few good days more

I had quite a few nice days at work the last week. On thursday I put in my first two sutures of all time!!! It was awesome. This guy came in with a dog bite and needed a few sutures. I watched the nurses tech do the first one then she let me do the second two. There was a doctor that spoke English that explained it a bit to me before so that was good. It is wicked cool that the nurses and the nurses techs put in sutures, although if it is serious enough they are transferred to a proper hospital. In the States only the doctors put in sutures... and here I am the PCA putting in sutures. Oh well...it was a good skill to learn. After I did them, the doctor told the tech that it was my first time. She was quite surprised to learn that and stated I did very well and learned very quickly. I am hoping to do them again next week.

On friday, there was a morale boosting trip. It was put on by the psych people here, so about 40 of us piled on a bus to take a 5 hour (yes this was a DAY trip) ride to a place called Canta. It was worth the ride when we got there, but the ride was CRAZY... there a some things I miss in the States, like guard rails, speedometers, free bathrooms, bathrooms on the bus for that matter, and paved highways. When we finally got there we rode horses up the mountain and hung out by the river and waterfall. It was all quite peaceful and tranquil. Definatly a morale booster!! The ride back was equally as crazy as well. As I am riding and observing what is around me, I just think that we have it so good in the States. We complain about our crap economy when we cannot afford to buy the new shirt to add to our collection of 200 when there are people down here that have two or three to their names, and their children have to wear clothes sizes too big and sizes to small because they cannot afford to buy new clothes to fit them. Or when you look at a child and know that they are suffering from so many nutritional deficiencies that are going to cause them severe problems in later life. It is so difficult to explain the feeling of living and working in this condition. It just makes me really appreciate how good the States are to live in. I would encourage everyone to try and do something like this. Although there are definatly days where I just want to get back on a plane to the US and make some money, this experience is one that is completely life changing. There are so many things that I wish I could tell people about appreciation for what we have in the US... maybe next stop, public health care for me??....who knows