June 13th & 14th

June 13, 2012

Yesterday I was in the part of the clinic that handles allergies related to allergic rhinitis, asthma, and dermatitis. They had different doses of each vaccine like trees, pollen, and mosquitos. They explained to me that in Panama they get these allergy shots every 3 to 5 years and sometimes they can last up to 8 years! Once the nurse gives the allergy vaccine SQ they patient waits 30 minutes and then returns to the nurse and the nurse looks at it. If its red or swollen the nurse puts Hydrocortisone on it and sends them on their way. It was a simple day at the clinic and I was able to talk and joke with the doctor and nurse. I was explaining to the nurses how much the nurses make in the US and they were saying that they wanted to come home with me lol. I took some pictures of the allergy shot room and stuff that I’ll attach below.

After that we went to the school to have class/seminar and Sarah and I presented our chapters as well as another pair of students and I have pictures of the class room also! After school we went to the grocery because we all needed a few things considering we are all having problems with ants getting in our food. It seems like in Panama we have to learn everything the hard way haha. I only had one bowl of my $7 cereal before the ants got to it so I had to buy a new box. Because our kitchen is open we have to make sure everything is packaged up properly and because our fridge is small we have to be very careful. Sarah cooked us alfredo and salad so that was a pretty good dinner. However, we had to figure out how to turn on a gas oven without dying! Leslie took one for the team and we eventually got it on and the garlic bread turned out pretty good. After that I had to figure out how to work their washing machine. You put the hose in the washer and fil it up and when its done you drain the water. After you drain the water you put about 3 pieces of clothing at a time in the spinner… it’s pretty old school but it does the job. Ill attach a picture of the washer later. After that I just talked to Ryan on Skype and he arrived safely in New York ! Im so happy he gets to spend some time with his family especially since I’m gone. After I talked to Ryan I went to bed to be ready for another clinical day! J

this is the house were staying at in Panama!

this is the street leading to the house...

the name of our street :)

the two nurses, the doctor, and me!

the allergy shots

this is a catholic church in Panama that i don't think made it on the other post

the University of Panama classroom where we have class

leslie :)

the guy that sells jewelry in the University

one of the stray dogs at the Univeristy... so cute

our kitchen door.... and those holes are open to the outside lol

the allergy med from the Panamanian doctor!

leslie isn't ashamed of her granny panties on the clothes line

our glamorous kitchen

our washer.. and spinner (no dryer)

Mine and sarah's bed.

June 14, 2012

Today I was in the dispatch/injections area of the clinic. It was a pretty slow day but I got to practice IM (intramuscular) injections. Its interesting because the women don’t really like the American students to practice on them but the men usually don’t mind. It was cool because Melida (my nurse from the wound center) was also my nurse today! She calls the Doctor that likes me her boyfriend so all day she was joking that she was jealous and mad and that she wanted to have a dance competition for him!  The Panamanian soccer team does the American dance “The Bernie” when they get a goal so everyone in Panama jokes with us about doing the Bernie and its pretty entertaining. Everyone in Panama has such a great sense of humor and it’s a really enjoyable environment to work in. Today the Doctor joked that we should kick Melida out of Panama and put me in and said she would be like a Beverly Hillbilly living in Florida. All day the jokes continued but we had a lot of fun. I was giving steroid shots and B12 shots in all the Panamanians buttocks because that’s their preferred area in Panama J I also had a women come in with an abscess and I actually had to open it and squeeze the contents out because that aids in the healing. Don’t worry though… I wore sterile gloves and washed my hands like crazy after. It was nice though because the little old lady told me how much better she felt after which made it all worth it!

That was all I did in the clinics today and after that we went to the school for more chapter presentations. My allergy/sinuses issue is a little better now. The Doctor gave me some drowsy allergy medication that he said is way better than Allerga and Claritin and it’s packaged normally or else I probably wouldn’t trust it. However, I’m still going to do my research on it but form what I heard from the other nurses I’ll feel better in like one day because its an amazing allergy drug. I’m excited for the nutrition clinic tomorrow. On Saturday were going to a Homecoming/pageant type of event at the University of Panama and then on Sunday we’re going to the beach. Needless to say I’m excited for the weekend J Hope all my loved ones are doing well. Thanks for reading!