There's a First Time for Everything!

As I near the 1st month mark at the end of this week and I reflect on some of the things that I have done for the first time, I can't help but think back to the days of being a baby and then a child and the calendar got marked for Baby's first ____.  Therefore, get out your calendars, cause some more important dates are goign on it!

• Sept 20th- my first job as an RN
• Sept 23rd- first time assisting with a surgical procedure
• Sept 24th- my first "hurricane" experience (which mind you ended up being sunshine!)
• Sept 26th- first day snorkeling the reefs of Honduras
• Sept 27th- after a week of orientation, I am in charge of my first clinic!
• Sept 28th- ran my first EKG on a patient (which now happens several times a week)
• Sept 30th- assisted with my first (of what i'm sure will be many) pap smears
• Oct 11th- first time celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving
• Oct 11th- first time preparing for a medical facility inspection
• Oct 12th- first time removing sutures
• Soon to come: my first trip off the island (this weekend to Cayos Cuchenos) and my first month here

Wow!  Have I done a lot.  And there will only be more; why did we ever stop marking the calendar after we turned 1 or 2 or whatever age it was?!  Like for instance, today Angely our secretary came back and asked where Ms Peggy was because there was someone there to get some stitches removed.  Then she asked if I could just do it.  I of course answered saying yes I can!  To myself though, I was thinking hey, I've never done this before but how hard can it really be?!  After getting the right supplies, aka a suture removal kit- not too difficult, I had those stitches out in no time and am now able to chalk up one more accomplishment.

I've also decided that trying to run a clinic is soo much work, it is unbelievable!  Trying to run a clinic in the US is probably one thing, but then try running a clinic  in another country where you rely purely on donations.  That becomes tricky...especially when the Honduran Board of Pharmacy calls at 6:30 the night before they are coming.  I guess it was nice of them to give us warning, but that also meant that we had to go in and go through every single pill bottle and bag, check expiration dates, and pull all the expired ones out of the pharmacy.   Five people and two and half hours later, we finally had the task accomplished.  Now we awaited the arrival of the board to see if we would pass.  The verdict?  We passed, and they only picked up one bottle!  Really?!  All that work for nothing?  and the bottle they picked up wasn't to look at the expiration date, it was because it was a bottle of medicine provided by the government to the public hospital not us.  So then we had to explain that we trade meds between our supplies and the hospital's supplies; we don't buy or sell them (which they don't allow either).

This upcoming weekend I will hopefully be headed to Cayos Cuchinos, another island of Honduras, with an organization called the Floating Doctors.  They live on a boat and do traveling clinics all over.  For the next 2 months or so they are in Honduras.  Therefore, we will go and see as many of the 160 people of the island as possible.  Most of the interventions will be based on teaching and lifestyle adjustments and some antibiotics, because they have little to no access to medications on the island.  So we shall see how that goes-- mind you it will all be in spanish as well!

That's all I got for right now...I think there's probably more, but that will have to wait for another time.  Hope all is well back in the states!  Keep it real! lol

Laura