Belize Mission 2009: Wednesday

I did a presentation to the nurses today. I guess you could say it was the most exciting thing that happened. I had the vision of wowing the staff with a colorful powerpoint presentation full of pictures, but my computer was broken. I even had access to a projector so that was a shame. Instead I found a white board and fit it in the corner of the nurses lounge. We were going to do it in the cafeteria, but the head nurse said that hardly anybody could make it so we switched to the small nurses lounge. I figured nobody at all would show so just a few was better than I expected. It was only the nurses that were actually working so they would come and go as they pleased because they had work to do. I'd say it went okay, but took a lot longer than I expected because I had to write everything out. I thought it was funny that they made me wait to start until they all had a pencil and a paper. They wrote down every little word I wrote on the white board; what great students! I talked about post-partum hemorrhage and childhood vaccinations. I think it was the most beneficial for me just preparing everything because I really learned a lot.
Besides that the day was good. We just saw kids in the clinic, mainly upper respiratory infections and a few other interesting things. I saw some weaknesses in Dr. Sierra's abilities today when a young lady came in with "dizziness". He's a good doctor, but it's difficult for a pediatrician to work with all types of patients which is what he has to do here. He can't be proficient in everything. After taking her history, she would get dizzy only when she stood up and sometimes she would black out a little. There was definitely no vertigo involved, which is when the world is spinning around you. Pre-syncope as it is called or orthostatic hyptension causes the symptoms she was describing. He kept talking about vertigo to her though and naming off diseases that cause vertigo. I mentioned (when the patient left the room) that I don't think it's vertigo and that she seems to have orthostasis with pre-syncope. He kind of just brushed me off. Well fine, I thought, but I know what I'm talking about. He drew her blood and she did have a slight anemia which could contribute to her symptoms so he gave her a treatment for that. Still though, anemia does not cause vertigo, but whatever, he's the doctor, maybe I'm wrong. Anyway, not like we were arguing, but that's the first time I think he's been way off on a diagnosis, but at least the treatment ended up being the same.
Only 4 more days left in Belize! I think I'll miss some of the people I've met here though. Some of the staff are great. My favorite department is imaging as they are all pretty cool. Steve is the rad tech and I probably get along with him the best. It's weird that me and rad techs just seem to go together. Maybe I should have been a radiologist? There are a few nurses that are really cool too and all the cooking staff. The preacher is a great guy too. It's been fun to get to know the people here and learn about their culture. They are amazing people and some of the nicest people I have been around. I like seeing them in the hall and they yell out to me, "Hey Dac!" (meaning Doc as in doctor) or they say "Hey Rrrrayt!" It's hard to write out how they pronounce my name, but it is something like that. It's really hard for them to say for some reason. The first week I had to just show everyone my name tag in order for them to be able to say it. Tomorrow I'm going to get some pictures of everybody to remember them.
As I'm typing there are two Belizean kids on the computer next to me that keep looking at the screen then may hands and then the screen. I asked them what the deal is and they couldn't believe how fast I can type! Probably the fastest they've ever seen! I thought that was pretty funny. Anyway, better go.