight left for Detroit. This flight was somewhat annoying because of the small child sitting directly behind me. She didn't stop crying for something like 2.5 hours of the nearly 4 hour flight. Headphones can only do so much!
- When I touched down in Detroit, I picked up my bag and then headed for customs. It didn't take too long to get through after the stern questioning from the officer. I placed my bag on the belt for connecting flights and then passed through another security checkpoint. After clearing and entering the main terminal, I decided to get some food, as I had only been snacking on in flight treats up until this point. So I am proud to announce that my first meal on American soil consisted of a BLT and french fries.
- After a 2.5 hour layover, my flight was finally set to take off for Des Moines. When I landed in Des Moines, I was greeted by my parents, Amanda, Cy, Ryan, and Tanner. To make things more interesting, Cy, Ryan, and Tanner were all holding up giant faces of me that Ryan had ordered online. It was great to see some familiar faces, and I was definitely glad to be home at that point! Thanks for being there for me! I then headed to baggage claim, and was lucky enough to get my bag right away. It was then time to head to dinner.
- While I was away, I had my car worked on. Before I left, I bought some body parts to help spruce it up and get it looking like it should. My face lit up when I saw my car again, and the dent in the rear bumper was finally gone! And to top it all off, I no longer have to unlock my door manually...I finally have a working key fob!
- My first true American dinner was at Spaghetti Works. It was extremely good, and allowed me some good time to share my experiences with my family and friends. It was also nice to eat a meal that didn't contain tortillas! After dinner, I said goodbye to my family and then met Cy, Ryan, and Tanner at the hospital where Taylar worked. She really wanted me to visit, so I made some time in my schedule to do so. You're welcome Ms. Soon-to-be Antolik!
All in all, this trip easily ranks as one of the best, if not the best, experiences of my life. I left with so much more knowledge and life experience than when I came, and I learned so much about myself as well. Oaxaca is such a beautiful location, and not just because of the scenery. The people of the city are so friendly and likeable. There is a certain charm to the city that is hard to put into words; you just have to experience it to know. I am going to miss being a part of the culture there. From the food to the people to the way of life, I am going to miss every aspect of Oaxaca. Even the little kids trying to sell me things in restaurants; well ok, maybe not that. But there was so much to do and see there that every minute I spent there I became that much more enamored in the city. A return trip is a must in my mind.
The CFHI program was worth every penny I spent. The directors were top notch, as was the quality of the education and the clinical experiences. I'm so glad I stumbled upon the program, and that I was accepted to participate. I had so many experiences and opportunities that I would not have been able to get on my own, or for the price I paid. If I had the chance to go on another, I would do it in a heartbeat. And for anyone who is thinking about a career in medicine or wanting to get a feel for the healthcare of another nation, I highly recommend considering a CFHI program. You will not regret it! I built new relationships with the others in the program, my teachers, doctors, program directors, my host family, other students staying with my family, other students at different schools, other volunteers at the place I volunteered, and etc. The list goes on and on and on with people and experiences that I am downright thankful to know and be a part of.
If I ever had any doubt before this trip, I am now 100% sure that medicine is the career path for me. Medicine allows you to not only find solutions to health problems, but to also never stop learning while improving the lives of those around you. Medicine is continually evolving, so a commitment to learning is a must. As a doctor, you are entrusted with the life and well being of a complete stranger, and then must develop a personal relationship in a relatively short amount of time. Talk about a rewarding proposition! In addition to this, no case is ever the same because of the human element. Two patients may have the same problem, but because each person brings with them their own background and experiences, the case is never the same. That kind of diversity in every situation is ideal in my mind. This trip was oh so rewarding, and I have it to thank for cementing my thoughts on my choice of career.
That's all for the blog. Thanks for tuning in and I hope my writings gave you a glimpse of what went on down in Oaxaca. Adios!
