Kirstin’s Blog

my last week!

I can’t believe its Friday already and I am getting ready to leave for Quito. I am waiting for the taxi to come pick me up. It was supposed to be here at 8 am, but due to it being Good Friday there is a ton of traffic and processions and apparently he is stuck in a long line of cars. So I won’t be leaving for Quito until at least 10 am. The bad part of that is that I will have much less time to sightsee, but I am still hopeful that I will at least get to Mitad del Mundo- where the equator line is. This week went so fast, but there was a lot going on.

Monday was a somewhat hectic precall day. We had several admissions, mostly for elective surgeries like cholecystectomies (removal of gallbladder) and cyst removals. On top of that I was busy trying to get my presentation together for Wednesday.

Tuesday I was on call for my last time here. It was busy all day long in the ER. We did get a short break in the afternoon however to rest. That break ended very quickly when there was an announcement over the loud speaker calling on call doctors to the ER. I had never had that happen before but knew that it definitely couldn’t be good as they normall call on the phone if there is a patient. So off we went running from the resident’s house to the ER. There was a young woman who had attempted to commit suicide semi-unconscious on the hospital bed. She had taken 4 grams of tylenol, many sleeping pills an possibly some other medications as well as having cut her wrist. Thankfully the cut on her wrist was not bleeding profusely, it was not big enough or deep enough to cause a real problem. We had to get a tube into her stomach though in order to try to empty it and then wash it with charcoal to try to remove the effects of the medications she had taken. She was just conscious enough to fight the nasogastric tube and make it extremely difficult to place. She was also fighting any attempt to place an IV or draw blood. Finally we had everything done that needed to be and were able to give the medicines necessary to cancel the effects of the tylenol as well. She remained semi-conscious for a while and we admitted her. We had several other patients in the process and that night but around 11:30 the last one was taken care of and we were able to go rest. After midnight the woman who had been admitted decided that she wanted to leave. She pulled out all of the tubes and lines and got her husband to sign the form. Apparently here you can’t force anyone to stay, even if they just tried to commit suicide.

Wednesday I had to give my presentation and I was extremely nervous. I am not a fan of public speaking at all, and this had to be in Spanish to a roomful of physicians and residents, more than half of whom have Spanish as their first language. I had put a lot of work into the presentation, so I knew the information and that it had everything in it, it was just the delivery of the information that had me worried. I fumbled a bit due to nerves, but it went ok. they had some really good questions at the end, which I somehow found it easier to answer than reading the slides, haha. I was definitely glad that it was over though. The residents were going to a pool that afternoon, so I was invited to that. It was gorgeous- with a jacuzzi, large outdoor pool, sauna room and steam room. We spent the afternoon chatting and playing some form of a game that was kind of a mixture of basketball/polo/soccer. It was a nice relaxing day, even though it wasnt extremely sunny or warm. It was actually raining for part of it. But we had a good time anyway.

Thursday I had my last morning report at the hospital before I left for Banos with the Martins. They had decided that I needed to have a day off and travel. So we went to one of the very touristy towns about an hour away- they have a car and so they drove. It was beautiful. surrounded by mountains, with all kinds of shops and parks and natural springs and a gorgeous catholic church. We drove by several waterfalls along the way as well. One of which was involved in a large landslide that killed at least 5 people back in February- it had been 1 waterfall prior to the landslide and was now split into 2. There was still a roof of a house between the 2. It was a reminder that although the mountains are beautiful, the amount of rain each year makes them a dangerous place. In Banos we went to a Swiss restaurant and share cheese fondue. I would have to compare Banos to Woodstock, NY a little. According to the Martins a lot of Europeans and “ex-hippies” have moved there. It is a very eclectic interesting place. There are all kinds of adventure trips that go from there including trips down the river and bike rides. I hope that someday I get to come back and experience some of these more touristy things. I was really excited to go to a store there that sells good Ecuadorian coffee and spices, since most coffee from here is exported and therefore it is hard to get good coffee here. It was closed though, so I am hoping that I will have enough time in Quito to maybe find coffee there. I did get some other souvenirs though.

So now I just wait to head to Quito and hope that I get to do some sight seeing. Thank you so much for all of your help with this trip! I have appreciated the support from everyone- through prayers, financial support and reading and commenting on this blog! It means a lot to me that everyone I love has been so excited about this trip with me, and I look forward to seeing everyone again and sharing any pictures that I have not had the chance to put on here.Thanks again, and I will officially be back in NY around 10 pm Saturday night!