Dilemmas

Today - like yesterday and the day before - was a full day. I think it's safe to assume from here on in that my day was busy unless I say otherwise!

Today was also a day of dilemmas, the first of which came up when we left the grade ten classroom this morning and Brianne said, "You rocked that!" Because she has bronchitis (Jason is sick, too) and wasn't feeling well enough to do much, I taught most of the lesson on my own. It was a challenge that we were a little worried about because teaching high school has a lot to do with being confident and funny, which is a tall order if you don't really speak the language. Luckily, not speaking Spanish perfectly was humorous enough in itself that they actually seemed engaged! I'm really proud of us for taking on this challenge. The dilemma, of course, is "But what if I want to teach?" I've been struggling with the choice between education and medicine for years now, and just when I was really sure that medicine was without a doubt the next step in my life, I rediscover teaching. Being with the students - the cute Blob Tag ones and the older ones, too - is so energizing and fulfilling!

That being said, being in the hospital is pretty wild, too. I love all things medicine; hence the dilemma. Today, I took more blood pressures (I still suck at that), gave a bunch of IM injections, set up some IVs, passed someone gauze as she cleaned out a gaping thoracic incision, gave some IV meds, helped put on a cast... Oh, and started an IV! I'm kind of sad that I won't be back in the hospital until Tuesday because I want to keep practicing. I met a lot of doctors and nurses today who were willing to teach me and let me try things, so I'm really excited about that. In some ways, that also helps soothe the dilemma because I know that there are a lot of opportunities for doctors to teach, too.

The day's second dilemma is going to be an ongoing thing, I think. My placement is technically Santiago Hospital in general, so I can be anywhere I'd like to be. The lab was interesting for a while, but I'd prefer to work with patients so I probably won't go back there unless there's nothing to do. Surprisingly enough, this happens quite often! There are an absurd number of holidays around here this time of the year, which means that the hospital isn't always operating at full capacity. A lot of people left early today because Monday is Health Professionals Day and there was some kind of party this afternoon. In other parts of the hospital - like maternity, where Brianne and I hung out this morning - there was simply nothing going on. So the dilemma is: Where do I go? Maternity and shock can sometimes involve a lot of waiting around, and I feel bad for sitting when there could be someone I could help in another part of the hospital. When I leave to look for something to do, though, I feel bad for abandoning whoever I was working with - they might need me later! This happened today: when the injections and IV area of emerge had no patients, Brianne and I wandered into Maternity. I got back after lunch and Epseranza (the nurse from the injections area) said, "There you are! I was looking for you this morning!" It kind of feels like a lose-lose sometimes - I can feel bad for sitting around when there's nothing to do, or I can feel bad for leaving to find something to do.

The last dilemma of the day isn't really mine, but it fit nicely into this post's theme. Jason is leaving next Friday and he's counting-down-the-days excited. John is booked on the same flight as I am in three weeks and Brianne - crazy girl - has no return flight yet. I'm definitely going to stay here for the next three weeks, but the other two are trying to decide if they're going to do a little travelling before leaving the country. Things are kind of up in the air now: Brianne might leave next Friday, too, or leave later. John might go travelling with Brianne and then come back and work more, or work while Brianne travels, travel while I work and then fly out with me. It's all very complicated!

Oh well. We're all here for at least another week! We're planning to take it easy this week and stay (mostly) in town because Jason has a big cookout planned for the firefighters tomorrow so we said we'd help out. Inès is preparing a homemade marinade for the chicken skewers as we speak, and we have a lot of corn to shuck this evening! Masaya market is also on the agenda for the weekend, but we're all pretty exhausted.

Fun facts from today: I got a package in the mail! My darling mother sent me two pairs of gorgeous scrubs. I love them but I'm sad to say that either she underestimated the size of my butt or I underestimated the effect of all this Nica food! Brianne gets to wear the pants for the next few weeks, then, while I try to cut down on the sweet bread. I'm told that the blue top brings out my eyes, though; this isn't news because one of the most common comments I get from Nicaraguans is "Your eyes are blue." I don't mind that much - I prefer it to "You don't look twenty!" which is the other popular one. (I get it. I look seventeen but really, I'm twenty. Promise.)