Friday was my first day at the hospital. We were all separated into the different departments based on our interests, and I was lucky enough to be placed into general surgery (which was in hot demand... I don't know how I managed to be so lucky.) When I've considered medicine for my future, I've never really thought about what I wanted to specialize in, so I picked general surgery because I figured it would always be something exciting and different every day. Though general surgery is now my department, I can always switch with a friend for the day if I ever wanted to check out another department such as OB/GYN, neonatal, neurosurgery, trauma, radiology, gastroenterology, anesthesiology, etc. Eventually, I will definitely be doing this because I definitely want to see a birth, c-section, brain surgery, and the area for premature babies!
Erica and I were running late (probably [definitely] my fault) on Friday and basically jogged to the hospital, which took exactly 23 minutes. Everyone else gets driven to the hospital, but we homestay folks aren't so lucky (even though we're further away than the hotel kids are.) We arrived to the hospital sweaty and out of breath as well as late. However, we still ended up having to wait a good half hour before starting. Once the director came, she walked us all around the hospital and introduced us to the heads of our departments. The Head of General Surgery is a heavy, older man who failed to make eye contact with me even ONCE. NOT ONCE. I then left there without being acknowledged and was dropped off in the office of the doctor I would be shadowing. Her name is Teresa. Teresa was in the middle of a consultation when I walked in, so I kind of just sat there before being introduced. It turns out that Teresa has consultations until noon once a week on Fridays. So much for seeing a surgery on my first day!
The consultations are probably one of the more boring parts of medicine, however, this was especially boring because I don't know the language!!!! I don't know why, but for some reason it never clicked beforehand that I wouldn't understand what was going on. For a little bit I sat there wishing I had just shadowed back in the States instead of coming to another country, but then I reminded myself how lucky I am to be on a beautiful island and to even be shadowing at all! The second patient came into the office and some words were exchanged, but since I didn't know what they meant, I was totally taken off guard when all of a sudden the guy dropped his pants. I'm pretty sure I really immaturely stifled a giggle to myself. Pretty much all of her patients had some sort of genital problems because they all took their pants off in order to be examined. I also got to examine a guy's butt and really avoided eye contact with him afterward. Then this really hot twenty year old came in because he had a cyst on his chest. He had to take his shirt off, and I absolutely used it as an excuse to stare at him. (Sorry that half of this paragraph was super immature. Don't judge.)
When Teresa was done with consultations, she had to do a small procedure, draining a cyst that a woman had on her wrist. After this, she took some time to explain to me what was wrong with each of the patients in her consultations. Originally, I thought her english was really poor because she wasn't really speaking at all and when she did speak, it was super broken. However, it just turned out that she had just gotten off of her 24 hour emergency shift and hadn't slept in ages! When she had some more energy, she spoke some more. Her english still isn't great, but it's okay. I can manage. She's a fairly serious person though and doesn't seem too interested in getting to know me unlike some of the other doctors. I'll have to work on that.
For the second half of the day, we walked around to check on her patients. There was one patient who had stomach cancer stage 3 and had just had his entire stomach removed. Despite that, he was in really high spirits and was super interested in talking to me. Next, we checked on a victim of a car crash. This is who Teresa worked on pretty much all day the day before during her emergency shift. He had been in a head-on collision with a huge milk truck. I don't know how this man survived. He broke bones in every part of his body... as in he had about eight fractures in just one arm. Imagine that kind of damage to his ENTIRE body. His head was swollen and bandaged. His whole body was wrapped; he looked like a mummy. It really puts things into perspective, ya know? One day he's going to work like every other day, except this day he almost loses his life and his world as he knows it will never be the same. It's scary.
The car crash victim was an extreme case, but just being in the hospital itself also put things into perspective. There are patients in every room and when you walk by, you see them laying there with their family all around them. I have been in the hospital with family members countless times before, whether it was for serious illness or for the celebration of a birth. In each hospital room, there is a family in there with a story. Each family either filled with hope, sadness, worry, comfort, happiness, etc. It just made me realize how much everyone has going on in their lives. It made the world feel really big.
Later on, I shadowed what would be the first year residency student in America. His name is Richard, pronounced Rikkard. He's young and spoke fantastic english. It was great talking to him. We stopped for a quick snack break (in which I ordered what seemed like my twenty seventh magnum ice cream bar [kidding...kinda]) and then went to go examine the first patient who had just gotten his stomach removed. They were checking if he could eat yet. On the way to the exam, Richard got lost which really comforted me because I felt like I wasn't the only one who would never be able to get this hospital down. And he's been here for six months! We ended up missing the exam altogether, but I got the pleasure of seeing the patient anyway. The patient was rolling around the room in his wheel chair. He turned to me with a wide grin and said, "Hey, baby. Wanna go for a ride?" I love this man.
Altogether- it was such an exhausting day. By the time I walked home, I just wanted to sleep. However, Alberto had another plan. Once in the kitchen, Alberto turns to me and says, "DIANNA!! Do you want to see the lakes?" I reply, "Yes, I'd love to see them some time!" Alberto turns to me, his smile ear to ear and says quite loudly (as always)," RIGHT NOW!" We then hopped in the car he's had since he was eighteen (I got into the trunk because there are only two seats) and visited some fantastic lakes and hiked a bit! It was glorious.
The car crash victim was an extreme case, but just being in the hospital itself also put things into perspective. There are patients in every room and when you walk by, you see them laying there with their family all around them. I have been in the hospital with family members countless times before, whether it was for serious illness or for the celebration of a birth. In each hospital room, there is a family in there with a story. Each family either filled with hope, sadness, worry, comfort, happiness, etc. It just made me realize how much everyone has going on in their lives. It made the world feel really big.
Later on, I shadowed what would be the first year residency student in America. His name is Richard, pronounced Rikkard. He's young and spoke fantastic english. It was great talking to him. We stopped for a quick snack break (in which I ordered what seemed like my twenty seventh magnum ice cream bar [kidding...kinda]) and then went to go examine the first patient who had just gotten his stomach removed. They were checking if he could eat yet. On the way to the exam, Richard got lost which really comforted me because I felt like I wasn't the only one who would never be able to get this hospital down. And he's been here for six months! We ended up missing the exam altogether, but I got the pleasure of seeing the patient anyway. The patient was rolling around the room in his wheel chair. He turned to me with a wide grin and said, "Hey, baby. Wanna go for a ride?" I love this man.
Altogether- it was such an exhausting day. By the time I walked home, I just wanted to sleep. However, Alberto had another plan. Once in the kitchen, Alberto turns to me and says, "DIANNA!! Do you want to see the lakes?" I reply, "Yes, I'd love to see them some time!" Alberto turns to me, his smile ear to ear and says quite loudly (as always)," RIGHT NOW!" We then hopped in the car he's had since he was eighteen (I got into the trunk because there are only two seats) and visited some fantastic lakes and hiked a bit! It was glorious.
Miscellaneous Thoughts:
- This hospital doesn't have the typical hospital smell, which is really nice.
- I don't ever think I will be able to find my way around the hospital without getting lost for a good half hour.
- Even though everyone smokes on Sao Miguel, I didn't expect some of the DOCTORS to smoke as well. I've become pretty accustomed to secondhand smoke these days.
- I see Session 1's old base5 students everywhere, and there were only about ten of them. I even saw one at the hospital today with his grandma.
- I see Session 1's old base5 students everywhere, and there were only about ten of them. I even saw one at the hospital today with his grandma.
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