Days 44 & 45
(7/2/12 & 7/3/12)

Yesterday I was on the oncology unit, and specifically where they give chemotherapy treatments. Even though these patients are sick and have terrible diseases, it was a relatively calm unit. Once the nurse set up all the IV’s with the drugs, there was basically nothing else to do, other than general maintenance here and there. So basically it was boring for me. Luckily one of the patients (and his sister) spoke English, and we ended up talking. I also talked with one of the nurses for a while. We actually talked about some more personal topics, such as marriage and jobs and hopes for the future (mostly hers).

It’s interesting because people always think that everyone across the world is so different and foreign. But that’s not true at all. Even though we speak different languages, wear different clothes, worship different gods…beneath all that everyone has the same hopes and dreams for their futures, their careers, and their family. And I bet the world would be a much more peaceful place if people would just realize that!

It’s also interesting because I was talking to this nurse about arranged marriages and how the woman is submissive to her husband. She told me that she didn’t have any expectations for her future spouse, and that she didn’t have problems with obeying him (and in regards to clothing, wearing what he wanted would keep away unnecessary attention). We always think we’re doing good by trying to make all these social changes, but it makes you wonder about the validity of our efforts if the people we’re attempting to help don’t think there’s a problem in the first place?

Today was a whole different adventure. I’m realizing more and more that what I thought was a completely organized six-week internship is not quite that organized. The medical director had told me I should shadow the ENT in OPD, so I showed up at 10am expecting to do just that. Expect the doctor doesn’t come in until 4pm. So then I had to figure out what to do with myself for six hours.

After wandering around a little, talking with some nurses, and touring the ambulance (it’s actually very nice, called the ACLS Ambulance, equipped to handle all sorts of emergencies), I ended up asking one of the pediatricians I had met before if I could shadow him. Apparently Tuesday is unlucky for some reason so he really didn’t have any appointments, but he was going to OB to give vaccinations so I followed him there. It actually worked out really well because he let me give some of the vaccinations! All the babies are required to receive polio, TB (I believe) and Hep B, and I helped give the Hep B shots. They’re called IM (intramuscular), so the nurses and doctor not only showed me how to give the vaccination, but also how to load it, including getting the medicine in the syringe and then changing to a smaller needle. Pretty cool stuff!

After several hours in OB, I finally headed over to the ENT’s office. I hadn’t realized it before, but I already knew the ENT. I’ve seen him around the hospital multiple times before- in casualty for a couple biopsies, in the operating theater- and he’s always really great about explaining what he’s doing and also allowing me to participate/view/help whenever possible. Of course, it being Tuesday, he had almost no patients as well. But he did see one patient; it was a post-op follow-up from surgery to remove cancer from the tongue and lymph nodes. The patient was there to have the staples from surgery removed, and the doctor let me try (and I ended up removing most of them)! Unfortunately that was the extent of his appointments, but he did tell me I could come back tomorrow and see some more.