Santa Maria de Colotepec

Tuesday 6 May 14 I began my clinical experience. I took a ride share about 20 minutes outside of Puerto Escondido (PE) to the land of watermelon and peanuts. (Seriously, those are the main crops)

I worked with Dra (short for doctora) Marisol Sanchez. She is 24 years old, from Mexico City, and doing a year in a rural clinic for a certification in public health. I walked into her consultario (exam room w/ desk) and noticed she has green streaks in her hair and Rancid was playing on the computer. Apparently she LOVES them. We listened to a Rancid mix from 8:30am-noon... She just about died when I told her I've met their former drummer.

We saw 10 patients Tuesday morning.

1. Mom brought in a two month old for diaper rash and he had a quite impressive testicular hydrocele! We referred him to the pediatrician in PE.

2. A 22 year old who was bitten on the arm by a crazy looking bug! These bugs can carry the parasite that causes Chagas disease. There is a public health campaign here, if you are bitten you bring in the bug! Wild, because the lady pulled that bag out of her purse and my skin immediately started to crawl! The doctor was completely unaffected by the whole thing...naturally...At least it wasn't a snake, I would have screamed and ran out the door.

3. The next 7 patients were coming in for a monthly check up because they have seguro popular which, as far as I can tell, is a Medicaid type program. But better. They have to go get monthly check ups to make sure they are controlling any illnesses they have! Wild, huh!! Who'd have ever thought...

4. The last patient of the day was a 5 year old with a toenail infection (infeccion de las unas de los dedos de pie). Looked like he stubbed his toe and then it got infected. He would not stay still enough for a digital block so the doctor sprayed his toe with lidocaine and pulled the thing off. It was already almost off anyway. Before she did that he was freaking out so much she said "if you want I can just cut off your foot so we don't have to pull off the toenail" to which he replied "no, just cut my leg off above my knee so I can wear shorts all the time". OMG!!

Wednesday was my second day there. The doctora had on Blink 182 and The Transplants. It's kinda strange to be listening to Tall Cans while taking a history on a 80 year old abuelita. Surreal to be sure.

I had taken a Benadryl on Tuesday night because of the insane mosquito bites I am collecting so I kept falling asleep. I am doing a lot of observing right now, so I just kinda doze off. Yeah, a 10 year old called me out while pointing and laughing. Hilarious. 

I saw a lot of monthly check ups, a 12 year old who is getting sent to Oaxaca City because she may have leukemia, and a man with TB who needed a note from the doctor that his most recent chest x-ray is negative. 

More to come later...

My first days in Mexico

Hola!

I've never done a travel journal, so here goes. This is one of my elective rotations in clinical year of PA school. I am in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, Mexico on the west coast--part of the Mexican Pipeline. The program is through two companies: Child Family Health International (the medical part) and Oasis Surf & Language School (the Spanish part). CFHI hooks us up with clinics to rotate through in rural areas and also a community hospital M-F 8am-noon. Then we have a 3 hour siesta, then it's off to Spanish class at Oasis from 3-5pm.

I am staying with one of my classmates, Yvonne, and we seem to have scored an awesome apartment. Part of this rotation is a homestay to introduce people to more culture, customs, and more Spanish speaking opportunities. The family that we are near surrounds us in a courtyard. Upstairs and next door are other travelers and students renting apartments. To our right is Oscar Moncada, a super famous surfer. In the front right is Dona Chela (Oscar's mom) who cooks us breakfast (desayuno) and lunch everyday. Lunch is like dinner in America, and is called "la comida". To our left is Abuela. Then there are Miguel & Juan Moncada (Oscar's uncles) and Juan's taqueria. All in all, a pretty bad ass set up.

This week I'm going to Santa Maria de Colotepec Centro de Salud. It's about a 20 minute ride in un collectivo (ride-share) and costs either 10 or 12 pesos one way, depending on if they are giving me a gringa tax. It's a small pueblo with a school, some stores & restaurants, a clinic, and an ultrasound office. There are about 1100 inhabitants, and a fair number are indigenous. I stand out like a sore thumb, so much so that today a man yelled "gringa" while pointing in my direction from across the street. Not only am I super blanca, but I am much taller than probably 70% of the population. Maybe more. Not sure.

The heat is incredible. It's not a dry heat. It's a soggy humid mess that weighs you down at about 3pm. Like, it seriously feels like it's pushing you into the earth. I hope to get used to it soon. I'm fairly sunburned at this point. But, I almost feel I should just embrace it in order to accept the inevitable. Honestly the worst part is the swelling of the ankles--I can't see my malleoli anymore, no tengo huesos! Oh, the mosquitos. Whoa, they sure do love me. I have been trying to keep up with the DEET but it melts off (along with my sunblock). I have numerous mosquito bites and have been taking Benadryl at night to be able to sleep. Today, it enabled me to fall asleep sitting up in a chair in clinic. Hilarious when the little girl yelled "mama, ella tiene sueno!" and woke me up. Ha ha ha. Luckily, people around here are so laid back it was no big deal.

Ok, that's all the energy I have for my very first blog entry. I'll return soon to post more tales of adventures in Tropical Medicine & Community Health in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Hasta luego!