Winding Down

We got up bright (actually still dark) and early this morning to get Dean to the airport for 530am.  It was sad considering he was such a great late addition to the team (literally decided to come a few weeks before departure).  It's about a 20 minute drive (halfway across the island) and we came back home and slept for a few more hours.  After our second rising we went to the Pancake House for a yummy breakfast (since australia's bacon is not so good I'm still catching up on north american bacon and had to order an extra side).  We then went to the beach where I bought a few souvenirs for family and friends.  Since things have been pretty busy but are now winding down, I was feeling kind restless all day and didn't really enjoy the relaxing beach time.  Tomorrow should be a little more adventurous as we're planning on finding some cayman alligators while hiking through the rainforest (YES MOTHER I'LL BE CAREFUL, ha).  Oh yeah, also watched to new Bond movie, it was alright, kinda ended too quickly though, considering how good the last one was though I was kinda disappointed.  

On a more serious note, we found out today that five fellow med classmates were in the Cafe Leopold in Mumbai during the shootings.  They thankfully escaped injury but quite a scary story nonetheless.  I have to say I was a little shaken up after reading the articles.

Oh yeah, and one more thing, I don't know if anyone's interested or even still reading this blog, but my rash is clearing up :)  It ended up being a reaction to the coral, didn't realize at first that it was exactly where I had all my nicks from wiping out during surfing.  uuumm, on that note I'm off to bed, until later.

Goodbye Scarborough Regional

Our stay at the hospital is officially done.  Yesterday was our last day, it was a quick as we did rounds and then took some blood in the wards.   A bunch of interesting cases: attempted suicide, breaking bad news to a patient with metastic spinal cancer, a down's man being shipped to the hospital for the holiday season.  Like I said last entry, it was quite sad leaving the hospital, we all had such a great time and met some incredible people.  Being coming, I had a few objectives I wanted a get out of the elective:

1.  Help deliver a deliver (check)

2.  Assist in surgeries (check)

3.  Become more comfortable with a needle ie.  taking blood and giving injections (check)

4.  Practise suturing (partial check)

All in all a great elective, and I will certainly recommend it to next year's first year students (some second year students are asked to give first year students presentations, contact info etc.).

To celebrate our completion, we went to a local talent show.  Some pretty amazing acts from cultural monologues to steel bands to singing.  We had a few drinks, met some more interesting locals as well as some canadian tourists and had a great night.   This morning we returned to the hospital for a final farewell and gave out some thank you cards and australian gifts to the docs.   We then went and frolicked in the huge waves at a beach in the area and because of our lack of sleep from the previous night, had an amazing nap on the beach.  Doesn't get much better... until later

Second to Last Day

Today is our second last day at the hospital, actually quite sad :(  I had such a great time and I think the docs/nurses really enjoyed our company as well, they seem disappointed whenever we mention our departure.  Great crew of people we got to know.  No more conclusions/wrap-ups for today though, gotta save that for a later, final blog.

I got to scrub in for a laparoscopic cholecystectomy (remove gall bladder) today.   It is actually really difficult to watch the screen and manoevre the instruments, really requires some practice, something I definitely don't have yet.  All in time marc, all in time.  

To bring us all back to the real world of medicine, our final first year marks were released today and we all did very well, highest distinction. 

Um, we went to the beach today for a quick swim, was relaxing, just cooking some supper now (obviously I'm not) and planning on mixing up some pina coladas for tonight.  Should be fun.  I think that's it for me today, until later.

Hiatus II

Okay, where do I begin to get caught up on this blog?  Friday was another interesting day at the hospital, saw more great procedures (hand tendon repair) and took more blood (100% success rate).  Weather not cooperating, we delayed our scuba trip by one day.  Instead, we relaxed and watched Pineapple Express, pretty funny.  Saturday, accompanied by sunny skies, we drove up to Charlotteville for our long awaited scuba trip.  We did some fishing for a few hours in the afternoon, but considering it was midday (fishy sleeping time), we didn't catch anything.  I think our guide knew that but was quite content taking our money, oh well, it wasn't too expensive and the boat ride itself was well worth it.   At night we relaxed by the Banana Boat bar, watched a local soccer game, had a few drinks and played our cards.  We were preparing ourselves for the extraordinary day to come.

