Day 6: Una Dia Buena

Today was a good day! Physically I feel much better. I'm still a little short of breath when I exert myself by climbing stairs or walking fast, but my stomach is settled. I'm hoping it will get easier to breathe soon. I wanted to take another morning to rest, but I decided to go in to the hospital this morning. I was very scared and nervous because I didn't know if I could do it physically. I was also a little worried about how I would interact with the Doctors I would be shadowing. But after praying, I really felt like I should go. When I decided to go I prayed even harder!!! "Lord please give me strength" "Lord I don't want to go" "Lord help me" ......and so on and so forth.

So when I woke up this morning I did my best to make sure I was taking care of my body. I made sure I drank lots of fluid and ate well at breakfast, and I made sure I carried my medicine, a snack, and some water with me to the hospital. Can you say "prepared"! I also took a taxi instead of walking, so that I could conserve my energy.

I arrived at the hospital about 30 minutes early hoping to talk to Dr. C, but as I soon found out its not a custom to be early in this hospital. Everyone showed up at 8:00 am just like they were supposed to. Well, everyone except Dr. C. While I waited for him, I started talking to another Dr. who did rounds with him on Monday. As I kept asking her questions, unsure if she was annoyed or not, I discovered that she is a psychiatrist. Cha-ching!!! So I asked her if I could observe her tomorrow with Dr. C's permission.

After waiting a few more minutes, I noticed Dr. C still was not there so I joined in with the Doctors who were rounding with another attending physician who I did not know. It turns out he is a lung doctor, and is also very nice. Despite the fact that I could not understand most of what he was saying, he made the effort to talk to me in Spanish to explain the patients in a way that I could understand. He had a very inviting smile and joked often. This doctor, whose name I never asked, made me feel very comfortable. In addition to shadowing a very nice doctor one of the interns who was on rounds with us told me that he was learning English. He said that I could help him with English and he could help me with Spanish. Cha-ching again! Because of him and his Ipad that he was carrying around, I learned and understood so much more than I would have. I really appreciated his kindess. Not only did I learn Spanish on pulmonology rounds, but I also got to view radiographic images and actually understand what I was looking at and I saw a patient with tuberculosis who had clubbing ( a physical sign of lung disease) on his fingers and toes.

Once we finished with morning rounds, I finally found Dr. C. He did rounds on 2 patients, gave some instructions to the interns in Spanish, and promptly left. Of course I did not understand the instructions so I did not know where he was going or what I should do. Initially I decided to stay with the interns who began to do paperwork, but finally someone told me that Dr. C went to the outpatient clinic. So I found my way to his office to observe him there. I was a little uneasy because I didn't know if he was annoyed by me. After observing his work in the outpatient clinic it became clear that he was not annoyed with me and was also very nice and a great teacher.

In his office patients came and went so rapidly. During the visit, he asked them a few questions, examined them, gave them instructions on what to do next. There was no time to build a relationship with the patient. It seemed to be all about solving the problem at hand. During one appointment a nurse brought in another patient who was labeled as an emergency. Dr. C stopped examining his patient and did a full interview and exam on the emergency patient while the other patient and his family were still in the room. I was amazed!!!! That would never happen in the U.S. due to all of the privacy laws, but here it didn't seem to matter. Convinced that I need to stay in my place, I whispered  "lo siento" to the family who was waiting and continued to observe. The coolest thing I experienced in the outpatient clinic was listening the carotid pulse of one patient. On the left side the pulse sounded like a flood was going through the artery due to an occlusion in his left carotid artery. On the right side it was normal. This is probably the clearest sound I've ever heard in my stethoscope, so it was very rewarding.

As you can probably guess, I was very excited after my morning at the hospital. I was also very tired. So I came home for the afternoon meal and napped and studied before my evening class.

Thanks to you guys for praying for me, and Thanks to God for answering those prayers!

Just in case you're interested here's a typical day for me:
6:30am :wake up
7:15am: breakfast "desayuno"
8:00 am-12:00pm: Shadowing at the hospital
12:00pm-2:00pm: Free time
2:00pm-2:45pm: afternoon meal "almuerzo"
2:45pm-4:30pm: Free time
5:00pm-7:00pm: Class
7:30pm-8:30pm: Free time
8:30pm-9:00pm: Evening meal "Cena"
9:00pm-11:00pm: Free time

Adios
EP<3