One last day with the kids

As excited as I am to be heading home, I will definitely miss my children at The Way Home.  It has been an adventure for sure - playing the roles of CPR certified lifeguard at the beach, Ukrainian cooking assistant, camp counselor, and primary care provider.  I learned a lot about medicine by watching my father practice medicine - it also helped that he spent his free time in Ukraine studying for his medical recertification.  We spent many evenings in the hostel discussing medical conditions and looking at images of different pathological conditions.  I also learned more about what the organization could use in terms of medical assistance.  My brainstorming trip went better than ever expected.  I loved patching up cuts and giving medical exams, but I especially loved playing with the kiddos!

My dad even got in on the playing action

On our last day volunteering, my dad and I bought toys and trinkets for the children at the kindergarden.  We wanted to leave a favorable impression in their minds of the primary care providers who came to give them medical exams!

Little girl picking out her new backpack

Cars or Spongebob?

Look at those smiles!

Kindergarden leader

So excited!

This little boy drew me a picture and gave it to me to take home

My main question now is not "if" I am coming back, but "when?"  I assume my time and resources would be better spent waiting until after I am a PA.  I know the skills I learn in graduate school will enable me to better serve the needs of the children of Odessa, but can I stay away from Ukraine that long?  I am already in touch with an organization called PAs for Global Health!  I cannot wait to see what services they offer and how I can learn from their international efforts.

In the meantime, I look forward to keeping everyone up to date on my application process! 

“I’m foreign and I know it”

This morning I felt like I was running and walking to the beat of LMFAO’s “I’m sexy and I know it,” except I had a different set of lyrics running through my mind.  I woke up in my pitch-black room at 8AM and decided it was time to go for a run.  My room is great, and its also terrible all at the same time.  It’s great because when to sun goes up at 4:30AM in Odessa I can sleep in.  But when there is a power outage or I need some motivation to get out of bed, it’s terrible.  I forced myself out of bed and changed into my running gear.  Mace and iPhone in had, I hit the streets.  People don’t really run here.  I have seen gyms around town that are mostly for muscle heads, so I am not sure where the average person works out.  People looked at me strangely as I bolted past them on the streets, but “I’m foreign and I know it.”

I did the Potemkin Stairs a couple times, which is rough since there are 192 steps all together.  Then I ran to the end of the large dock that overlooks the Black Sea, and back to the stairs.  I did some triceps, pushups and jumping jacks on the larger stairs then ran the rest of the way home.  I ran for 30 minutes and did the rest over the course of about 20 minutes – not too shabby.

Ready for some jumping jacks?

After I got back home and showered, I put on a dress and my cowboy boot and walked to my favorite café, Kompot, where I went with Claudia on our first trip to Odessa.  Again, “I’m foreign and I know it.”  People were definitely not rude to me, but I could tell maybe they weren’t used to seeing average people in cowboy boots.  On my way out, the lady that works here asked me if it wasn’t too hot to be wearing boots.  It’s funny, because I never really thought about how strange it is that Texans wear cowboy boots so often, even when its so hot out.  Anyways, it was nice to sit at my café, work on my personal statement for grad school and just people watch.  My application is definitely coming along thanks to friends like Lori and my sister, Diana, who are helping me read through some notes.  I am glad to have friends and family who support me in my desire to go to PA school.  I won’t let y'all down!

After changing into sandals, because, yes, it was too hot for cowboy boots, I went in search of the market place I remember frequenting last time I was in Odessa.  With some random walking, I managed to find it.  I had some basic items on my list, which I found with relative ease.  After doing a little shopping spree, I grabbed some lunch (which would also serve as my dinner) and headed back to the apartment.  I spent most of the afternoon working on my application, and reading The Gift of Fear, by Gavin De Becker.  It is so good that I am nearly done reading it after just a week.  I have a low tolerance for boring books and rarely finish them.  I plan on giving it to my dad to read when he gets here, then maybe a friend who I think will benefit from reading it as well.    

Well, that’s about all I have today.  It looks like it might start pouring again tonight!  I am glad it seems to clear up in the morning, because I definitely did not pack for rain.

Dirty street kitty on a moped

   

Where'd you go?

I've been working as much as possible in order to rack up those clinical hours for PA school applications, and of course studying Microbiology.  Sometimes I go to work from 7-3PM, then head almost immediately to my class from 4-7:30PM, work for my parents online and go to bed exhausted.  I have been keeping up and excelling in my class, so all in all life is good.