We got up at 540am for a morning fish.  Success! We caught a tuna and a kingfish(25-30lbs), exciting stuff.  We returned for 8am, ate bacon and eggs for breakfast, and started the introduction for the diving.  To make two amazing but long diving stories short (40 minutes dive time each), we saw a reef shark (at least 5 feet long, we were less than 1 metre away, it wasn't even that scary as the view through the goggles made it seem like watching a nature doc), an octopus, a barracuda, a turtle, two big fish (at least 6 feet, don't remember their name) and thousands of smaller, beautifully coloured fish.  I'm hooked and hope to do my PADI certification when I go back to Australia (we were planning on doing it here but just ran out of time).  We drove back to our house, about an 1.5 hour drive, and despite being utterly exhausted we went to Sunday School.  No not church, it's a weekend festival in Tobago with yummy grilled food, cold beer and a steel band (played some Bob Marley and other classics).  It was the largest conglomeration of tourists we had seen to date on the island, quite refreshing.  Well, then we went to bed  (about midnight), only to have the alarms wake us 6 hours later... WAY TOO EARLY.  I was exhausted today, but still took more blood successfully and observed a lumpectomy, laproscopic cholecystectomy and a hemorrhoidectomy.   

Oh yeah, on an interesting note, I woke up Sunday morning with a weird rash on my knees and ankles, hope it's nothing serious, got some steroid cream today which should clear it up.

I'm off, until later.

Hiatus

I apologize for the hiatus during the last few days but one night I just didn't feel like writing and then yesterday the power was out and therefore the internet was down.  I don't quite know why or who I'm apologizing to, just thought it was a nice introduction.

Okay, I really have to think back now... what happened on Tuesday?  or Wednesday?  What about today?  I might just assimilate the last three days into one giant event.  I saw a observed a bunch of procedures in the OR (thyroidectomy, c-sections), assisted in an lymph node ectomy (helped suture, woohoo, and only stuck the scrub nurse once, woohoo, ha) and took blood from patients (4/4, my percentages are going up).   

Last night T&T played Cuba in a World Cup qualifier, we went to a bar to catch the action with local atmosphere, it was pretty sweet and everyone was pretty really it.

Today after getting off nice and early following surgical clinic (interesting cases from mastectomies, obstructive liver failure and jaundice, breast lumps, ganglion and sebaceous cysts, attempted suicide),  we went for another surf.  It was my turn on the small board and it went surprisingly well, got up quite often and had a blast.  We didn't stay too long though as the tide was quite low and the jagged coral was even more daunting as usual.  

When we came back in, we heard that one of the guys we surfed with had his money stolen out of his pouch, he was devastated.  Luckily our stuff was untouched but we didn't bring much out of the vehicle anyway.  He was Venezuelan, didn't speak much english, and had all his money in the pouch because he just came back from the bank to pay for his rent, unfortunate stuff.  I spoke a very broken spanish with him (despite the bad situation it was quite fun), and we gave him some money to last him until Sunday when he's scheduled to fly home.  Despite resisting for awhile, he was so grateful and told us "mi casa, su casa", pending any future trips to Caracas. Either way, one in the Karma bank for us. 

Well KD is waiting and I'm hungry.  Oh yeah, don't know if I'll write tomorrow night cause we're heading up to the north of the island to go scuab diving on Saturday.  Until later.

Rain, rain

Nothing much has changed since Saturday, more rain but also more fun.  Like I said last message, no coraled foot is going to keep me out of the water and we went surfing again Sunday.   I must say we are all improving, Lucas (only his second time ever) is already standing and close hanging ten (well the last part might be a little exaggerated).  Some of these lines may seem a bit corny but I'm just excited.  In the afternoon we came back home, and since there's not much to do in the pouring rain I finally put a little dent in my book (The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat).  It's not too bad but I'm not finding myself unable to put it down, seems more of an educational read than anything.

At night, as we're all getting ready for bed,  we got a call and invitation from one of the junior house officers at the hospital to head down to a little pub for a few drinks.  We agreed, invited our Norwegian friends, played some pool and had a pretty good night.  

This morning was my first day in surgery and it was quite interesting.   I enjoyed the rounds because we saw so many differing pathologies (unlike OBGYN where it's pretty much only pregnancy and complications thereof).   As for procedures, I saw them put in a chest tube for a hemothorax (blood in space of lungs), a lumpectomy for suspected breast cancer and inguinal hernia repairs.  

Tonight will be an early night, just as soon as we watch our weekly episode of entourage (GREAT tv show).  Until later.

