Kirstin’s Blog

my 2nd week

I can’t believe that half of my month here is already over! It has gone so fast. I have spent most of my time so far in the hospital seeing patients in the ER and in “consulto” or the clinic with the drs. I have so far not been involved in any surgeries, but they say that the surgery calendar has been slow. We have ha such a variety of cases, ranging from the every day cold to asthma attacks, to traumas. We have seen several accidents involving a child on a bike or walking being hit by a car. We have also had some adult traumas involving car accidents and one woman who fell off the back of a truck while it was driving. So far we have been able to stabilize and treat all of these people, thank God. Even a man who came in with high blood pressure and chest pain who we determined by xray to be having an aortic dissection and had to fly to Quito for an immediate surgery by a cardiothoracic surgeon survived against the odds. These situations can be so difficult to deal with, but it has been awesome to be in a place where praying with the family is almost expected. It makes it easier to know that the family also knows that God is in charge of whats happening, not the doctors, and that He is so much better and more capable than we are anyway. Medicine here is quite different than in the states in general. We use slightly different antibiotics, people can walk into a pharmacy here and buy antibiotics without a prescription which causes some issues with resistance, and people still believe that the dr has what is best for them in mind here. They listen to what we have to say, and the majority of the time follow it as best they can. This has been a nice change. I am getting used to the names of medications, the differences in the way things are treated, an the specific resources that we have available to us here. I believe that we actually have a very good amount available to us, even within a short drive. The CT scanner is only 20 minutes away. We have an ultrasound machine, x-ray machine and a portable x-ray machine here. I have been really impressed with the family medicine residents from Quito as well. I am learning so much and being able to help with many procedures and patients. It has flown by so far though.

I have had such an awesome opportunity here to be involved with bible studies in groups that exist here as well as my own reading. I was also able to attend the local Nazarene church today. It was hard to understand parts of the sermon, but I think I understand more than half of what was being said. Overall I am thrilled at how much time I have been able to spend studying and getting closer to God over the past 2 weeks.

Yesterday I went on a hike to Hola Vida, a waterfall about an hr busride from Shell. It was gorgeous, and I took all kinds of pictures. There was a pool of water to wade in at the waterfall, but it was freezing! It ha rained all morning and had barely stopped by the time we were almost to the hiking area. Thankfully I didn’t see any big spiders or snakes, but there were some gorgeous butterflies and dragonflies. Overall it was just an awesome thing.

Today after church the Dan, Christina, their kids, Dianne, Steve and I went to Puyo for lunch. We had a dish created in Puyo made from chifles (plantain chips), tuna, and chochobeans, named bucanero (i think is the spelling). It was created for the garbage collectors years ago by a woman who did not have food prepared to feed the workers and therefore threw together whatever she had. It is surprisingly good though random.

It is pretty insane that so much has happened in 2 weeks… I hope the next 2 weeks seem to last longer, but I will be making more trips and working more so I will keep updating this as often as I can!