Thailand post 5

Except for a few minor things, these past several days since my last post have been incredible. I'll get the negatives out of the way:
1. I am sitting here in bed, at 3:15am, sweating with khakis and a rain jacket on because i left my insect repellent in the car. I got probably 20 mosquito bites during my 3.5 hour nap before waking up for the game, which is bad news in the North where malaria and Dengue are floating around on the wings of these little annoyances...
and 2. USA is still tied with Ghana after 93 minutes of soccer...

But besides that, life is great! I left you with stories of night markets and pollution-filled runs, and now can add tales of elephant rides and clinic work.

So where did I leave off? On our day off after learning about occupational health in the Lampang Hospital, we ventured over to the Thailand Elephant Conservation Center to see some pretty amazing animals. Seriously, elephants are ridiculous, and we were only hanging around ASIAN elephants, which are much smaller than their African relatives. We couldn't leave without taking a ride, of course, and that was a lot of fun. To ride, two people get in this chair that sits atop the 'phant, and the only form of security is a little rope that goes across the front of the thing (think roller coaster, but much less secure). With every step I felt like I was going to slip off the seat and die. It was a lot of fun =)




On Friday, we drove up to Mae Sot, where I am currently sitting. After arriving, we went over the the Mae Tao Clinic (www.maetaoclinic.org), a displaced persons clinic (we are right near the Thainald-Burma (Myanmar) border, and there are a lot of displaced people, migrants, and refugees due to the ongoing political turmoil in Myanmar). Afternoons are slow at the clinic, so we took the opportunity to get a tour and get acquainted with the area.

We got back to the hotel, and Juriaan, Joey, and I borrowed bicycles to ride over to a soccer field for a pickup game. I think that was the funniest thing I've experienced in a while-- those were the crappiest bikes I've ever touched! Joey's was literally squealing as we rode the long 3 miles through town to the clinic, where we left the bikes and decided to go to a closer field than originally planned. oh my goodness, I laugh just thinking about his crooked back wheel and busted bearings...


So we walked over the the field where a few people were, and Juriaan's like, "okay, now we wait for a ball..." Haha. 20 minutes later, a ball and 10 more people arrived, and the 7v7 game began. I was the only female playing, and one of 2 white people (Joey Pedersen being the other), and I don't think I totally let my gender (nor nationality) down. Not TOTALLY. I mean, in no way could my performance be considered impressive, but I made a few steals and some good runs, so I'm happy. They definitely noticed I was playing. It was a lot of fun, and my knee didn't hurt a bit (YES, I thought of that before i started playing. I thought of it, and quickly decided not to worry about it. You only live once, right?)
After the game was tied 1-1 (probably...20 minutes?), the teams switched out (about 20 more people had arrived) and Juriaan and I headed to the volleyball court. This was a ton of fun too-- MUCH more laid back and much less competitive than the soccer. And it was probably 50/50 males and females. I should also mention that all [or most] of the people playing [both sports] were workers in the clinic, and almost all of them were Karen (a Burmese ethnic group). So even with Juriaan there to translate Thai, we couldn't communicate verbally, since they all speak some form of Burmese (Burman?) and practically no Thai at all. Regardless, it was a lot of fun, and a truly neat experience to be able to relate to people of a totally different world through sport. (also, after soccer, Joey went on picture duty, but, if I may say so myself, could have done a better job of capturing the experience...oh well, you can still see the people, the dirt field, and get the general idea)



Then today, my friend Laura and I woke up early and went with Juriaan to the clinic. He worked there for 6 weeks last summer, and I think 2 weeks at the beginning of this summer, and was heading over before the rest of the group to get a full day's work in. We went to the surgical department, where she and I helped dress wounds for the rest of the day. It was pretty crazy. So much for that whole See-one-do-one-teach-one thing. It's just Do one here.


By 10am when the rest of the group arrived, and Catherine, Laura, and I probably worked on 15-20 patients from 10am-12:30pm. Mostly, we changed dressings (gauze, etc.), cleaned the wound (saline and/or Provodone), and put on new dressings, but there were also a decent amount of abscesses in need of lancing, draining, cleaning, and/or packing. Those were the worst, because you could just tell it was dreadfully uncomfortable for them. [[[parental advisory. skip next sentence if desired]]] There were also 3 men who came in to get bandages changed after deciding that an injection of coconut oil (i think) into their penis would result in enlargement...I'm not sure if it worked or not, but I'm pretty sure that after this ordeal they would much prefer a small penis than one with a skinless shaft. Yeah. Sorry if that was too much info for you non-medical folks.

But the day was pretty great. I was incredibly thankful for my prior experience in a non-American clinic (Honduras, last summer), because it made the adjustment much easier. The environment is so different-- can't speak with the patients (or the medics, really), don't have the same materials/instruments, nor anywhere near the level of sanitation-- but it's still medicine when it comes down to it. I also had the opportunity to walk around and talk to a worker about the water purification/drainage system, which was pretty interesting from a public health standpoint. It really is a vital aspect than many people overlook.

Well, I think I'm just going to stop apologizing for the long posts; I don't think they're going to be a rarity at this point... But it's 4am, and USA just lost, so I'm going to bed. Peace and love.