FIRST OFF: HAPPY ST. PATRICKS DAY! Happy birthday my little Ty-Ty -- turning 2 years old!
Total Patients today: 287!!!!
Total Patients seen this week: 944
Today was the last day. It's sort of sad. Today I felt more confident as a clinician. It almost made me believe I am ready to do this on my own... almost haha.
Saw another patient with a blood sugar of 390 and a BP of 190/100. Put her on metformin 500 mg twice a day and hydrochlorithiazide. HCTZ is very effective in lower BP of African American patients. SAw a female who was 27 and was needing a pregnancy test because she thought she might be pregnant. We ran the test in our make shift lab and it came back positive. She was pregnant and so happy! Her and her husband had been trying.
A lot of the tent city children we saw where there. Those poor families. Most of them were there just to be seen. We had sent over tap-taps to pick them up. Apparently families were just tossing their kids in just so their kids could come and be seen. Even though they were from the tent city they were still dressed in their "sunday best". They were so grateful for evetything. I feel like I can't even take in all I saw. I feel accomplished but a little defeated at the same time. I wish I could just help them even more. I just want them to have the same basic resources - or just clean water at the very least. There was a 2 year old boy with extensive 3rd degree burns to his little finger that won't get proper treatment. There was a girl I saw who was 8 with a serious eye infection taht wasn't pink eye. She needs to see a specialist. Being in tent community, she has no phone or way to communicate with anyone. We couldn't even get in touch with her if we needed to. I wish her the best...
I have to say, I was sad to leave my translator. He was an extremely nice (and PATIENT!) young man...even if he does like kobe bryant! I'm sure if he was in America, we would have been good friends. It was funny because by the second day, he knew the order of questions I was going to ask and would try to ask them before I finished. Sometimes I'd say, and does she have problems with acid or does she have a burning pain in her chest after she eats, and he'd talk to her in creole then say "YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!" as if I just solved a medical mystery.... not just describe heartburn. :) Our last day, he gave me a Haitian coin that is 1 gourde or 1/5 of an american dollar. I was shocked and so touched. That is a lot of money for him. He lives in the community. It will forever be my lucky charm and a reminder of where I've been, what I've seen, and all I've accomplished.
I have to say, I'm a little nervous about going home and practiving medicine. I know I'll see Americans in 1000x better situations feeling like they are owed everything, complaining, irritated if they wait 15 min, ungrateful if you don't prescribe vicodin or xanax. It goes the other way too.... those that can't get the treatment they need because it's either getting a lab test or paying the water bill.... healthcare in the US can make you cynical.... something I want to avoid -- at least when i'm starting! It will be difficult to step back from that and not think about my Haitian patients. I'm so ready to go home but part of me will miss the generosity, the respect and how much the Haitians and their culture has inspired me. I don't think it's common to miss a 3rd world country but part of me wishes I could have the best of both worlds. I really hope this mission trip continues. This will be something I know I will continue to do in the future.
So excited to be home tomorrow. I need a hug from my family.
Brittany
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