We had a full day yesterday. In the morning, we went snorkeling and it was pretty cool to see the wrecks that were down there. I wish my camera was water proof so that I could have taken pictures of these amazing sights. The ones we saw included a sunken oil tanker (huge torpedo hole on the side), a downed Japanese air fighter with machine guns still intact, and a bunch of others. Nature has adapted to these metal remains and it was interesting to see how life is now very much a part of these man made ruins. It was my second time ever snorkeling and I had a lot of fun. It's intimidating how fast the pressure builds up when you dive. I thought my head was going to explode, and I wasnt more than 10 feet below the surface!
We were told that a new patient had showed up at the emergency room yesterday exhibiting heart failure symptoms. After our snorkeling trip, we made our way back to the hospital to see the patient. Again, I cannot express how happy I am to have the opportunity to receive medical attention, if needed, at one of our hospitals. For instance, I saw so many people walk by and even stand in the doorway to watch us work. I wouldn't want a stranger in my room while a procedure was being performed on me (patient was undergoing an echocardiogram at the time). Another problem I saw was lack of sanitary supplies. No sani-wipes, very limited number of gloves, even septic hand sanitizer was scarce. I say these not to discredit the hospital employee capabilities, I admire them for still striving for quality of care with the few limited resources they have.
At night time, the hospital staff, namely a surgeon and his staff, wanted to come and hang out before we left the island. We sang karaoke and everyone had a good time. The title of the blog, "Jimmy gone rogue" stems from my lack of decision making on this trip (meaning I haven't had a preference on when or where we eat, havent had a preference on going out versus staying in, havent had a preference to stay at this hotel versus that hotel, etc). I usually "defer" to my attending physicians leadership and make Gira make all the decisions. Then, karaoke was mentioned and I opted NOT to sing. Alas, Gira deemed me traitorous and had informed everyone that I've gone rogue!
Today we leave for Yap with a long layover in Guam. Hopefully everything follows through and we make it without any hitches. I also hope the Internet is more reliable there as well so I can update my blog more often. I may not have mentioned it, but Chuuk isn't the richest island in Micronesia. With money being an issue, resources naturally are harder to come by. One in particular, electricity, is a very nice perk our hotel has. To maximize electrical usage with the allotted budget, the state only supplies power to half the island at a time. I was originally told power alternates sides every 4-6 hours, but I notice power cuts more frequently. Our hotel has it's own generator when this side of the island is out of power. The hospital also has a generator, but to my understanding it doesn't last very long. Good thing there aren't a lot of mechanical dependence in the hospital else they would be doomed once the generator runs out of juice and there is no electricity available.
Enjoy your day!
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