The Maternity Clinic and The End

Me and Dr. Marquez in the Maternity
Hospital

This week I worked in the maternity hospital and totally loved it!  Colleen and I were both there together and we got to see 4 C-sections, 4 Dand C’s and I’m not sure how many natural deliveries!!!  I’m so glad I didn’t pass out because I have been wanting to be an OB/GYN for a while now, and was secretly worried that when I saw one I would change my mind.  My favorite was the natural deliveries; childbirth is really just such a fascinating thing.  I was surprised by the way the baby looks when it comes out.  I had heard that it was a purplish blue color but I was expecting it to have rubberyish skin.  And I didn’t even think about the umbilical cord, ehich is blue and then the placenta has to deliver after the baby comes out.  I can’t believe there are people who actually eat those things.  I’d never want it anywhere near my mouth.  The C-sections were also really cool because each one was different.  Like, one of them cut vertically, from the bellybutton down but the other three went horizontally the way I was expecting.  The C-sections in a way remind me of Mary Poppins, the way she reaches deep into her bag and pulls out something wild like a coat rack.  The doctors do the same thing, reaching down into the women’s abdomen and pulling out her baby that’s all slick and there is blood and liquid squirting out in random directions.  It was really an amazing week to be able to see all of that, totally uncensored.

I can’t believe that my month here is over already…  I have had such a great time and really do hope that I will get a chance to come back and visit.  I am said to be leaving but I am really looking forward to eating cheese – the one thing that I miss from the States!  This is going to be a big semester for me; I am starting a new job at Upper Chesapeake and working on my own project in the lab (not sure it will work but hey, you never know until you try!).  I will also be taking the MCAT within the next few months and applying to medical schools in June.

On the hike to our last waterfall in Banos:
"The greatest gift you can give to others is the example of
your own life."

Living in Quito for a month was truly an enriching experience.  It was a step outside of my comfort zone, because I was afraid of both cities and public transportation, which I had to take everyday to get to my clinical sites.  I also didn’t know the language when I came here, which just made everything scarier.  But I did it, and I am proud to say that my comfort zone has expanded.  Even though I had my money stolen and my bag slashed and I still often don’t understand people, I feel so much more competent in my abilities to travel and to not only survive in a new environment but to thrive in it.  I wish that I had more time to spend here, so that I could continue to learn and to grow in this way, but it is time to get back to my obligations and responsibilities in the States.  I am so happy to have had this experience and I am only more determined to pursue a career in international medicine.  Every time I do something new, I am pleasantly surprised at my capabilities to succeed and to develop as an individual.  I really hope that every person chooses everyday to learn something new or to take a chance, whether in big ways like travelling to a new country, or in small ways, by taking a new route or talking to a stranger.  You just never know what life has in store for you!

The Last Weekend

Me and Mamajuanita

This weekend was super busy!  On Friday, instead of going to the clinic, I went to Otavalo to the Huamba Juasi clinic, which performs traditional medicine.  We watched two shamans, who were both female and very different from the shamans I met in Peru.  Their rituals were very interesting.  The first thing we watched was a woman who couldn’t straighten her ring finger, we thought maybe because of a snapped tendon or something.  So the shaman massaged it back into place, pretty normal.  Then we sat in on the other shaman, who was being visted by a toddler, probably about 8 – 12 months old.  The girls who brought him were young, I’d say the one who was his mom was maybe 16.  They also brought two eggs,  one of which the shaman threw out.  Then she took the second egg and began to rub it all over the little boy, who was laying on the table.  She rubbed his belly, his legs, his head and his back for maybe 10 minutes.  Then she took olive oil and sprinkled it all over him.  She also had a handful of stones, which she doused in olive oil as well and then rubbed those on the boy too.  I think the purpose of this procedure is to rid the boy of his sickness or evil spirits, by transferring them to the egg.  It was difficult for us to understand because they were speaking quinche, which is the language of the indigenous people.

Rubbing the guinea  pig on the patient.

