Wednesday

Well, today was a fairly good day. I had a not so good day in the hospital and a great walk into the city, San Ignacio tonight.
The medical side of things here is frustrating. I don’t know what the deal is with the doctors here, but they won’t let me do anything, at least up to this point. I’ve been talking a lot to the staff about what students do here and they all indicate to me that they mainly just watch. A few get involved and help with things, but you have to be very proactive and ask. Today I decided to lay it all out to Dr. Lazo and see what I can do. Here is how our conversation went:
Rhett: “Dr. Lazo, I’m not sure what you usually allow students to do here, but I’d like to get involved. Do you think I can do some of the procedures like pap smears and other in-office procedures.”
Dr. Lazo: “No, I don’t think so.”
Rhett: “Why not?”
Dr. Lazo: “Because, blah, blah, blah.”
Rhett: “Well, that may be true, but I bet some people would let me if we could just ask them.”
Dr. Lazo: He seems to ignore me for a bit and then “No.”
Rhett: “Well, I can at least see patients. What if I saw all the hospitals new patients in another office or something and then I could consult with you to see if you like my plan.”
Dr. Lazo: “We’ll talk about it later.”
Rhett: “When?”
Dr. Lazo: “When I get back from my vacation.” (That’s in a week and a half!!!!)
Well, later that night I find out the Dr. Gamero (that was going to be on call while Dr. Lazo and his wife are gone on vacation and would be one of only two Doctors here while he is gone), anyway, Dr. Gamero had a death in the family so he has to leave the country till next week thus shattering Dr. Lazo’s plans for vacation. So, now Dr. Lazo has to be on call all weekend and next week. Well, so I tell him, I would love to help in any way I can by seeing patients or whatever, that way I could take some of the load off you. Well, he looks at me like I’m joking or something and says, “Thank you. I will think about it.” Arrrgg! What does he think I’m here to do? I come to Belize for 4 weeks leaving my family at home to sit around and twittle my thumbs? This is super frustrating. I mean, how more proactive can I be!?! I really wish Dr. Gamero would be here because he seems a lot cooler and more open to letting me do things than Dr. Lazo. I was totally thinking I would get to come here to a 3rd world country and be a major force in helping them at the hospital and really make a difference, but this is less than I even get to do in the U.S. What a disappointment! It’s not all bad though. After watching another surgery today I talked to the general surgeon and got it worked out with him so I could be first assist with his surgeries, so at least I’ll get that experience. I’m going to have to just start doing things regardless of what Dr. Lazo says, within reason of course. I think I’ll quit working with Dr. Lazo altogether and following his “schedule” he made me and try other Doctors to see if they’re any better. I’m also going to just hang around the ER more and just see patients when they come in regardless of what Dr. Lazo wants me to do. I spent good money to get here and by dang I’m going to try and get my money’s worth. Some of the staff have said many students that come here are really lazy, hardly ever show up, and are just here for vacation, so I guess I can see why they aren’t used to a student that actually wants to be involved, but it’s just frustrating how Dr. Lazo and much of the staff seem to be so negative against students. I’m here to really work and had no idea that Belize was a place where you would want to vacation anyways. Funny thing is one staff member told me that long ago the students would come and get their own office and basically work as doctors with the hospital doctors overseeing them, but since they got some new doctors (the ones here now) the students don’t get to do much and most leave disappointed.
Well, in spite of my frustrations, I was happy to watch a “hernia” repair today. It was an inguinal hernia repair, but the problem was there was no hernia, instead a hydrocele. The general surgeon is from Central America, but indicated to me he had spent a few years in the U.S. for a fellowship. He seems like a pretty good surgeon although I’m not sure about the surgery today. He uses some old school surgery methods and I have no idea how you could confuse a hydrocele with an inguinal hernia unless you really didn’t spend the time to make a good diagnosis. I guess I’ve never seen a hydrocele repair though so for all I know he was doing things right. Either way, it was an interesting surgery and I’m glad I’ll be able to start scrubbing in.
