Amy's Blog: October 2011

Well the poor blog has been neglected once again! Its funny how everything seems to get neglected during nursing school. I deep cleaned my room for the first time since school started yesterday. I didn't exactly have time to do it, but it was in desperate need!
I haven't posted since the end of last semester so I have a lot to write about. I don't have much time tonight, but I am in the middle of a study break!

This summer was great! Once again I worked at a doctors office at home. I absolutely could not have asked for a better place to work. The people in that office are wonderful, patient, loving, and kind. I was blessed to work for such a wonderful employer. I cannot find the words to say how great he was to me. He would always take the time to teach me and he was more than willing to answer my questions. He believed that the best way for me to learn was to do it. Starting on the first day I was told to jump in where i left off last summer. I was a little rusty to say the least! This summer I was able to do more with the patients, and more things on my own. It was a wonderful blessing to be able to learn so much this summer!

I also had the opportunity to go to Mexico on a medical mission trip. My Dad and I went with our church. It was an adventure! Other than going to Canada this was my first time to go out of the country. We stayed in Merida, Mexico and traveled to Tixkokob each day to our site. I was able to play nurse on this trip, and it was another learning adventure! I was able to work with three other women from my church who were all wonderful at what they do. The first day was mostly learning what we do. Things down there are so different because of the language barrier. It is also different because medical care is not as readily available as it is in the united states. Most of the people would come in saying "I fell six years ago and my knee is still hurting." I cannot imagine dealing with pain that long. In the US that person could have gotten medical attention the day of the fall.
On the medical side of things it was an interesting trip. We saw several things like ring worm, exfoliative dermatitis, scabies, sclerosis of the liver, foot sores, diabetes, and hypertension. Our bus driver was treated for hypertension. His blood pressure on the first day of the clinic was sky high... pretty scary! We were able to get him some medication and bring it down to a safer range. Most of what we saw could be treated with some type of medications. The most memorable people were the ones that could not be treated with medications. A man came with with tremors. They had been getting progressively worse. He and his wife were at the clinic to get him treated. They found out that he had Parkinson's disease. There was no treatment. The couple did not understand that there was nothing that he could take, do, or buy that would "cure" his disease. The doctor and translator had to explain to him that this disease would get progressively worse, and he would eventually need total care.
Other things about the trip.. Thankfully my Dad and I were able to be in a room together. That made being away from home and out of the country much easier! The room was not exactly what I was expecting from the picture, but it was doable for a week. There was not air conditioning like we are used to in the US. There was a wall unit that you turned on using a breaker, and the cleaning crew turned it off when they came in. Each afternoon when we got back from the clinic our room was hot and sticky. Thankfully it did not take too long to cool down! When we got there on Saturday it was late at night. Sunday morning we went to church, and the weather was absolutely perfect! We finished setting everything up, and headed back to the city for the afternoon. Each Sunday there is a market in the square. A group of us went to the market to shop. Sunday was also fathers day, so I bought Dad a coke and a cookie. I don't think he has even been so happy to have a cold coke in his life! I also got him a fathers day card in spanish.. hope it said something nice! Monday though friday were pretty much the same story. We woke up, ate breakfast, loaded the bus, worked in the clinic, went back to the hotel, showered, cooled off, ate dinner, evening devotional, then sleep.. and repeat!
I am so glad I had the opportunity to go to Mexico. It was defiantly out of my comfort zone, but it was a great learning experience. I am so thankful that i did not get really sick and made it back alive! I have never been so thankful to be able to brush my teeth with tap water, open my mouth in the shower, or have the air conditioner on when i come back to the house.

Dad working hard in the pharmacy!

VBS

Construction Site

Some of the local ladies decided they would use their skills of cutting and styling hair. They cut hair all day long!

Coconut Ice Cream!

Continuing on with my summer.. Mom and I took on Las Vegas. The annual Cardinal health trade show was hosted there this year. This is our yearly "work" (besides inventory and being the emergency back up at the store). Las Vegas was defiantly interesting. The hotels were HUGE. The night before we left my mom and I found a mall in our hotel that we didn't know existed. Our room hotel room was decorated to the top. We stayed on the strip and we went out to walk to a few of the other hotels one afternoon. It was very HOT! No humidity, just heat.. and a lot of it. Everything there is concrete, and the heat just radiates off of the ground. The hotels were just nasty to me. The casinos reeked of smoke. People were barely dressed, and the hotels were loud. Las Vegas is not my type of city.

Our room

The other part of our room

Anything seem weird about this picture?

A fake building!

We headed home from Las Vegas and the next day we were off to North Carolina. Talk about a total change of pace. We stayed at a house on Lake Santeelah. It is one of the most beautiful and quiet lakes i have ever seen. I had two goals on that trip. 1. Do nothing productive 2. catch a fish! I am proud to announce that I did both of those things! I did nothing related to school, learning, or work. I read magazines, rode on the boat, slept, ate, watched TV, and fished. The first evening we had the boat we went out to fish. It had been raining, and was eery outside. The sun was getting ready to set, and the sky was bright orange. Dad and I were fishing by the shoreline, and i felt a bite on my line! I caught a fish!! (Don't worry i will post a picture!). Not only did i catch a fish it was the first fish of the trip. The only problem was I was not about to touch it.. and it was stuck on my lure. Thankfully dad was willing to get him off and throw the fish back in the water. Mom was my photographer during all of this! Throughout the trip dad caught four or five fish! I think he caught one of every kind in the lake. Mom really didn't want to catch a fish, so she trolled us around the shore line so we could catch them. Then on the last evening I caught my second (and last) fish! It was MASSIVE if you ask me. I would say that he weighed at least 8 pounds... but in reality 3 might be pushing it. It was the last and biggest fish we caught. I thought I had him hooked pretty good, but right after my second picture with him he breaks my line, flops on the floor of the boat and unhooks himself. That was quite a dramatic two minuets on the boat. I am screaming "AHH AH AHH", Mom is saying "what can i do to help?" "Do you want a towel?" and dad is saying "This isn't helping!" The poor fish didn't know what to do! Thankfully dad picked him back up and threw him back into the water. I was shocked that I actually caught another fish! We fished some more that night and the next day, but no luck! I was thrilled that I caught 2 fish!