Day 7 Dalaguete, Philippines #DPC Intradermal Injection

That's me on the back of the motorcycle. The first part of the video makes Dalaguete look rainy and overcast all the time, but I guarantee you that's not the case. It was super warm this morning and the clouds made it feel twice as humid as it normally is.

It's not on the video but I got to do my first needle work today! I performed a couple skin tests. The hard part isn't really the injecting part since the allergen in question is only injected intradermally. Prepping is, what I feel, separates pros from amateurs. Compared to the nurses here, I'm obviously much slower, and I'm clumsy when loading the syringe. It feels awkward holding the vial in one hand and using the other hand to steady the syringe while pulling back on the plunger. Both times I let a ton of air in and had to keep reintroducing the needle to the vial to fill the chamber completely. I'm sure it's something that gets easier with repetition, so hopefully I'll get better at it.

Ricky's son (Ricky is my second cousin and whose house I'm staying at – that was his daughter, Pearl, in the video) came in today to get his stitches removed and they let me do it. It's not hard at all. Just snip the stitches and pull up at the ends where the knots are. I think the nurses here are amused at how excited I get when I get to do something hands on.

An older gentleman was admitted after he fell flat on his face right into the dirt. I'm not really sure how it happened but Ricky showed me how to x-ray the skull (Ricky is the RadTech at the hospital), which you can see in the video. Luckily the attending physician at the time said there was no bone damage, but he prescribed a tetanus shot and a few other antibiotics.

An adolescent female was also admitted due to a motor vehicle accident. The accident knocked out her four front teeth and she had some pretty painful looking scrapes, but other than that she was ok. She was also given a tetanus shot as well as a couple other shots – one intravenously and one intramuscular. The nurses asked if I wanted to perform the IM shot, and I said yes but that I'd never done it before, so they decided to let me watch this time. I asked how they avoid hitting the bone and they told me it's not that hard. The tricky part is making sure you don't hit a nerve or rupture a large collection of blood vessels. The technique is to inject first, then pull back on the plunger a bit. If blood starts seeping in, then you immediately pull the needle out, if not you're good and can start introducing the medication.

After work, around 1800, Ricky took me to the local slaughter house. This next gigantic bulk of writing is going to be a personal spiel and have nothing medical related at all, but I still feel it's extremely important to talk about. It will get a bit graphic, so prepare yourself for that if you have a weak stomach and want to keep reading. Prior to my visit here I started practicing a pescatarian diet. I kept at it for about a year and a half and told myself that when I got to the Philippines I wouldn't force my eating habits on Ricky's family.

I have no problem with people consuming animals. I think it's a very natural thing, and healthy for the human body since there are some nutrients our body needs found primarily in animals. I know the argument can be made that supplements can be taken in order to offset any negative side-effects of a vegetarian or vegan diet. However, I would challenge proponents of that philosophy to think about the impact manufacturing said supplements would have on the environment. It requires energy to produce concentrated forms of any chemical, and sadly, clean renewable energy isn't the main source of electricity yet. Anyway, that's a topic for another time. What I'm trying to say is, I don't think there's anything wrong with consuming animals, but I do feel there is a very large disconnect between people (especially among Americans) and the food on their plate. I was always raised to take only as much food as I could eat, and to reduce waste as much as possible. My decision to abstain from meat, aside from fish, is because I feel it's necessary to experiencing killing the animal you choose to consume (that's why I still eat fish). Taking an animals life in order to continue yours reinforces the idea that you have to take care of the things that take care of you.

When Ricky took me to the slaughter house I didn't realize they were going to be slaughtering pigs right then. For anyone that has already butchered animals before this next part might sound silly, but I have to mentally, nay, spiritually, prepare myself for the act of killing an animal. This is a rural area, so they still slaughter animals by traditional means: a knife, a length of rope, cold water, and hot water. They also take care to use as much of the animal as possible, so the most efficient way of killing the animal is slicing it in the jugular and letting it bleed out. I knew prior to coming here that the butchering wasn't going to be modernized, but what I wasn't prepared for was the noise. Pigs know they are going to be killed, and they squeal extremely loud. The pig only survives a few minutes after the jugular is cut, but they continue to squeal and struggle up until their last moments. That for me is the hardest part. Hearing the animal suffer saddens me greatly, but all I have to do is look at how malnourished most of the people are here and that outweighs any sort of protest I might have against the butchering of these animals.

I'll be going back on Sunday to help slaughter a pig. I'm extremely nervous about it simply because I know it will be hard mentally and emotionally, but it's something I feel I need to do in order to help me fully understand the importance of waste reduction. I also feel it's the best way for me to pay my respect towards a creature whose existence I am using in order to continue mine.