Brittany's time in Ecuador Continued!

Brittany relays to us the work she has been doing at a medical clinic in Santa Elena:

At work I usually go and see what surgeries are going on for the morning and stay and watch them. Then I eat lunch and go to Emergency for the afternoon. This week there was a hysterectomy and numerous hernia surgeries. There was also a surgery on a young boy and someone had their nose broken to fix it. That was surprisingly the grossest surgery because the cartilage snapped and blood and mucus were gushing everywhere. There was also a c-section which I almost missed. That was so amazing to watch and so quick! The baby was out before I even realized they had finished cutting the woman´s stomach! The baby was so small and precious and a girl :) I got to hold some tools for the hernia surgeries and I also got to clean 2 patients to prep them for the more sterile cleaning. In emergency I finally perfected my blood pressure taking skills, one of the interns told me you could also feel the pulse when it started because I was having a hard time hearing the systolic sometimes! ( That probably doesn´t make much sense sorry!). I have really become friends the interns there and they are so nice and willing to help me! I went to visit inpatients with one of the doctors this week, patients who are pregnant with infections, post-operation patients etc. Today was also pretty exciting I asked the nurses if I was allowed to give an injection, they said yes and I was pumped! A nurse had explained to me how to give one in the arm (although I have yet to try) but the ones today were in the butt. Luckily there were 2 this afternoon because I didn´t know how to give one there, so the nurse explained it t me and showed me then said next time I can do it myself. The second one she called me over and watched ( I made sure to double check I was putting it in the right place haha), so I got to clean the patient´s skin and give them a needle! I wasn´t even nervous at all which I was surprised at, I think I will be more nervous for the one in the arm. Tomorrow I have decided I am going to make sure there are no vaginal births (because that is top on my list of things to see) then I am staying in Emergency all day so I don´t miss a chance to give an injection in the arm! I also forgot to mention there was a patient with epilepsy who came in unable to breath and had a seizure.