Baby Jaundice, Gunshot Wound, Diabetic Ulcer, Suture Removal, and Laura's Birthday

Monday, July 14, 2008 - Part 2

We saw a 5-day old baby boy who came in to get his umbilical area cleaned. In Haiti, they use alcohol pads to wipe it, so it looked painful. The baby was quite jaundiced so we advised the mother to let the baby have more sunlight (my classmates should know exactly how that works). It was cool to see in real life something that I had learned in class.

I also got to see a man with a gunshot wound that went through his right thigh. The man works in the Bahamas, so he could speak some English. He explained that a thief had robbed him, hit him on the eye with the butt of the gun, and shot his leg. It was neat to see a gunshot wound for the first time, but only because it didn't seem too serious... Ok, it would be kind of neat even if it was serious, but I wouldn't be saying that.

There was an old woman who had been having chronic skin ulcers on her legs since 1998. They were at least 10 cm (4 in) in diameter. Since she had been coming to the clinic for such a long time, she had a really thick chart. I wanted to figure out why she was having these chronic infections, but the handwritings were illegible. So I talked with the patient to get her history while Amy changed her dressing. I was kind of surprised how well I could understand her, but that's probably because she talked slowly. Hopefully I might be actually getting better at understanding spoken Creole. Anyhow after a longwinded story of how everything happened, she told me that a white doctor who was at the clinic long ago told her that she had high blood sugar. Well, go figure.

Then we saw Ruth, one of our Haitian staff from the OMS office, who lacerated her right shin and got 6 stitches a few days ago. The wound was healing well, and it was time to take out the sutures. Evan showed me how to take one out, and I took out the rest. I guess taking out stitches aren't that big of a deal, but first times always feel kind of special.

For the rest of the day at the clinic, Laura and I took turns giving shots. IM injections are pretty simple, but it was good to get some practice because each patient is different. Sometimes the needle goes right through, sometimes you have to really push to break the skin, and other times you feel a lot of resistance as the needle goes in and it feels like you're tearing through the muscle. You may be giving the same glute shots, but you will always have different butt cheeks.

Today is Laura's birthday, so Amy, Evan, and I conspired to do something for her. Throughout the day we mentioned "secretive" stuff in front of Laura just to psych her out. But of course the real planning went on when she wasn't around. Now, before Evan came to Haiti, Laura's mother had sent him a package to give to Laura on her birthday. Evan brought it with him, but Laura had no idea. So we decided to send her on a treasure hunt leading to the package. We also decided to make a certificate of honor and merit, and if you've been following my blog, you know that those are a big deal around here.

After the clinic Evan and I went back to our place to work on the treasure hunt clues and the certificate. At one point Laura decided to come visit us, so we had to scramble and hide everything. Good thing I randomly looked out the door and saw her coming from a distance. Evan entertained her by playing ping pong with her while I pretended like nothing was going on. Laura randomly uttered that she was craving for some chewing gum, so Evan got the idea of putting chewing gum with each clue.

Wadner helped us by wrapping the clues along with some chewing gum, and planting them on corresponding destinations while Amy, Laura, Evan, and I ate dinner at the Holiday House. During dinner the three of us psyched Laura out by saying stuff like, "You might not want to be wearing nice clothes tonight, and you'd probably want to wear trousers under the skirt," or "When you pass the radio station you'll know you're almost there..." as if we were going to kidnap her and drop her off somewhere in the dark.

I had told the kitchen ladies that today is Laura's birthday (this time I told them during breakfast, so they had enough notice), so they made us an upside-down pineapple cake and lit candles on it. I brought out the cake singing happy birthday, but the fan was blowing so hard that the lights were going out as I carried them. I tried to light them up again with the candles that were still lit, and I was still holding the cake when the song ended, so we had to sing all over again. Amy tried to help me, but we just gave up and let Laura blow out whatever that was left of it.

When Gavin joined us at the end of dinner, Laura went hiding because she thought he was going to take her away. Anyhow, we gave her the first clue with the birthday card we had signed (along with some people from the clinic, such as Ms. Ketlye, Ms. Prudence, and Dr. Rodney). The clue said to go to the house with the number 11 written on it, which is where Evan and I are staying. So Laura left for the treasure hunt with Amy as a "bodyguard." Meanwhile the rest of us put the package and the certificate in the gift shop in the Holiday House.

Laura thought she was supposed to go to the place where Evan and I are staying, but Amy convinced her that Dr. Rodney's house was the one with number 11 on it. So they walked all the way there, which gave us three guys time to catch up with them. Anyhow, she got to house 11 and got her first pack of chewing gums with the second clue, which said to go to a building with "4VEH" written on the wall. Laura thought she had to walk all the way to the radio station, which is about 20 min walk down the street. We were just walking across the compound when she realized that the old radio station building is within the compound. The building was old and creepy in the dark, so the four of us stepped back while Laura walked towards the door by herself. Just as Laura got to the door, I couldn't help myself, so I shouted really loud, which made her jump.

She found another pack of gums with the third clue which said to go where you get your blood drawn. Obviously it was the clinic lab, but being a med student that she is, Laura overanalyzed and thought it was the Red Cross (where you donate blood), and cross meant church, which meant seminary, so we took a detour all the way to one of the seminary buildings.

The fourth clue (found at the lab) lead her to the "Crazy Canadian's house" (isn't it obvious that Evan wrote the clues?), so we went to Amy's house, where she found a clue that said to go back to where we started, and to look "among many gifts." So we went to the Holiday House dining hall, but Laura didn't find anything, so she just stood around for a minute until she realized that there is a gift shop. So she finally got the certificate that we made and the package from her mom, which almost made her cry when she saw the handwriting on the label.

As a finale, Gavin decided to give Laura a motorcycle lesson. It took a while to get started, but soon enough she was going around in circles on Gavin's motorcycle. Then Gavin asked if I wanted to give it a try, so I got to ride a motorcycle for the first time ever.

When it started going, I panicked for a second and twisted the throttle, which made it go even faster, but I quickly regained control, and was able to make couple laps around the little loop. It was fun, but I don't think I'd ever use motorcycle as a mode of transportation... unless maybe if I'm a missionary doctor in a rural area where motorcycle is the best way to get around. But otherwise it's too dangerous. You know what the doctors call motorcycle riders who don't wear helmets?... Organ donors (That's from Chaos Theory).

Afterwards, we hung out at Amy's as usual, and watched episode 403 of Grey's Anatomy.