For Such A Time As This

I’ve moved on to my last rotation of 3rd year...

Tue, 22 May 2012 08:46:27 -0500

I’ve moved on to my last rotation of 3rd year (WOOHOO!!)… Psychiatry, which truly is a wonderful way to end the year. The hours are 8-5 and lunches often last for 2 hrs. I could definitely get used to this.

justgenesiz: My heart, My God!

Wed, 02 May 2012 22:21:37 -0500

justgenesiz:

My heart, My God!

Two more days of surgery...

Tue, 01 May 2012 21:57:00 -0500

Friday can not come quickly enough. The past 6 wks have been extremely difficult for me.. and for...

The life of a 3rd year med student on surgery clerkship

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 21:48:00 -0500

The life of a 3rd year med student on surgery clerkship: I’ve been endlessly pimped on this...

Rough Day in History

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 15:21:20 -0500

mentalflossr: On April 14th: Lincoln was shot (1865), the Titanic hit an iceberg (1912), and the...

What I miss about life outside of my surgery clerkship...

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 20:41:34 -0500

1. Sleep 2. Time to cook 3. Time to workout 4. Sleep 5. Time to study for upcoming test 6. Polished...

I started my surgery rotation! AH! I’ve been dreading this...

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 20:48:03 -0500

I started my surgery rotation! AH! I’ve been dreading this rotation all year long and it’s finally here. Actually, I’m trying to approach it like I do everything else.. this is an opportunity to learn and have a little fun.

Tomorrow is my first surgery for this rotation and it involves a thoracotomy, or opening the chest cavity. It promises to be a very long and challenging surgery (per my resident), but I’m looking forward to it.

Tonight, my goal is to read about this surgery then hit the bed early so that I can be bright eyed for my 4:30AM wake-up time.

Oh yeah, and I thought this illustration was pretty interesting. This shows you how we approach a thoracotomy. The posterolateral approach (shown here) is apparently the most commonly used entry site to the chest cavity. Pretty cool, right?

My brother and sister-in-law are having a baby girl! We had the...

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 20:19:54 -0500

My brother and sister-in-law are having a baby girl! We had the gender reveal party today.. I can’t wait to meet my niece!!

Photo

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 14:57:20 -0500

Kenya continued… this is Tungiasis, or...

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 22:54:40 -0600

Kenya continued…

this is Tungiasis, or “Jiggers” as the locals call it. Tungiasis is not an infrequent occurrence in Western Kenya. Are your feet itching yet?

Tungiasis is caused by a flea that invades the tissue around your toenails. The fleas then lay eggs and larvae develop. Knowing this you can probably deduce the treatment… remove the larvae. Removing the larvae from the feet was a tedious process, which unfortunately I did not witness. Hopefully next year we’ll be able to go back better equipped to treat these patients. As of now, the only treatment of which we are aware is to physically remove the larvae.

I think it is safe to say that everyone who went on this trip will be carefully watching their feet for the next few months!

It’s weird to be back in the US when just one week ago I...

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 16:26:17 -0600

It’s weird to be back in the US when just one week ago I was in Kenya. Seeing patients at LSU couldn’t be more different.

We worked in teams of two in Kenya. Two medical students would work together with a translator to see patients. After we obtained a history and physical, we worked together to establish a plan. Then, we would present our findings to the Attending physician who would approve, tweak, or completely revamp our plan of treatment.

Oddly enough, the most frequent complaint we had in Kenya was the same complaint we see most frequently in the US - musculoskeletal pain. The major difference is that they can’t get to the nearest Walgreens and pick up a bottle of Ibuprofen. A vast majority of Kenyans work by farming, so it’s easy to understand why they have so much musculoskeletal pain! In the US, our patients often have pain because they don’t move enough, whereas in Kenya they perform hard manual labor all day long… major difference!

Clinic was held in a different location every day. Some days we would drive 2 hours to arrive at our destination, which was often a church building made of mud and always without electricity. As students, we quickly became adept with our physical exam skills… mostly because we had nothing else! No lab tests, no extensive previous medical history, and no imaging studies.

