Day 102 Dalaguete, Cebu

Worked the PM shift in the ER today. It was pretty routine with not much going on except for one particular case where a child (she was probably between 5-7) came in with a pretty nasty burn on her leg. Other than it being a pretty bad burn was that the mother and father had rubbed chili pepper leaves over the burn and the child wasn't crying. I asked Tim why they did that and she said the mountain people use chili leaves as home remedies but she wasn't sure if it actually worked. I looked up the effect of chili leaves being used as a remedy for pain and found an interesting article explaining how the capsaicin in the chili binds to pain receptors blocking out the actual signaling in the body. It wasn't the most reputable site but it does make me think there's some science behind remedies that persist over generations. Strangely enough, the girl didn't cry until the wound was being cleansed -- perhaps washing away the capsaicin opened up those pain receptors again. Because the patient was a small child and in severe pain, I just observed as the nurses and doctor performed wound care. 

The type of chili plant the leaves were most
likely taken from.

Day 101 Dalaguete, Cebu

I spent the second day of Dalaguete's fiesta walking around the town with Tim. A big part of the celebration is visiting the town church. Each town has their own and are super old and tied, historically, to the Spanish empire. Tim gave me an unofficial tour of the church and we spent the rest of the night walking around the town and enjoying the sites.

The inside of Dalaguete's church Sn. Guillermo
de Aquitania. A quick search online says this
church was founded in 1711!

Tequila! Drank the same everywhere!

One of the rides set up for the fiesta. 

Day 100 Dalaguete, Cebu

Today was Dalaguete's fiesta. I spent most of the day and night with Ricky and his family. Fiestas are a huge deal in the Philippines and it was finally Dalaguete's time to celebrate! Ricky and I stopped by his friend's house who was making a roasted pig for us (sadly, all the pigs Ricky had bought to rear died from illness so he had to buy a pig and pay to have it roasted). His friend told me they start as early as 3:00AM and roast pigs all day to sell. While we were there checking out the progress of our roast, I was able to see the process of roasting a pig starting from livestock all the way to finished product. Even though I've already seen a pig prepped for market, it still amazes just how quickly people can go from a live pig to on a spit using a length of rope, a knife, and a bucket. The roasting "oven" is just a fire pit with a length of bamboo sticking through the pig and is manually turned. I can't imagine doing that at 3:00AM, but during fiesta families can make a lot of money just by selling roasted pigs. We spent most of the day preparing for the evening meal, which is a huge part of the celebration. Ricky took me early in the day so we could have the freshest pick of produce. Here's some pictures of our trip to the market.

I spent the rest of the nigh with Ricky's family. People stopped by throughout the day and evening (including most of the people from the hospital). The roasted pig was delicious!

Day 98 Dalaguete, Cebu #DPC IVTT

I worked the AM shift today and floated between the ER and the floor. It was a pretty routine day. I administered meds via IVTT and prepared the med passes while on the floor and took vitals and helped with OPD's at the ER. It's nice working both the ER and the floor because you get to see how the team works as a unit to give treatment and medication accurately. It's the best feeling admitting someone from the ER and seeing them later at the ward reciving what they're supposed to be reciving -- and almost all of this is done without computers. The only thing they really use the computers for are printing recipiets. There's no electronic medication administration record or treatment administration record; just good old pen and paper.

Pamela also had a dance routine for her school today. Once a year the teachers get together and perform a traditional dance routine for the students in preparation for the annual town fiesta. While my sister was here Pamela asked her to come in as a guest speaker so my sister was able to hang out with her for a day. She told me how the students and teachers have a relationship that's more like uncle and aunt, niece and nephew. I've always been aware that Filipino's are close as a culture, but the way my sister described the schools brings further depth and understanding about that aspect of my culture. The first thing my sister noticed was how the teachers and students have a very relaxed sense of time. Start and end times for classes are not set on a strict schedule. Is it raining hard out? If yes, start class a little later. Is it uncomfortably hot and humid? End class a little bit earlier. Lunch breaks are also very relaxed. My sister said after the lunch period the students went back to the classroom and the teachers took their time discussing their day and their remaining lessons. It sounds disorganized but because the students view their teachers as extensions of their family, they treat them with the same respect they'd treat their relatives. My sister said that after the lunch break she was expecting Pamela to have to come into the classroom and get everyone settled, but when they came in everyone was in their proper spot waiting to learn.