Rainy Weekend

I think the rainy season has finally caught up to Tobago.  After two weeks of glorious weather, the last few days have been pretty much non-stop showers.  We didn't let it us affect us, first of all because we've been in the hospital most days but also secondly because it's still so warm despite the rain.  Our last day of the OBGYN rotation was spent doing Grand Rounds with the doc from Ottawa.  He gave a little presentation about laparascopic techniques/complications for a group of about 20 people.  I enjoyed it, especially his jokes, they were so canadian in a way.  I don't know if that makes any sense, but being outside of Canada for sooo long, I appreciate anything genuinely canadian.  I think Lucas and I were the only ones laughing, don't think many of the Tobagans understood his humour.  At night, we went out for Stef's bday and had a nice dinner and drinks at a resort in the area.  Pretty expensive but very delicious (couldn't resist getting a nice steak).

We then slept in this morning until about 10ish and had to rush to make it to the Coco Beach Resort for 11:15.  Our gift to her was a one hour swedish massage at the spa.  Afterwards, we had initially planned to drive up to the North of the island, stay one night, and do some scuba diving in the morn.  After considering the weather, we postponed the trip until next weekend.    As a consolation we went surfing instead.   With the rain pouring and the winds gusting, Dean and Marc braved the paradoxically perfect conditions and had an incredible surf.  Some (Dean) would say the best of all time.   I must add that there was no sand where we surfed but rather sharp reef, and every time we got dumped, there are a few uncertain, scary seconds.  My luck eventually caught up with me and I ended up getting a nice little cut in my foot which cut the surf a little shorter than I had hoped.  You better believe I'll be back out there tomorrow though.  

Anyway, no big plans for tonight so just writing on my blog, sipping some delicious T&T rum and coke and watching Hockey Night in Canada (yeah I know, crazy huh, Tobago somehow has CBC).  That's it for me tonight, until later.

Friendly Face

A visiting surgeon from Ottawa was at the hospital today teaching some of the local surgeons some laproscopic techniques.  We were able to watch and despite the fact that there were over 12 people in the small OR room, he took time to teach us a few things too.  He was really nice and I think he liked us too as we shared a few stories (coincidently he had also studied in Australia for a few months during an elective).  

We were off quite early again (3ish) and decided to drive to a local beach which had the reputation of having a few good surfable waves.  Sure enough, we got a good hour of surfing in, it was no Australia but for sufficed nonetheless for us amateurs.   We definitely plan on returning sometime soon.

We also organized a scuba diving trip for the weekend, should be fun.  Rumour has it there are a few tourists also signed up for the trip, which I'm actually looking forward to because the island has been pretty dead in regards to visitors.

It is Stef's birthday tomorrow, I think I just wrote that mainly as a reminder to myself, she'd kill us if we'd forget.  We might go out for a few drinks at night, the trinidadian rum is calling.  Tomorrow is the last day is OB/G and I am very pleased with the way things unfolded.  More of a conclusion in my next post.  Until later.

Two days

I missed an entry yesterday but it's not too important as nothing new really happened.  During the last two days I assisted in some more deliveries (gave shots and took blood from the cord) and saw more some c-sections.  I did get to witness a below the knee amputation which was quite exciting but seemed so strangely simple; it reminded me of deer hunting when we had the cut the legs off the deer.  Of course there's a lot more too it, just seemed rather "savage" as Dean so eloquently put it.  We were all four done at about 4ish on both days so we seized the opportunity to go to the nearby beach for a swim.  We met some pretty cool Norwegian guys and we will probably meet up with them sometime on the weekend.  Besides that, did a little bit of reading, watched a movie and went to bed nice and early.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, this morning was a little awkward as there was a little bit of a power struggle in our unit between the consultant, the registrar and the junior medical officers.  There were a few surprising comments made and it was got a little feisty.  Afterwards, both parties of the battle vented to Lucas and I, but we simply said we didn't want to get involved.  I'm starting to realize that medicine also involves a lot of politics.  

I'm off to watch a movie/doing some reading.  Until later.

Hands On Monday

Before I start talking about the intense day that it was, I have to add that on Sat on our boating trip I swam with two sting rays.  We saw one while snorkeling about 10 feet down while this other huge one (significantly bigger than my wing span), swan amongst us for about 10 mins.  His name was Trent and he normally comes around this bay because he gets fed by the guides.  Pretty cool stuff.

