Alexis Boots: Medicine, Week Three

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What a week! Starting on Monday we did our normal routine. We got up for breakfast, ate and then headed the OR. We started the day off having four cases to accomplish by the end of the day. However, by the end of the day, we had only accomplished two surgeries. This was due to the fact that the water in the hospital was coming out brown. The two surgeries we got done before the OR was shut down (except for emergency surgeries) was a removal of a large skin lesion from the nose and a removal of a inguinal hernia. These were two very interesting surgeries. The removal of the skin lesion was interesting to me because it had to be removed in the OR. We had removed so many other skin lesions in the clinic because usually they are easy to remove. This one had to be removed in the OR because of the location of the skin lesion and its size. I didn’t get to scrub completely in on this day because I was scheduled to be on one of the next cases which was canceled. We spent the rest of our afternoon at home catching up on rest from Buck Island the day before. Tuesday was a clinic day. This day was filled with mainly follow- ups and concerns of new patients. Wednesday was a procedure day. We removed a huge cyst from a women’s back. Dr. Moorman sent it into the lab just to double check it wasn’t full of anything due to the size. We did several procedures this day and many more check- ups but two cases I found interesting even though they were really simple, was a man who cut his leg with a machete and another man who had glass in his foot. The man who had gouged his leg with a machete was cutting coconuts and missed. It was a pretty healthy gouge. Dr. Moorman allowed his PA student Megan to stitch this man’s leg. It was one of the cutest things I saw because the injured man had his son hold his hand. The man who had glass in his foot was having a party on a boat and stepped on a broken glass bottle. It was crazy how tiny the piece of glass was in his foot and that, that tiny piece of glass was causing him so much pain just to even walk on his foot. At this point the OR was still closed due to the brown water.

The next morning (Thursday) we left super early and began our journey to the British Virgin Islands. It was my very first time ever leaving the country! We left on a boat that we basically lived on from Thursday to Sunday. Thursday we went snorkeling in this little spot called the Indians, which was so beautiful! After that we went straight to Cooper Island, which is where we docked fr our first night (where we parked our boat for the night). It was a crazy experience getting to sleep on a boat. I had to wear a patch the entire time that helped calm down motion sickness, and worked miracles. The next morning, Friday, we left early and headed to the baths at Virgin Gorda. This places was amazing! There were caves you crawled through, and little baths of clear ocean water. It was on of my favorite things this internship has allowed me to learn about. After walking through the baths we did some more snorkeling. Here we got to see a lobster, approximately three-feet in size, crawling on the ocean floor. It was incredible! We also got to see a stingray. After the baths, we went to see a ship that was sunk by a man. Before he sunk the boat, the man had an artist come in and make the ship look as if a huge crakin (octopus) had covered the back of the ship. This was very cool. Although is wasn’t an actual historical event, I still found it very interesting. Next, we went to a place called “The Dogs.” This was another place that we snorkeled and saw our first group of squid, along with so many other amazing fish. Finally to end our Friday we went to an island called Scrub Island. This island had a huge beautiful resort. Kitty, the two kids and I played on the slide and in the pool for hours before and after dinner. At dinner we had another table take a picture of us all at dinner. Saturday morning we all slept in a little and then headed onto our next adventure which was to “Fallen Jerusalem.” Here we snorkeled again. We saw a flounder, an octopus, a squirrel fish, and more squid along with more beautiful fish. Next, we went back to Cooper, just for a quick stop due to a storm rolling in. Here we so so many turtles just hanging out. They are my favorite. After the storm rolled over we went to another sunken ship know as the RMS Rhone. Which stands for the Royal Mail Service. This Ship sunk in 1867 with 300 passengers. Only one passenger and twenty-two crew members survived. It was amazing. Except, I will admit, I did get chills just thinking about being there. After this amazing day we headed to our next destination which was Peter Island. We stayed on the boat again, but got the luxury of being at another resort. This resort was so relaxing. We took a nice hot shower after relaxing in the pool and headed off to bed.

The next morning (Sunday) we spent our day getting back to Saint Croix. We took the boat to St. John, which was where we had lunch. From there we road a ferry to St. Thomas. Here we checked in our luggage and waited for the sea plane. The sea plane was super cool to ride on. After such an amazing and interesting week we were back on Saint Croix and ready for our work week to begin. I am beyond thankful for all that Pinhead and my host family has allowed me to do and to learn. I cannot wait for what is to come. Talk again soon, readers.

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