Big news - a coworker at my psych clinic told me that her woman's groups wants to support my efforts in Ukraine!  I was very touched by her offer, so I have a renewed vigor to sort out the nitty gritty details.  I have about 5 large boxes full of needles, vacutainers, and blood draw tubes - still not sure what to do about getting them to Ukraine.  I did call a contact today who I believe used to work at the Ukrainian embassy, so maybe he can shed some light onto the situation.  I contacted a few local nonprofits to see if they would take the donation, if I cannot feasibly take them to Ukraine.  

I am also somewhat in contact with someone at The Way Home - we have been been communicating via Facebook in Russian.  I love how my computer has an easy way to switch to international keyboards!  I definitely have some brushing up to do.

I found out today that the physician assistant application portal will be available April 17th, so I am excited to get all my information into the system and apply this summer!

I am currently working an overnight shift at my psych clinic.  Besides driving home at 7AM in a daze and trying to fall asleep when the sun is up, it's not bad.  I mean, I have done a lot of homework, wedding research and plan on spending about an hour or so reading up on fun places to visit while in Hong Kong.  Oh yea, and I am going to Hong Kong this Thursday with my fiance to visit my sister, her husband, and one of my best friends from college.  I cannot wait for that!

Here are a few photos I have compiled over the past month.

Just a small example of what I have lying around my apartment

Gram-positive streptococcus bacteria found after preparing a slide with cultures from my mouth in Micro lab

Trash and Cash - a gift from one of my psych patients

Sand volley ball did not end well for this friend's toenail

It will probably just fall off and grow back.  Not much I could have done besides suggest cleaning it and applying a bandaid to protect it from infection

O time, thou must untangle this, not I...

“O time, thou must untangle this, not I...It is too hard a knot for me t’untie" 

(II.ii.38–39) Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

I learned this quote in high school when my love affair with Billie Shakespeare began.  Although this quote has more to do with forlorn cross-dressing lovers than with anything I am currently experiencing, I still find comfort in its call for fate's intervention.  There are just too many questions lingering to really determine what will be happening with my academic future: will I apply this year, will I return to California or stay in Texas, will I have to take Organic Chemistry, will I need to spend more time working to accumulate clinical experience?  It all got too stressful to think about, so for now I am going to kick back and just let fate do some of the work.


Over the weekend, I paid a visit to my home state of California.  My main motivator was an open house held at Western University of Health Sciences.  I had been in contact with the university for some time now, and we eager to see the program and learn about all the school had to offer.  Their motto, "The disciple of learning, the art of caring," really embodies what I hope to get out of my experience as a future Physician Assistant.  I left the open house excited to write my personal statement and turn in my application!  


I also had the pleasure of attending an event held by The University of Southern California, where my father went to medical school.  Hearing the dean talk about the future of the Keck School of Medicine was awe-inspiring to say the least.  I would be honored to continue the family tradition and attend the Keck School of Medicine as a Physician Assistant, although, as an alumni from the University of California, at Berkeley I would be a Bear in wolf's clothing! 


With all that official business out of the way, I also got a chance to catch up with my best friends from high school, eat delicious Indian and Thai food that is just infinitely better than anything in Texas, and even go on hospital rounds with my dad!  Going into the family business is handy, especially when you want to gain real work experience.  Even though I felt like a little kid, stumbling in high heels, trying to keep up with my dad as he flew from room to room in the hospital and his clinic, I was able to get some great exposure to some interesting cases.


Our first visit was to a patient who had been suffering from pitting edema, a condition characterized by fluids exiting the capillaries and vessels which leads to swelling.  When we visited this patient, instead of seeing the swelling that persisted, the patient's legs were a dark purple/black color.  This was because the hematocrit in the blood had leaked out of the capillaries when the patient first started experiencing the edema.  When blood oxidizes, it turns a dark purple/black color.  My dad assured me that, although his patient's legs looked grave, he was in fact healing nicely.


While at the clinic, I got to palpate a rebounding and painful abdominal Right Upper Quadrant, indicative of an inflammation of the gallbladder; examine the smallest bone in the body, the stapes, while using an otoscope (instrument with a flashlight built into it that is used to look into ears, nose and throats); and even watch my dad remove a foreign body from an inverted eye lid!  All that in just one morning.  I can't wait until I can be at the clinic every day shadowing my dad and our PA.  For now, it's back to the books!  One more test in Anatomy and Biology.  Then, I get to take the dreaded standardized test for big kids, the GRE.