8/13

I was in the pediatric section today. I was paired with Laura and we got moved to Adult because of a lack of pediatric patients and an excessive amount of adults. Most of the patients we saw had cases of GERD. We saw one young girl with cystic fibrosis and her mother who was her primary caregiver. The mother was upset and near tears , she said she has no emotional support and suffers from depression. I felt really bad her because she deals with so much and lacks the resources for support. Anna the psychiatrist with us talked with her and told her she needs to set aside some time every day for herself. She said she needs to work on sleeping, the woman says she sleeps with her daughter each night because the daughter is in so much pain, she has to rub her muscles because they cramp. We gave her pain medication to help with the muscle cramps so hopefully that inturn helps the mother.

We saw several UTI's, prescribed excessive amounts of bactim and amoxicillin. We also saw a 25 year old woman with severe thrombosis and varicose veins that caused a decubidus ulcer on her foot. There was nothing we could do for it except tell her to apply lotion and keep moisturized. We saw a very attractive younger man that was hitting on laura and I , he happened to have kidney stones. (Laura and I with the boy who loved us)

We saw a case of ringworm, and of course scabies. One unique case was an 8 year old who had transposition of the greater vessels. His artery and veins of the heart were misplaced so he would get unoxygenated blood in the oxygenated spaces and vice versa, he basically should not have been alive and had severe hypoxia, he was cyanotic (blue lips), and clubbed hands and feet from lack of oxygen. Sarah is going to get him in contact with a surgeon in the U.S. but honestly it wouldnt do much good because his body is so used to being run like that it would be in shock if reversed like it normally is in newborns. It was a miracle to see him alive , and his father just cried at that. We saw a lot of mental illnesses today...a group/mental home brought them in for care. one boy we saw was once shot in the head during the revolution while playing in the fields with friends and this rendered him brain damaged, that was so sad to see him be could barely walk...and they say war is worth it.

The clinic was so so so hott. We were sweating like crazy. It felt so good to shower when i got back

Many people have been saying that I am beautiful which always is so surprising. All of these girls seem beautiful to me.

We went out to dinner at el convente which was once a convent and now a restaurant / hotel. We ate steak and had such a good time gabbing with Denease the Nurse with us, who also teaches some of our courses we will have next year. I hope to have her as a clinical instructor...she eased my mind about boards and other things. She is so smart and down to earth, I really look up to her. She told us she wants to get a group of nurses together with her masters students to go on a trip for spring break back to Nicaragua. I hope I can be a part of that. I wish i could bring all the same group with me though!

(all the nurses with Denease)
(my "sisters" on the trip, Heather and Laura)

I got to know a med student, Jose, today. He was born in Nicaragua and moved to the US when he was 7. Its so interested to hear what he remembers. He was actually able to see some of his family and grandparents for the first time since he lived here. i thought that was very special. He is compassionate to the patients and a lot of fun. A bit of a flirt with all the girls. I definitely would like to get to know him more!

I cant believe how much time has gone by. I hope we all stay in touch because i cant imagine my life without these people now.