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Heey! So much has happened and time is flying by here in Chone. We went to Puerto Lopez last weekend, where they are known for the Isla de la (also known as Poor Man's Galapagos). We took lots of awesome pictures that I can't wait to show you on the island, but won't be posting til later. There were these awesome birds that have bright blue feet they were sooo cool called Blue Footed Boobies!!! There were also Alcatraz Birds, Turkey Vultchers, and much more. We were hoping to see whales and sea lions but didn't have any luck unfortunately. We traveled from Friday to Monday because it was an extra long holiday weekend here!! But there was no sun; it was overcast the whole time!! We found a little dessert/pastry shop owned by an American couple who just moved out here and opened shop a week ago and had amazing desserts so we got one every night! :) And talked to them a lot about the area and Ecuador and where we are going next weekend - Montaninta.
We went to the hospital this week and were with our Dr. and did Pediatrics all morning on Tuesday and Wednesday and we saw a lot of sick kids. There was this one 6 year old boy who had a nephrology problem and his kidneys were not secreting properly and instead all his liquid was going into his abdomen and his stomach was huge looked like 3 bowling balls inside his stomach! There were a lot of young 8 months to one year kids who had respiratory infections or pneumonias. Then there was a 10 year old girl who had her appendix removed and then went septic, and because of this 90 cm of her intestines died, and had to be removed and now she has a bag hanging off her stomach where her feces go until they heal enough for the surgeon to be able to close her back up. In the late morning we went to the clinic with her where we mostly saw well children check-ups and we each got to do our own examination on a child! That was pretty cool. Mine was on a 4 year old boy who had a respiratory cold, and cough, flem, and fever; we started him on antibiotics, and ordered blood tests, and a CT of his chest. The second day I had a 3 year old little boy who was there just for a well child check-up and everything was perfectly fine with him! I got to do the physical exam and look over their entire bodies and check everything, the eyes, ears, and throat; listen to the heart and lungs; feel the abdomen, liver and spleen; and then check the tests and penis to make sure everything is growing properly. Then went home for lunch and then after lunch Julie and I went out and looked for a gym to get some exercise in and then went back to the hospital and went to the emergency room in the afternoon where we saw 4 kids who had been in a car accident and had minor injuries, one girl dislocated her shoulder, and the three others needed stitches 2 cut their heads open and one little boy cut his leg pretty bad. We got to see the doctors sow them up and then they left. The other only thing we saw was a little girl who came in who they think had a seizure but they were not sure, she was foaming at the mouth and the mom was screaming. The doctors ordered a brain CT and the little girl left. WE stayed for a few hours and then headed back home for the night. Today, Thursday, we got to see surgeries this morning! It was great! First we saw a gallbladder removal in a woman, then a calcification/decay surgery of bone in the heel of an older man, and then we saw a hernia surgery of a testicle in a young man. They were all very different but very interesting. The first doctor wasn't very helpful in explaining what was going on, however in the last 2 surgeries the doctors were showing and explaining to us what had happened and what was going on. In the older man with bone calcification/decay it had been forming for 6 months and he had been having pain and reoccurring fevers and finally had an x-ray done and his bone was dying and we could see it on the x-ray. When they got deep enough into the heel you could see the black part of the bone, and they began scraping away at his bone. The whole time this was going on the man was awake watching theanasteseologist, but looking away from his heel! He was letting us take pictures and at one point he cleaned out the inside of the heel so we could get really close and take some in-depth pictures! The last surgery we saw the man´s right testicle was really inflamed and swollen. Once they began operating and found the hernia the doctor showed us that the man had pushed so hard that a large part of fat from his abdomen had pushed its way through down into the testicular sac and was causing blood vessels to rupture and causing the pain. He pushed the fat back up into his abdomen, tied off the bubble it had formed, and cut part of the parietal sac out and then sowed him back up! Again the doctors were really nice and helpful about explaining what he was doing as he was doing the surgery, and how this had occurred. It was neat to get to watch three different types of surgeries!! JTonight we are meeting with the doctor and going over some common tropical diseases: Malaria, Dengue, and Typhoid Fever.
We are leaving tomorrow morning to travel to Montaninta for the weekend! Just Julie and I are going this weekend! Should be lots of fun, this city is known for its surfing and is one of the best places in Ecuador to surf! They hold one of the largest surfing competitions in January every year…so we are hoping to learn how to surf this weekend!! Should be interesting!I hope everyone is doing well back home and enjoying the cold weather that is coming!I miss you all! Love, Britt
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