January 20, 2006 7pm
After resting quite a while, a knock at my door was heard. I saw Dr. Ocfemia at the door inviting me for the gathering of Filipinos at the Thurston barracks. Although tired, I obliged since it is an opportunity to meet the Filipinos in Kosrae and I need to meet Mr. Fred Jacla, a provincemate for whom some were sent to him by his wife.
We went to Leandro’s place (the surveyor-engineer and the computer wiz of the Filipinos here) first and there I met Bong and Edna Martinez. I also met Atong and Liza Calma. They have told me that they have been in Kosrae for quite a number of years already. At Leandro’s place, I also met Mr. Fred Jacla and I told him the medicines that were sent through me were at the apartment.
Then Dr. Toy (the nickname of Dr. Ocfemia), took to me the Thurston barracks and introduced me to the Filipinos in the place. They gave me a warm welcome. After some talks, and introduction, Dr. Toy brought me to Island Café and had dinner - my first dinner here in Kosrae. The interaction among the Filipinos was not that much that night as they can feel that I was tired from the trip.
The Jet Lag. The jet lag soon affected me. I was able to get some sleep only to wake up at 2 o'clock in the morning. It is only 11 pm in the Philippines. But what really affected me really is travelling at 11:10 pm and arriving supposedly at 4:40AM in Guam. In reality, Guam is 2 hours advance than in the Philippines. So id we take the real time that I travelled, it is only 3 hours and 30 minutes. Then we waited for 4 hours for our trip to Central Pacific which moves us more to another hour advance. I knew this would happen to me but the hastiness of the travel did not give me the chance to bring along my Melatonin capsules. Melatonin is the one I use to set my time clock. Back to waking up at 2 o'clock in the morning, it was not until 4AM that I was able to fet to sleep only to wake up again at 6:30AM. Dazed and still feeling like a wilting vegetable, I woke up as I cant get to sleep anymore. It was then that around 8:00Am, Dr. Toy knocked at my door and told me that there was a referral from the hospital.
We went to Leandro’s place (the surveyor-engineer and the computer wiz of the Filipinos here) first and there I met Bong and Edna Martinez. I also met Atong and Liza Calma. They have told me that they have been in Kosrae for quite a number of years already. At Leandro’s place, I also met Mr. Fred Jacla and I told him the medicines that were sent through me were at the apartment.
Then Dr. Toy (the nickname of Dr. Ocfemia), took to me the Thurston barracks and introduced me to the Filipinos in the place. They gave me a warm welcome. After some talks, and introduction, Dr. Toy brought me to Island Café and had dinner - my first dinner here in Kosrae. The interaction among the Filipinos was not that much that night as they can feel that I was tired from the trip.
The Jet Lag. The jet lag soon affected me. I was able to get some sleep only to wake up at 2 o'clock in the morning. It is only 11 pm in the Philippines. But what really affected me really is travelling at 11:10 pm and arriving supposedly at 4:40AM in Guam. In reality, Guam is 2 hours advance than in the Philippines. So id we take the real time that I travelled, it is only 3 hours and 30 minutes. Then we waited for 4 hours for our trip to Central Pacific which moves us more to another hour advance. I knew this would happen to me but the hastiness of the travel did not give me the chance to bring along my Melatonin capsules. Melatonin is the one I use to set my time clock. Back to waking up at 2 o'clock in the morning, it was not until 4AM that I was able to fet to sleep only to wake up again at 6:30AM. Dazed and still feeling like a wilting vegetable, I woke up as I cant get to sleep anymore. It was then that around 8:00Am, Dr. Toy knocked at my door and told me that there was a referral from the hospital.
The Hospital Referral. Dr. Toy and I went to see the patient and I assessed it and it was an acute appendicitis. We scheduled him for Emergency Appendectomy. I had a patient who is 27 years old, burly and really with those fatty blebs underneath. I thanked God, I saw someone who is larger than me. (Laugh out loud.) We had the operation at around 11:30 in the morning and assisting me was Dr. Carolee Masao and Lorentha Mongkeya the OR nurse. It was a ruptured appendicitis I found out and have to wash intraabodminally. I also washed the incisional wound and yet, the wound developed subcutaneous abscess. My life as a surgeon had started in the Kosrae.
No comments:
Post a Comment