With the patient above, we gave her a pair of sunglasses in addition to medications. Due to dust in the dry season, many Kenyans have bad seasonal allergies and eye problems. I don’t think I can properly explain how dusty it was there except to say that when you blew your nose, the tissue was literally black. And you NEVER felt clean. At the end of the day, I’d get excited thinking I had a tan, but no… it was just dust. We all used wet wipes like they were going out of style to try to stay somewhat clean!

It’s amazing what we take for granted here in the US. The ability to obtain and afford Ibuprofen, sunglasses, have running water, and a million other simple things with which we are blessed. While I am happy to be back in the world of toilets, running water, and electricity, I can’t wait to go back next year and stay an entire month. It was truly an amazing experience that changed my life.

I took these photos on one of our clinic days in Kenya. On this...

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:08:00 -0600

I took these photos on one of our clinic days in Kenya. On this particular day, we had the opportunity to see many children from a nearby orphanage. I wanted to take all of these sweet children home with me!!

We started this day by going to the local market in Bungoma where we bought about 60 pairs of shoes for these children. Handing those shoes out to kids who have nothing was incredibly rewarding!

Most of these children also suffered from helminthic infections. We de-wormed nearly all of the children who came to clinic. The boy in the bottom picture had a helminthic infection.. you could nearly spot it across the room with most of the kids. You may be able to see how distended his belly is, which is nearly diagnostic in this part of Kenya for worms.

Weary Traveler

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 21:24:26 -0600

We’ve started the journey back to the US. It’s definitely bittersweet. On one hand...

Ugali and Marriage Proposals

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 13:18:30 -0600

Another great day in Kenya! Today was exciting… after a 2 hr drive to set up clinic in a rural...

Kenyan Transportation

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 13:07:48 -0600

You truly put your life in the hands of the driver in this country. Playing chicken with the...

MASH

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:01:04 -0600

I never watched this show, but I remember my parents watching it when I was younger. Holding clinic...

There are 5 legs to this trip to Africa. And we’re about...

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 00:08:32 -0600

There are 5 legs to this trip to Africa. And we’re about to board the plane for leg 4/5. I can’t help but feel like Ashley and I are a part of one of my favorite shows, The Amazing Race! We’ve had great flights and have met some really nice people. United Arab Emirates people really seem to like us! Our flight arrived in Dubai last night at 7PM (Dubai time) and our flight to Nairobi leaves at 10:45 this morning, so we thought it would be nice to take a little break and stay at the hotel. To our surprise, the entire evening was complimentary because we have a layover. Our hotel room was nice and all the food was provided (and really tasty)!

One more week!! I’m trying to focus on my upcoming exam,...

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 22:51:35 -0600

One more week!! I’m trying to focus on my upcoming exam, but all I can think about is going to Kenya. I am so blessed to have this opportunity. Thank you to everyone who has helped make it possible for me to go! And please continue to pray about this trip. Pray not only that we’ll travel safely, but also that we may touch the hearts and lives of many Africans for generations to come.

Many of the medical students and physicians from my school are already there. They’ve already seen some unusual diseases that we rarely if ever see here in the US. In only 3 days in clinic they’ve seen tungiasis, onchoceriasis, kaposi sarcoma, and chlamydia trachomatis (leading cause of blindness) amongst many others.

We can buy Internet cards in Kenya and use our computers in the evening, so I am going to make every effort to use this blog as a journal for my travels. I can’t wait to share my experiences with you! Back to studying for now…

I agree, my friend. I guess that’s why only 10 to 15...

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 21:46:00 -0600

I agree, my friend. I guess that’s why only 10 to 15 people in our class actually get an ‘A’ in Internal Medicine.

ashleyarnold:

The most ridiculous grading rubric I’ve ever seen. Aka no one should get an A… (Taken with instagram)

EKG Help

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:33:23 -0600

Reading EKGs is a daunting task. I’ve learned the basics of EKGs on 20 separate occasions, yet...