Anyway, here's a picture from the dance routine.

Day 96 Dalaguete, Cebu

I worked the noc shift again today and it was another quiet night. No patients came into the ER and the Ward only had  a few patients so there wasn't too much going on. I helped out with vitals and did more catching up on my blog. I'll leave you with pictures of some of my extended family here who have been super awesome at showing me around giving me a more authentic view of the Philippines!

Day 95 Dalaguete, Cebu #DPC ECG Assist

I worked the noc shift today and it was a super quiet night. We had one patient that came in with chest pain and difficulty breathing so we hooked them up to the ECG and let the doctor interpret the results. Nothing showed up on the ECG so we kept them overnight for observation. Other than that it was a quiet nights so   I just sat outside the ER entrance with the doctor, the ER nurse, and the night guard. One of the things I really love about this place is how close knit the whole hospital is. I'm gonna really miss this place when I go.

Fatima, the nurse on duty with me at the ER.

Day 94 Dalaguete, Cebu

I spent the day catching up on this blog. Since the internet here goes out frequently, I've had to write out all my entries in word and upload them here when there's good connectivity. On my off days I spend most of my time at the hospital because they have internet here and all the friends of made are usually at or close to the hospital.

Anyway, not much going on today so I'll leave you with some extra pictures from my trip.

At the ER with Larzy and Zyra (left to right). 

A hut in the mountains.

The only way to travel to certain mountainous regions, just be sure to hold on.

In Dumagete where we were stranded for Chirstmas.

At the nurses station with me, Fatima, and Zyra (left to right).

Day 93 Sibonga, Cebu

I've become pretty good friends with Fatima, one of the nurses here, so today she invited me to her little brother's birthday. Her parents own rice fields in Sibonga so I got to see some of the agricultural parts of Cebu as well as a few historic parts of the town.

After Sibonga, I headed over to Cebu City to see my Dad off to the Airport. We walked around the mall a little bit and saw this guy performing there:

I'm not really quite sure who David Pomeranz is, but my Dad told me he was a fairly successful musician in the US.

Day 92 Dalaguete, Cebu

We left Boracay today and headed back to Dalaguete. We took the scenic route back taking a 2.5 hour bus ride that went around the island. Today was also my official last day of duty, however, since I extended my trip until February 20, the nursing staff said I could keep coming in and helping out until the day I leave. Here's some pictures of the ride back!

Day 91 Boracay, Philippines

Today is our last night in Boracay (we'll be leaving tomorrow). We topped off our visit by going para-sailing and taking a night walk along the beach!

Day 90 Boracay, Philippines

Today was our second day in Boracay and we went helmet diving and snorkeling!
Here's a video of the helmet dive!

And here's some snorkeling pictures and us just chilling on the beach.

We also got to see a bit of the night life. 

I thought this one was pretty funny. Boracay Obama Grill. 

This design was carved and painted on a living coconut tree.

Day 89 Boracay, Philippines

Today we left for Boracay Island, which is north of Cebu. The plane ride was pretty quick.

As I said in the previous post, Boracay is a tourist destination so when we got there it was loaded with people from all over the world. Anyway we took a banana boat ride today and planned our next two days which will be helmet diving, snorkeling, and para-sailing.

Anyway, here's a bunch of pictures and a clip of the first day!

Waiting at the airport.

Take off!

En route.

En route.

Apparently Manny Pacquiao regularly buys out this hotel when
he visits Boracay.

Banana boat!

About to set sail.

All of us.

Sunset. 

On a side-note, one of the coolest things about traveling with nurses is that their nursing skills go with them. When we landed on the island and got lunch, one of the nurses needed an IV injection of Ranitidine to help manage her hyperacidity. Unlike in the US, pharmacies sells syringes and injections over the counter because it's still one of the most widely used routes for administration of medication in the Philippines. The nurses offered to let me deliver the injection but I declined because I didn't want to waste the medication in case I missed, so I acted as the tourniquet instead. Here's a video clip (you can hear a little bit of Bisaya, the language, in the clip).