But the most interesting procedure of all was the use of a guinea pig as a diagnostic technique.  We saw two patients who had this performed, each complaining of pain in a different p lace.  The first lady was 56 years old and was having pain in her lower abdomen/uterus.  She came with who I assume to be her daughters and granddaughter.  Both ladies were older and had their granddaughters with them to sign the papers, I assume because they are illiterate. 

Anyways, the patient brings their own live guinea pig, which can e  purchased from a shop just down the street.  They give it to the shaman, who hold it by the neck and then rubs it all over the patient’s skin (they have taken most of their clothes off).  And I am telling you, this was a very vigorous rub that mainly concentrated on the certain area of pain.  So the first lady had the live guinea pig rubbed all over her lower abdomen, her legs, her butt but also on her chest and neck and back.  Sometimes, the shaman also grabs the guinea pig by the legs and moves it in circles, like when you twist a towel, still while rubbing it on the woman’s bare skin.  During this process, which takes 15 – 20 minutes, the guinea pig dies.  At this point, the shaman grabs a knife and cuts into its chest, pulling off its coat in the same way you would take off a jacket.  Then she cut the next layer of skin, so that all of the intestines fall out.  She examines the rest of the guinea pig corpse because they believe that whatever ailments are present in the guinea pig represent the condition that the patient has.  Then she treats the patient, seemingly by massage and then tying a white sheet very tightly around their abdomen.  Very interesting.

In case you were wondering what the inside of a guinea pig
looks like...

Cutting the guinea pig open.

On Saturday, I travelled by myself to the Bella Vista Cloud Forest, which was very beautiful.  I was worried about getting there by myself, because I had to take two buses (one of which was the same that I got robbed on) and then a taxi-truck up the mountain.  But I got lucky and ended up running into other tourists who were going the same route.  The cloud forest really is like being in a cloud, it is cool and misty and all of the plants are wet.  The sky is white, and when looking into the distance, all you can see is white, too.  The people there gave me rubber boots, a poncho and a map, and gave me directions on which trails to hike during my time there.  After I finished hiking, I ate lunch in their café, and grabbed a ride back to Quito with a few older couples.

Today, we went  on an awesome 45 km (27 mi) bikeride through the mountains.  When we started at the top of the mountain, it was super super cold and almost rainy.  I definitely did not bring enough layers!  Also, we rode on quite bumpy roads, some of which were dirt and others were paved.  Our first big stop was at the hot springs.  We went in the pools and in the river (which was NOT warm), but the pools were really nice and there were a lot of people there.  After, we had lunch in the mountains by a lake, which was really beautiful.  Then we continued our trek down the mountain, and later drove to an old train track, which now serves as a bike/ jogging trail.  The views of the mountains and the canyons and the rivers were very beautiful but also hard to look at for too long because of how bumpy the road was!

This week I am working in the maternity hospital, so this should be a really great week to see if my life plans will still be my life plans!

La Clinica de Adolescente

Listening to the heartbeat of an infant!

This week I have been spending the mornings in la clinica de adolescente, which is a clinic for girls ages 12 - 19 who have had babies.  I am shadowing Dra. Dora Carrera, who has been working at the clinic for 12 years.  The clinic is a 20 minute bus ride from "la Y," which is the stop closest to our home stay.  I leave the house around 7:15 and get to the clinic at 8 am.  I was super nervous on Monday to go  because I am the only student going to this particular clinic this week so I have to travel alone.  Over the weekend, we went to Otavallo, which we heard was the biggest market in South America.  We took three different buses to get there and somewhere along the way someone stole $50 right out of my pocket.  The buses are super crowded and everybody pushes everybody, so I didn't even feel it.  But I've gotten more street smart and this week I haven't carried more then $2 with me.

Me and Dr. Carrera in her office!