Anyway on to today... To make a few long stories short I took blood from two people, gave three shots including 50 mg I/M of pethidine (strong morphine like opioid, and assisted in THREE vaginal deliveries.  The last one, which happened at about 630pmish, was intense.  The baby's head came out with the umbilical cord wrapped pretty tightly around the neck.  It was just the midwife, Lucas and myself and she immediately cut the cord and rushed through the rest of the delivery.  The baby was unresponsive for about 30secs and the nurse had pushed the emergency response button while we tried to stimulate the baby (I was suctioning the fluid from the airway).  Eventually, thankfully, to our great relief, we heard a little whimper and then a cry.  The nurse was saying "Thank you Jesus" and we all breathed a huge sigh of relief.   Pretty intense to say the least, but it was a pretty incredible feeling because Lucas and I actually felt like we helped out.  It's a lot different than just standing around observing.

On a lighter note, here's a little story to illustrate the sometimes old fashioned  way of thinking at the hospital.  One of the docs was taking blood and Lucas handed her a tourniquet.  Slightly bewildered, she took it and tried to attach it around the patient's arm, but  to no avail.  She looked over to the other doc who simply said, "I don't even know how these work, just tie it in a knot".  Sure enough, she ended up tying a perfectly good tourniquet around the patient's arm using a simple knot.  Later, without being patronising/condescending, we showed them the simple click and pull.  I don't know if anyone else will find this funny but it's the equivalent of tying your fully functioning seat belt into a knot instead of clipping it in.

Well that's it for me, another tiring day means I need another good sleep tonight.  Until later.

Great Weekend

I don't really remember what I included in my last entry, but I think it was on Friday before we went to the resort for a few drinks.  It nice a relaxing Friday night as the entire resort bar was empty except for one young couple and two elderly couples (the newly weds and nearly deads syndrome).  Yummy Tobagan rum and cokes.  Since it's the rainy season (hardly actually raining, maybe once a day for 5 mins) and considering the world's economic situation, there's a lull in the tourism.  I quite like it though, I truly dislike areas swarmed by tourists.  Despite only having few drinks, we ended up leaving the car at the resort and cabbing home, I know you'd be proud about that mom. As the cabbie dropped us off, I asked him if he had a number we could ever reach him, and he handed me his business card, which hilariously was for his plumbing service.  Making a buck anyway he can I guess.  We then got up at about 830ish Saturday morning and jogged to the resort to retrieve the car and be back at about 10ish to be picked up for our boating trip.  The trip was great, all you can drink beer and rum punch, snorkeling, fishing, beach bbq, beach soccer against the locals and great weather, nevermind singing a few Bob Marley songs with our guides.  All four of us got quite burnt but it was well worth the $80 for the day.  Since we had such a great day, one of the guides offered to drive us around for the night and show us some of the Tobagian night life.  Lucas wasn't feeling that well (sunstroke) so only the three of us went. Dean and I were the only white guys in the club but it was still pretty fun.  I bet mom is freaking out about going out but we had a little escort and the the atmosphere was really SAFE, I promise.  We all slept in this morning and went to the newly opened movie theatre for a matinee.  We needed to do something indoors to let our skin recover.  Now I'm back at home, going to watch some football, do some reading for tomorrow and probably go to bed nice and early.  The objective of the week is to get better at taking blood, assist is more surgeries and deliver me a baby.  Until later.

FRIDAY

I apologize to anyone for the last post if it seemed a bit graphic, maybe I should include a disclaimer.  Today was a great day!  Along with the usual rounds/interesting patients I had the opportunity to scrub in and assist in two cesarian-sections.  It was amazing, I was swabbing, holding sutures, holding instruments, pushing out the baby.  It may not seem like much, but it was just the surgeon and I working on the patient (except for the anaesthetist).  I'll say it again, it was amazing, I formally scrubbed in, got all suited up, and asked for instruments and was the right hand (okay maybe more left hand) man to the surgeon.  Like the last couple days, no lunch and stayed until 6pm but it was totally worth it.  It is now 840pm and we are heading out to a nearby resort to hit up the bar for a few relaxing drinks.  Then tomorrow we are being picked up at 10am for a fishing, snorkelling, beach rum party trip.  Should be entertaining, looking forward to seeing the sun again.  I'll write again soon whenever I get the chance.  Until later.

