You're Funny Americans

What do Tuberculosis, fetuses, breast cancer, dirty dogs, and stitched up wounds all have in common? I saw them all at the clinic today. The clinic itself is pretty nice, but you can tell that it is in a bad area by the lack of hygiene of the patients and the care. There was a dirty dog with matted hair who just peed in the middle of the waiting room floor, apparently a common occurrence. There were children with rotten teeth, and they do not change their gloves or wash their hands between seeing patients. We told them from the beginning that Lauren and Paul speak almost zero Spanish, that JT and I understood a lot and spoke at an intermediate level, and that all of us were pre-med. They listened to none of that and just threw us in. The doctor I followed was a general practitioner and she spoke to me in even more rapid Spanish than she spoke to the patients. I did manage to understand almost everything, which was kind of lucky. So there I was in my scrubs and white coat with a stethoscope around my neck and gloves on my hands pretending that I was a real doctor. The patients called me Doctora or Doctorita and I was expected to listen to the lungs and heart and check the ears and throat of every patient. I had to check for abdominal pain and did a breast exam on a girl with breast cancer. There were a few patients who the real doctor did not even touch, just me. However I learned so much. I learned how to do an ultrasound on a baby, find the head, spine, sex, heart, placenta, and umbilical cord and to take measurements. I saw a little boy whose wound from his appendicitis and intestinal surgery wouldn’t close, and I even had to watch the doctor explain to a patient that he had not only tuberculosis but also cancer.

I feel like I have done nothing but take from these people already. I’ve already begun to learn so much, see another part of the world, practice their language, and immerse myself in their culture, yet what have I given back? I know its just been one day but really, have I given nothing? At first I think yes, then I remember the little girl I played with, the boy who stopped crying because I gave him candy, the mothers who just appreciate that you are trying to help their children and the wave of “gracias” heard directed at me throughout the day. Its so small what I have given thus far compared to what they have already given me, but I hope that as the next five weeks pass I can give more and leave them with something positive.