When I first get to the clinic, I go to Dra. Carrera's office and put my white lab coat on.  She meets with girls who bring in their babies for checkups.  The babies are usually a couple of months old and Dra. Carerra lets me listen to their hearts with the stethescope.  Sometimes the girls come in with the baby's father or their moms, but other times they come alone.  As one girl was walking in, I thought that she had just come with a friend.  It turned out that the woman was actually her mother, but she looked young to me.  When Dra. Carrera asked questions, it was always the mom who answered, which was unusual because whoever comes with the girl typically stays quiet while she answers questions.  I noticed that the girl seemed pleasantly disconnected and wondered if she was deaf and/ or mute.  The check up was fine but after they left, Dra. Carrera told me that the girl was mentally retarded and she had been raped. It made me so sad.

Listening to the heart of a newborn!  Today, one baby's heart
was beating very fast and it had a murmur, which I could
actually hear!

After the morning patients, we go to a different section of the clinic to check the babies that have just been delivered.  They have three rooms that each hold about 8 girls and their newborns.  The beds are lined up along each wall and we go to each of them, one at a time.  The youngest baby that I have seen so far was only 14 hours old!  What incredibly interesting creatures young babies are.  There are completely helpless beings; it is amazing that we all started in this exact same way.  Dra. Carrera checks their heads, and she sometimes lets me touch them too.  It is really cool to feel where the bones in the cranium haven’t fused together yet!  She also presses on their skin to see if they have jaundice.  She listens to their hearts, checks their privies and moves their legs in circles and then presses their knees to either side in order to make sure that they to not have hip dysplasia.  Sometimes, she also has to draw their blood.

Today I stayed later and sat with the girls as another doctor
explained to them how to clean around the umbilical cord,
wash their babies, breast feed and store breast milk.

Me and Andres, who is almost finished medical school!

I really wish that I knew more Spanish so I could talk to the girls.  Some of them seem happy and express love towards their newborns, others look exhausted and a few might be depressed.  I want to hear their stories and offer some words of encouragement but I am afraid to talk too much.  (The other night at dinner, I was trying to say “she is afraid” and I ended up saying a curse word).  Dra. Carrera has an intern named Andres who speaks a little bit of English, so he talks to me n English and I try to respond in Spanish but I understand him a lot better than he understands me.  I think that in the States, we are a lot more tolerant of accents and mispronunciations than are people who speak Spanish.  Spanish is much more specific about enunciation.  For example, the word carne, with emphasis on the a, means meat.  But the word carné, with emphasis on the e, means card.  So things can get confusing real fast.

I am still taking Spanish classes in the afternoons, but tomorrow is my last one.  Today was also the first day of the semester at school, so now I will have to start reading my textbooks in the afternoons!

Last Day of School and the Middle of the World

My class!

 Yesterday was my last day at the school, and I was so sad to leave the kids.  We went to music class and sang and danced.  It was mostly a regular school day, but I taught the kids an English lesson!  We went over hello, how are you, colors, animals and days of the week. The kids all kept giving me hugs because they were sad too that I was leaving.  At the end of the day, the kids lined up to each give me a hug and a kiss and it was just so sweet I almost cried.  My teacher, Juanita, told me too that she wishes I could stay.  She told me that I remind her of her son, who is a doctor and a professor at a university.  She told me to keep in touch and come back soon.

Dancing in music class

Las ninas 

Mi amiga Valentina and me in the courtyard

My teacher, Juanita

Teaching English

Playing on the playground

That afternoon, we went to the middle of the world, which is where the equator and the prime meridian intersect.  There is a big statue with North, South, East and West labeled on each side and the world sitting on top.  There were playgrounds, shops and restaurants, a museum, and a 

planetarium but we mostly just walked around and 

took pictures.

Today, we slept in (for the first time) and then walked the city of Quito.  We went in the San Fransisco church, which took 170 years to finish.  It was the most beautifully intricate church that I have ever seen.  Quito is actually a very nice city because they have a lot of parks that are super green and almost seem like they are straight out of a movie because people are actually jogging on the pathways and playing soccer and on the playground.  We also passed by a volleyball tournament that was kind of weird because they played with a soccerball and never spiked it. 

I also got to see how to get to the hospital that I am working at next week because I will be travelling there alone on the trolle bus, which gets very crowded.  Tomorrow we are going to the biggest market in South America to shop!