Now, Jessica seems to think that my first living space didn’t look too bad in the pictures. I will admit that I may have slightly over reacted, but the pictures I took don’t do it justice and it definitely has to be the worst bathroom I’ve ever been in; mainly because it was so filthy. I’ve had some nasty bathrooms in my day, but none that bad. My mission had a few ghettoish places, but I’d say my lodgings I have now are equivalent to the mission. The bathroom in the Dominican Republic was a bit worse than the one I have now, but the first bathroom here was definitely the worst and the bedroom wasn’t too great either. Like I said, there is a whole lot worse, and I could be living in a tiny hut with a hole for a bathroom and a weekly shower from a well in Africa, but I would challenge Jessica to come to Belize right now and stay out in the “Mission House” and tell me it isn’t a nasty place. Surely, a world’s different than our cushy lifestyle in Utah.
After work I headed into San Ignacio to see the town and get some dinner. San Ignacio is one of main cities on the western border right on the western highway. It’s quite a tourist town as it is the central starting point for touring the many Mayan ruins in the area. I had a pretty fun time exploring the city. Belize is such an amazing country. It’s a melting pot of many different languages and cultures. Here the official language is English, but basically everyone speaks Spanish with friends and family or creole. There are a few small villages that speak Mayan. All the local Belize TV stations are in English and everyone can speak English very well. It’s not what you would typically think of for a country in Central America. Being right on the Caribbean sea it has a big Caribbean influence. Everyone’s English sounds like Jamaican. In fact, a lot of people dress like Jamaicans with the dread locks and after one dude tonight invited me to smoke weed with him I almost forgot I was in Belize. There is a big African influence here too as some of the population are decendents of slaves who were stranded in the Caribbean when the Spanish ships carrying them to the new world wrecked. They are known for playing beautiful African melodies on their drums and are called the Garifuna. Combining all these cultures and languages in a country that is at the crossroads of Central America and the Caribbean, equals out to be a pretty interesting place. It’s very interesting, but there is quite a lot of poverty. As I walked down the streets you could see a lot of impoverished areas and small homes that were more like huts. Even though this is the richest country in Central America it definitely has many poor people.
My walk through town was a blast. I had a few tour guides trying to get me to take a tour of Tikal or Caracol tomorrow and a few street vendors trying to get me to buy their wares. One of them told me to come back and he was going to have weed for me. I decided to decline. I met these two young kids about 12 years old. They were pretty funny. They got my attention and kind of kept following me and trying to talk to me. They are expert salesmen. They didn’t have anything to sell right off, but just wanted to chat. Then they mentioned they do art and wanted to earn money for their school so they wanted to show me their stuff. Well, I asked them to show me to the best restaurant around and I would look at their stuff. They led me to a popular place downtown and then showed me their things. They carve out designs on plates of slate and they were actually pretty cool. One had carved a map of Belize and it was just to cool to pass up, only $12.50. So, after I said I would buy that one the other boy kind of gets this sad look on face and says, “Don’t you like any of mine?” Well, I couldn’t just let him leave having crushed his self esteem so I bought one of his fish carvings. They are actually really cool and seem like the perfect Belizean souvenir to hang on the wall. I was really impressed with their skills at getting me to buy their stuff from both of them, but I was glad I did. While I was eating my delicious spaghetti and meatballs at the restaurant, they walked by and yelled, “Rhett!” and where waving from the window. I went out and talked to them for a while and got their picture. They really wanted me to send them a copy so I also got an email address and a street address. They wanted me to send them some schools supplies and so I said I would think about. They were such great kids and so nice that I think I just may. Later another Jamaican looking Belizean invited me to his booze drinking party tomorrow if I would help pay for his laundry. I declined. Then I finished eating my delicious meal and met the restaurant owner Oscar telling him I would be a regular while I was here (Dirt cheap too, only $6.50 for a full meal and drink). Then I headed back to the hospital, about ½ hour walk.
It was a good day and tomorrow is a national holiday so the hospital is closed. I’m sure I’ll have plenty of good stories from tomorrow and as long as Dr. Lazo keeps not wanting my help I’ll have plenty of time to write them. Until next time. . .