Tired but Productive

An exhausting but again very interesting 8am-7pm day.   Rounds in the morning were followed by a three procedure experience in the OR:  another c-section, a womb cleaning after an incomplete miscarriage, and a cervical biopsy for cancer (we had the opportunity to feel the cervix was so brittle and crumbling).  It was bleeding so much which was not good because she was already severely anemic.  We then rushed to the maternity ward but were too late to witness the delivery from a woman who had been in the ward since we had been there.  It was actually quite disappointing because we had really felt like we had gotten to know her, this may be a hint for me to become a GP because of my interest in continuity of care.  Anyway, she had had an episiotomy and I was fortunate enough to assist in the suturing.   Since we missed lunch again, the surgical ward gave us a little bit of food.  Since we were still a little disappointed for missing the aforementioned delivery, Lucas and I stuck around the maternity ward for the next women to go into labour.  After about two hours, our diligence paid off and we witnessed another vaginal delivery.  The mother was HIV+, but still insisted on a vaginal delivery despite the fact that a c-section would decrease the risk of transmission.  An interesting day, tomorrow should be a little more relaxed with some rounds and one scheduled c-section.  We're thinking we'll be done by 2-3ish and then hopefully relax on the beach for the afternoon.  I'm off to bed, I'm exhausted.  Until later.

Obama Fever

All the morning's action was overshadowed by everyone's excitement over Obama's victory, it was incredible to see how such an event affected the entire world.  The doctors discussed it with patients and there were shouts of YES WE CAN.  On a comical note, some of the people kept asking us how we felt about it, like we were a little upset or something. 

On a medical note, it was another very exciting day.  Rounds gave me opportunity to see a suspected ectopic pregnancy, a distraught woman following a spontaneous miscarriage (quite sad) and an assault involving a potential miscarriage.  Things were so busy we didn't get time for lunch and went straight into taking blood from many of the woman in the ward.  My first attempt was not successful, but in my defence it was a small vein and the doctor even ended up needing three tries.  My next try was more fruitful and I filled a nice 8 mL into the syringe.   Despite the lack of supplies/pretty  relaxed standard precautions, I was being quite careful considering the high prevalence of HIV.  We then rushed to the OR (got a piece of cake on the way) to watch a caesarian section. I had seen one before in Canada but it was still an exciting and shocking procedure.  The large baby (macrosomal) came out healthy and I'm curious to find out the weight tomorrow.   Tomorrow I'm hoping to witness another vaginal delivery, Lucas and I have bugged the nurses so much that as soon as there's talk of a delivery, we're hoping our nagging voices pop into their heads.  Until later.

Congrats

I am proud to announce that I am the proud father of a beautiful Africo-Caribbean baby girl.  Well it seems that way anyway after having witnessed my first vaginal delivery.  It was an exciting day after spending the morning doing some more rounds with a doc who was a really good teacher.   He likes to quiz which is demanding but a great way to learn.  After lunch (an interesting story in itself as I ate cow's heel soup, the broth was good but the heel was far too chewy/slimy), Lucas and I got to observe a delivery requiring an episiotomy.  It was quite graphic but the moment the baby's head came out and the baby started gurgling and crying it was incredible.   The post delivery suturing was even more intense as the woman was screaming twice as hard as during the delivery.  Needless to say it was a GREAT day at the hospital!!!

We stayed at the hospital until about 5, rushed home, changed into our board shorts and went to a nice little beach about 2 minutes away for a quick swim.  Swimming during the sunset was quite picturesque and even a little romantic (too bad it was only Lucas,  Dean and myself), ha. 

Tomorrow hopes to be a promising day as we might get to observe/assist in some surgeries, nervermind the large group of women who (insert tasteful/professional comment which evokes the image of huge, very pregnant women).  Until later.

First Day at the hospital

Considering we needed to be at the hospital at 8am, it was an early eager morning.  We arrived at the hospital, split up into our two groups, Team OB and G - Marc and Lucas and Team Surgery-  Stef and Dean.  We went to the unit, met the head of the unit Dr. Singh and started by doing rounds.  We bounced around a few docs in the morning and saw some interesting cases; gestational diabetes, so much pre-eclampsia (high blood pressure due to pregnancy), a lady just having had a stillbirth :(  , a giant uterine fibroid, and heaps of really really really pregnant women with palpable uteri.  As well as physical exams, we saw a doc insert a prostin E2 tablet into a women's vagina to help relax(ripen) her cervix (sorry if that's too much info).  In the afternoon, we worked with a doctor at the OB&G clinic and went through countless patients.  All in all, it was a relaxing first day getting more comfortable with the people and hospital.   Unfortunately, none of the women in the ward went into labour so we didn't get a see a delivery, patience marc, patience.  You can bet we left our number at the nurse's station though, with simple instructions to call ANYTIME there was some action, I truly hope to be woken in the middle of the night.  The doctors promised we would be assisting in any procedures which only added to my excitement.  Anyway, I've got some homework to do tonight (research pre-term labour) so I'm off to eagerly hit the books, as nerdy as that sounds.  Until later.

the eve of

Before I start talking about my day, I'd like to send a special thanks to my sister who let me and my london friends stay at her house while I was in Toronto.  Thanks sis, love you and nice to see you again, looking forward to Christmas time.

