I can’t believe that I’ve been here for over a week already. It’s gone by so fast, but I feel like I’ve experienced so much since I’ve been here. Today I was in the clinic again, but I was with dr. jenifer for the first time. She is the chief Haitian doctor at the clinic. She is young and energetic and amazing at her job. She speaks in kreyol, writes in French, and explains everything in English to me.
The first case today was a real heartbreaker. The woman came in obvious pain and completely keeled over. She was only 35 but she looked much older. I could tell that half of her body had been burned when she was younger. She was bleeding all down her legs…her gynecological exam revealed that she had been pregnant, but the baby had aborted…dr. jenifer was able to pull part of the fetus out and explained to the woman what had happened. The poor woman started wailing and crying, so upset that she could not catch her breath. Dr. jenifer explained to me that this woman had been trying to get pregnant, but she did not know that she had conceived and has drank an “Infusion” (an herbal tea) for pelvic pain. Voodoo, which infiltrates all of Haitian culture, is a major impedance to medicine due to the reliance on herbal medicine and witch doctors. Certain herbal teas are used for a variety of “women issues” and she had been given one that also served as an abortifacient. Thus, her agony was caused much more by her grief and guilt than by any pain she was feeling. She was completely inconsolable.
We saw a lot of patients with malaria and typhoid fever. They both present with similar symptoms…headache, fever, malaise, weakness, abdominal pain…one of the key characteristics of malaria is nighttime fevers…if they say their child has fever just at night, you can be pretty sure they have malaria. Today we saw a 1 month old with malaria…the baby was so skinny and febrile, but she never even cried. Dr. jenifer says that often if someone has malaria, they also have typhoid fever and vice versa. I don’t know why that is, but I thought maybe it has to do with demographics…I meant to ask about that. We also saw a little boy who had crusty lesions all over half his face and eating away at his ear and hair…apparently it was a staph infection that had gotten really bad. Another example of waiting until something gets really bad before seeking medical attention.
The man with the gas gangrene did not come back today.
Dr. jenifer is great bc she wants me to be really hands on and to try everything. Someone will come in with an infection and she will turn to me and say “what would you prescribe Dr. Britt??” I’m starting to get the hang of it bc there are a lot of repeat diagnoses…lots of STDs, parasites, worms, malaria, typhoid, pregnancies, infections, gastroenteritis. She taught me how to give a gynecological exam and showed me how to tell if someone is pregnant by feeling the uterus…then she had me do it! the patient was a young girl and I was a little nervous bc I didn’t want to hurt her, but it turns out she was pregnant and I was able to make my first diagnosis! Maybe TMI, but I thought it was pretty cool…
One pregnant lady came in who looked like she was about to burst and dr. jenifer told me that this was the first time she had seen a doctor in her entire pregnancy. I was able to palpate the baby’s head and low and behold, there were two in there! Not only was she about to have twins but she would probably give birth today! So much for prenatal counseling.
The afternoon was not nearly exciting bc we were assigned to working outside in the hot sun sorting through a broken down trailer of supplies filled with massive rats and tons of cockroaches. I think I will have some thick skin after this trip! They work us hard here, but they also treat us really well. I think that I will never want to leave.
I am working construction all day tomorrow, so I am drinking a lot of water tonight and going to bed early. Thursday is my first day off and I think I will shadow dr. jenifer again.
I am so grateful for all the experiences that I have every day here. And even more grateful for supportive family and friends that have enabled me to do this! Bonswa…
The first case today was a real heartbreaker. The woman came in obvious pain and completely keeled over. She was only 35 but she looked much older. I could tell that half of her body had been burned when she was younger. She was bleeding all down her legs…her gynecological exam revealed that she had been pregnant, but the baby had aborted…dr. jenifer was able to pull part of the fetus out and explained to the woman what had happened. The poor woman started wailing and crying, so upset that she could not catch her breath. Dr. jenifer explained to me that this woman had been trying to get pregnant, but she did not know that she had conceived and has drank an “Infusion” (an herbal tea) for pelvic pain. Voodoo, which infiltrates all of Haitian culture, is a major impedance to medicine due to the reliance on herbal medicine and witch doctors. Certain herbal teas are used for a variety of “women issues” and she had been given one that also served as an abortifacient. Thus, her agony was caused much more by her grief and guilt than by any pain she was feeling. She was completely inconsolable.
We saw a lot of patients with malaria and typhoid fever. They both present with similar symptoms…headache, fever, malaise, weakness, abdominal pain…one of the key characteristics of malaria is nighttime fevers…if they say their child has fever just at night, you can be pretty sure they have malaria. Today we saw a 1 month old with malaria…the baby was so skinny and febrile, but she never even cried. Dr. jenifer says that often if someone has malaria, they also have typhoid fever and vice versa. I don’t know why that is, but I thought maybe it has to do with demographics…I meant to ask about that. We also saw a little boy who had crusty lesions all over half his face and eating away at his ear and hair…apparently it was a staph infection that had gotten really bad. Another example of waiting until something gets really bad before seeking medical attention.
The man with the gas gangrene did not come back today.
Dr. jenifer is great bc she wants me to be really hands on and to try everything. Someone will come in with an infection and she will turn to me and say “what would you prescribe Dr. Britt??” I’m starting to get the hang of it bc there are a lot of repeat diagnoses…lots of STDs, parasites, worms, malaria, typhoid, pregnancies, infections, gastroenteritis. She taught me how to give a gynecological exam and showed me how to tell if someone is pregnant by feeling the uterus…then she had me do it! the patient was a young girl and I was a little nervous bc I didn’t want to hurt her, but it turns out she was pregnant and I was able to make my first diagnosis! Maybe TMI, but I thought it was pretty cool…
One pregnant lady came in who looked like she was about to burst and dr. jenifer told me that this was the first time she had seen a doctor in her entire pregnancy. I was able to palpate the baby’s head and low and behold, there were two in there! Not only was she about to have twins but she would probably give birth today! So much for prenatal counseling.
The afternoon was not nearly exciting bc we were assigned to working outside in the hot sun sorting through a broken down trailer of supplies filled with massive rats and tons of cockroaches. I think I will have some thick skin after this trip! They work us hard here, but they also treat us really well. I think that I will never want to leave.
I am working construction all day tomorrow, so I am drinking a lot of water tonight and going to bed early. Thursday is my first day off and I think I will shadow dr. jenifer again.
I am so grateful for all the experiences that I have every day here. And even more grateful for supportive family and friends that have enabled me to do this! Bonswa…
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