Days 4-5

Thursday- Outpatient clinic 8am- 12ish. We had divided up who was going to see each patient, but as everything down here- we went with the flow! I had one of my 3 patients that I had prepared for show up. So I saw one of Caroline’s patients and then another patient that was not divided up.  There is a shuttle from town to Hillside on Thursday’s and the patients that do not have their own transportation use that- It leaves at one time and leaves the clinic at 12, therefore all our patients arrived at the same time, well those who were coming to their appointments. 

So Thursday morning was fun, felt like a usual OP clinic, except it takes place at Hillside, so we get to figure out different ways to do our typical exercises; therefore it was fun!  We are hand drawing our home exercises for patients, definitely working on my stick figure drawing skills, but this take so much time after seeing patients for their allotted time.  So we are working on a system to make it easier and more efficient for all of us, especially since we will be here for 2 months.

Then in the afternoon we had a lunch for the doctors that have been here for 3 years,- We had Kaldo (a traditional dish in Belize)- fresh chicken in a spiced broth and then you dip corn tortillas into it and add vegetables.  It was my first experience with that, and it was pretty good.

Then we finished up the mornings notes… SOAP notes on what is basically a blank sheet of paper is much different than the point and clicking that I did on the computer for my notes on my first clinical. (Megan D:  hope you are enjoying your documentation still…..)

Thursday night we made breakfast for dinner with the group- Keish and French toast- pretty tasty!

Friday- It was a morning of planning for our community class that we will be teaching the next month as well as planning and  outlining an hour long presentation that we have to give on Wednesday to the other PA and Med students on Neck pain etc….

Then we had a group lunch on Friday- chicken with rice and a delicious curry cabbage mixture! I was excited for more vegetables.  There is definitely more chicken consumption than I expected down here. So I am adjusting to that….I ate my usual a few times a month chicken consumption in 5 days already

Then Friday afternoon- we took our first venture into town on the bikes…. Not sure how long the ride really was- some say 2.1 miles each way – BUT it was much longer than I thought and the bikes are not in the best condition/ the bike does not fit you very well- but we all make do!

**Note to self- next time I ride the bikes- I WILL be wearing my bike shorts (yes I brought them and yes they have extra padding :) ) 

Friday evening- we went out to a local restaurant for dinner, drinks and Karaoke- we definitely made our impression on everyone.  Dinner was delicious- we discovered fly jacks- which are fried dough basically; therefore= amazingness. I had a veggie burrito and cucaloo- which was seasoned greens, similar to spinach. Yummy!

Then we took the stage for karaoke aka the region in front of the bar that our group of 11 that night took over.  When we scarred the restaurant patrons ears enough, the 11 of us piled into a taxi van to go to another bar, where we could do more karaoke and have a change of venue. We made the record for how many people this taxi driver has ever had in a taxi and somewhat got “stuck” on the speed bumps because the van was so heavy!

When we got to the other bar, it was our group and then 2 other couples that were already there.  We sang/ screamed some Karaoke and then slowly cleared out the bar… probably for the better before we broke out the Whitney Houston- I will always love you….. Welsh version and all…. (one of the guys here is from Wales)

 The group that went to the first bar after dinner

(or you can call us the group that cleared the bar out)

I was also taught a Welsh dance- But not really, because the gullible me believed that Welsh persons are hypermobile (I even started testing his hypermobility- see the PT in me never leaves). I guess that’s how some Welsh people dance? Either way- pretty funny and entertaining to get in a deep squat and let your arms be loose and just flail them around.

Friday night was a late night- including playing with frogs… but we had to get up early on Saturday for our adventure to Guatemala!