Med School Made Early

I'm so thankful for the way God organized my trip here. I began in Shell, where I was surrounded by wonderful, patient people, a fairly calm environment, and many native English speakers. It was there where I was introduced to the Ecuadorian environment and where I was able to build my Spanish skills, yet was still able to fall back to English if necessary.

Now, I am in Quito, a rapid, complex environment, where I am pretty much alone as a native English speaker in the ER. Praise the Lord, though, that he's helped my Spanish to improve so much! I'm now at the point where I'm able to help out the docs and others in almost whatever they're doing. I appreciate your prayers, as I know this understanding is not on my own strength.

I'm also learning a ton here, too. Although I've worked at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital the past 3 years (and I'm very thankful for that time), I haven't been exposed to many of the parts of primary care. Here in the ER, I see a little bit of everything. The most interesting to me have been the trauma cases, including skin lesions and similar injuries. I've been able to learn quite a bit just by observing.

I've also been able to connect with several of the interns here, and they've been able to show me new cases and explain them as well. Perhaps the most interesting case this past week was a patient with a ruptured diaphragm. I was able to look at some of the x-rays while one of the interns explained what happened and what we were looking at. The picture here is of me in the imaging department while one of the docs explains to me what we're looking at.

Today, I received a bit of a surprise. I was talking with one of the doctors about who I am and why I'm here. A few minutes later, he asked me to come with him to see a patient. As we were walking, I thought I understood that I would be observing while the doctor made his observation. However, when we got into the room, the doctor signaled for me to begin my examination. I all of a sudden became a bit nervous. I have never actually been trained to give examinations; I've only observed them, and even then, without knowing everything that was going on. However, the doc helped walk me through it a bit, and I was able to do it. Of course not perfectly, but I think the doctor had already performed his examination. Afterward, we talked about it and made our diagnosis. I of course realized things to which I should have paid better attention, but it was a great experience to be able to learn a bit more.

I am incredibly thankful for the expriences God is giving me here. I have been able to see and experience so much. It all helps raise my excitement about starting med school. When I do begin my formal training, I expect I will be able to learn much more quickly and in depth because I've already experienced quite a bit, at least to some extent. One key to training in medical school is to repeat the information to ingraine it into our minds, and I'm already getting my first encounter with it.

Thank you for your continued prayers. On Wednesday I started volunteering with a weekly English class offered at the English church for Ecuatorians. The time acts as both a class and a time to teach the attendees about Christ. This week, we present the gospel quite clearly to those in attendance. It was very neat to be a part of.

Blessings,
Kevin