2nd week in Met

This has been another interesting week. I volunteered to be on-call everyday, which in hindsight might be a mistake. During the day I am seeing patients with Spencer, the other medical student, he is showing me the ropes and is great because he understands my level of knowledge and really goes out of his way to explain things. We go in, interview the patient then present to the physician. Next we all go in together and treat the patient. Afterwards I have an opportunity to “debrief” with the physician, which entails asking any questions or making any comments on how everything preceded. Last night I was on-call for the first time and discovered that my “black cloud” has followed me from Boston because we had a call about once every hour or two. I saw a gambit of patients. I got to put in an IV and monitor various patients (supervised of course!).

Tonight I am on-call again but this time the on-call supervisor is going to triage the patients then call me as if she were them (regardless of the complaint ie: “my kids are being too loud what do I do?”) and I have to respond as if I were the on-call doctor and would have to triage them myself. I have already had my first call and it was funny because she only gave me the information she received which was not much and did not make sense. This patient I decided that they should stay home and not come in and she agreed and had already told the patient the same thing. Did I mention that I love it here?

Metlakatla

I arrived in Metlakatla (Met). Well, perhaps I should describe how I did this. I flew, via jet, in to Ketchikan’s airport on an island across the channel from the main city. After taking a ferry across I walked down a few blocks towards Taquan Airways, all-the-while float planes were buzzing around like mosquitoes, bald eagles were perched everywhere watching vigilantly, and whales had been spotted coming down the channel. I reached Taquan and clambered into a small four-seated beaver (that's a type of float-plane for those non-Alaskans) loaded down with US post. We taxied out on to the water and waited for the “traffic” to clear before the roaring engine took us into the air. Soaring high over the channel I saw the whales and before I knew it we were touching down in Met. Met is a small community with just over a thousand residents and it shows. As I walked towards the clinic everyone passing in their cars gave me a friendly smile and a wave. I reached the clinic and was immediately thrown into mix. In fact, a nurse came over gave me an oral report, handed me the patient’s chart, and walked away. I chased after her and explained how it was my first day and I would love to treat the patient with someone in the room with me. She smiled and assigned me to one of the health care providers and I followed Michele for the rest of the day. Michele is a PA and she was AWESOME! She explained her thought process as we proceeded and answered every one of my questions. It was a fun experience.

The next day I shadowed Dr. Crosby, an elderly gentleman from S. Carolina with an accent to prove it. He is the type of physician I strive to be. His patients love him, his co-workers admire him, and he is insanely smart. There is another 4^th year medical student here, Spencer, from Harvard and he is teaching me a TON! We go in together to see each patient and I get to do the interview and any questions I forget, he asks. Then we do the physical exam and present to the physician. It is the perfect set up. But today I only saw 2 patients before we had an emergency. An elderly gentleman came in with symptoms of a stroke. I almost got to put in an IV and everyone was running around like crazy. It turned out to be a game of “hurry up and wait” because the patient had to be transported to Ketchikan via boat and the boat was not ready. After 40mins of waiting we wrapped up the patient and took the 30min ride to Ketchikan and handed him over to their staff. The rest of the day we wondered around town and waited for them to fuel up and get some other business out of the way. I am hoping that someone will take me fishing while I am in Met because the weather is unbelievable. Stay tuned for more and photos!!

Oh Canada..

So I arrived in Canada a few days ago and I am slowly falling in love with this city (Vancouver). I am staying with Lidia at her host family's house and they as super nice. They are a Philipino family and they are falling head of heels to cook me traditional food (I may have mentioned that I love lumpia, shanghi, and more). Our first day out Lidia and I explored downtown Vancouver. This town is built for pedestrians. We walked for hours ducking into the various retail stores because they are all having mega sales 70% or more off of many items. I took advantage and bought a few things but then later found out that there is a 12% tax here!!! Damn. We are eating like kings and just having the time of our lives. The International Jazz festival is going on while I am here so we've been chasing jazz venues for the past couple of days. I am helping Lidia with her English and she is excited to start classes next Monday. Our first day ended with us having front row seats to a jazz concert splitting a bottle a decent wine. Jazz, wine, and good company does life get any better?

Day two we set out towards the waterfront, Gastown, and Granville Island. The waterfront was nothing too spectacular although Lidia enjoyed seeing all of the float planes and ships in the harbor. We walked through Gastown and saw the giant steam-powered clock. I love Gastown and hope that we return there at night. It is a cute little street with fashionable stores, pubs, and more. There was another jazz concert there that we sat and watched for a while before heading off to the island. So far my favorite place in Vancouver is Granville Island. It reminds me of the market in Boston Fanull Hall (sp?). There are all sorts of foods, artisans, and more there. We just had a ball walking around and sampling some of everything. We took the aquabus to get there and I think we may return tomorrow. After Granville Island we left for Vanier Park where we thought there was a Shakespeare festival but it turned out to be just a theater. We relaxed in the park before our long trek back to her host family's house (across town, 30min subway trip, 15min bus trip). Rain or shine we have been walking machines and it is a good thing too because Lidia's host mom constantly bombards us with food. 'You too thin. Eat! Eat!'. 'That is not enough make it a dozen or better a baker's dozen'!