We got up this morning and since I've been feeling a lot better lately (post appendectomy), I decided to be ambitious and join Dean and Lucas on a morning run.  The only problem was that at 9am it was already 30 degrees and humid!  We ran (Dean more so, Lucas and I walked at times) while getting some pretty funny looks from the locals.  Felt great afterwards though, going to start working out again.

After the run we drove northeast up the coast and ate at Jemma's restaurant: swordship and bread fruit pie, again I have to say really yummy local food here.  Afterwards, we drove to the Argyle Waterfall, 100 feet high with three plateaus.  We walked/hiked  in for 15 minutes, climbed halfway up where we found some local guys who told us to stand underneath the falls and it would make us feel 10 years younger.  I think it might have been the weed they were smoking but it was a really nice back massage either way.  

We came back and ate KD like kings since most things including grocery stores are closed on Sundays on the island.  The rest of the day was spent reading in preparation for tomorrow including some pretty interesting you tube delivery videos.  Off to bed now as we need to check in at the hospital at 8am.  I'm not too nervous yet, but nervous excitement is a pretty appropriate and accurate description of my feelings for tomorrow.  Until later.

First Days in Tobago

To whom it may concern (most likely just my parents),

A good friend of mine just went to Europe (hi Ian if you're reading this) and he kept everyone up to date via a blog and I thought this would be a great way to chronicle my caribbean adventure. Originally I was thinking of keeping a journal, but a blog would be a perfect way of keeping a record as well as allowing my parents, etc. to follow all of the hopefully interesting stories.

I must admit this is technically the third day here and this will be my first entry, maybe the relaxed island life has already gotten to me.  After a few lovely days in Toronto seeing mom and catching up with the old UWO boys, my Tobagian sidekicks Lucas Castellani, Stefanie Lovell and myself boarded a plane from Toronto to Port of Spain, Trinidad.  Despite being overly tired from the previous few days and still not having fully recovered from the australian jet lag, I couldn't sleep on the plane.  We arrived in Port of Spain at about 6am and had some difficulties retrieving our luggage in the "amazingly" well demarcated airport.  After a few hiccups, and Stef having to rush to catch her plane to Tobago, Lucas and I found ourselves waiting at the gate for our flights out.  We were waiting for the fourth member of our crew (Dean Vlahki) who was supposed to meet us here after flying in from New York.  He didn't show up and we slightly worringly boarded the plane for the exhausting 22 minute flight to Scarborough, Tobago.  We arrived, retrieved our luggage, found Stef, found Karen (the lady we were renting our house from) and had our first meal.  We spent the rest of the day in and out of the airport trying to find Dean, and eventually at 3ish he arrived to everyone's relief.  We all went to our house for the month, the Villa Martini, which is nice but hardly a villa with 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, a kitchen and a living room.  After unpacking/settling in and a supper of Roti (yummy dish, don't feel like explaining) we went to bed pretty early.

Friday morning we went to the hospital for a quick introduction and orientation.  The hospital is bigger than we thought and it we all got quite excited about all the opportunities we were hoping to have.  The hospital is quite open concept with no AC in many areas, therefore quite hot, proven by Lucas' completely drenched dress shirt and hair (sorry buddy).   We got to choose our areas we wished to work in and I will be in Obstetrics and Gynecology  for the first two weeks and then Surgery for the last two.  The rest of the day was spent relaxing on a nearby beach, frolicking in the ocean and throwing a frisbee around.  

Saturday, today, we all slept in for the first time in awhile (10am), and decided to take care of a few errands in town.  Afterwards, we went to a different beach where a guy offered to take us out to the reef for a few hours to do some snorkelling.   It was no Great Barrier Reef but beautiful none the less.  We ate another local specialty, crab and dumplings in a curry sauce.

I don't want to drag this first entry on, because then no one will want to read anymore,  so in conclusion, the first days have been amazing.  Amazing people, amazing culture, amazing food.  

Oh yeah, random chickens and stray dogs running around the island are quite amusing and really complement the randomly chained goats everywhere.  

I don't know how often I'll write but I hope to every night, especially as it involves my actual medical experiences.   Until later.