January 17, 2008

The second week here in Clonmel have flown by. Pretty much more of the same, as far as the medicine goes. A lot of sore throats and coughs, rashes, joint pain/injury, a well-baby check… I’m wondering if anxiety is as rampant every where as it is here. A lot of people very anxious about their health, or that of their children. Even in parents whose children are older, there are a lot of very nervous people around.

Once again we got to see very few of the female doctor’s patients, even fewer than last week. I understand why women might be uncomfortable having extra people in the room for a pelvic exam or Pap smear, but it brings to the foreground some of the frustrations of getting trained in a Catholic nation that is still very squeamish about gender relations. For our classroom based clinical teaching, they only want men to volunteer to be patients. I’m beginning to wonder if I’m ever going to really get to treat a woman. It turns out not just to be in training, either. Dr. Lynch almost always puts his stethoscope underneath a female patient’s clothes, rather than ask her to take her shirt off.

I’m noticing this week I’m frustrated about a few things. I think the pace of this experience isn’t agreeing with me, so I’m generally irked. It may be that most of my training at this level will feel slow to me; I’m pretty much just a fly on the wall, so my day is filled with standing around listening and watching. I’m learning, but I really prefer hands on stuff. I feel like I need to be learning practical skills and differential diagnoses, not just getting better at communicating with people. Perhaps because I don’t feel like I’m really learning all I could be, it’s easy to let the aggravating things about this rotation get to me. It’s a lot of travelling. 1.5-2 hours each way, every week. Having to buy lunch and dinner every day, while trying to maintain a somewhat healthy and affordable diet. Scarce internet and phone access, making keeping in touch with friends and family difficult and/or expensive, depending on which solution I choose. This week I bought a loaf of bread, and some cheese and mustard that I keep with the milk for coffee and some vaccinations or something at the office. I supplement that with a Pot of Noodles (which actually has tvp in it, so I’m getting some protein with the fat) or yogurt and fruit or something. Dinner continues to be a search around town. Last night I found a place to get a decent felafel for cheap. The guys who run that restaurant are from Bagdad.

Another thing that is beginning to grate on me is Dr. Lynch’s disdain for all treatment outside medicine. He continually disparages chiropractic, acupuncture, rehab, and all forms of mental health treatment that don’t involve medication. WTF? I have yet to tell him that both my parents are therapists. I’m just not interested in having that conversation.

I’m not really this cranky, actually. I’m enjoying meeting people, and having fun on our little sojourns into town. I’m already more used to the routine, and I imagine will continue to get more accustomed to it. It’s only a couple of months.

I was going to take some more pictures of my life here, but awoke to a nasty rain storm that involved a lot of wind, some thunder and lightning, and about 1 minute of ferocious hail. It mostly cleared up over the rest of the day, but my camera-phone isn’t exactly high tech, so I’m waiting for a little more sun. Stay tuned.

To quote Calvin, more news as events warrant.