An Early Valentine's Tribute

For those of you who frequent our blog, you've likely noticed that the majority (read all) of our blog posts are courtesy of my talented, creative wife. She has a way with written word that still amazes me. Admittedly, I am lazy and inconsistent when it comes to recording memories, journaling, letter-writing, and pretty much anything of the sort. However, I am trying to break this mold I've created for myself.

Some, but probably not most of you know that I currently am living in Quito, Ecuador for the month of February, currently completing a Global Health elective in my 4th year of medical school. What does that mean exactly? Well, I received some funding to come and experience medicine in a developing country, practice my Spanish, and gain an ever greater appreciation for the Latin culture. I hope this will help me in my future practice as many patients of Emergency Departments around the country are Latin, many of whom speak little or no English.

(And finally getting to the reason for this post...) This fantastic experience would not be possible without the complete support of an incredibly selfless, strong, and loving wife. There were times leading up to this trip that I doubted my desire to leave, for various reasons, and although I'm sure she would love to not be a single parent right now, she never let me give up on what I had talked about doing for so long. I often tell people that Heather is my better-3/4, and being here makes me realize that the ratio is even more skewed. I can't possibly express here exactly what I feel for her, nor how my love for her has grown since being apart, but I will attempt to thank her for 5 1/2 years of being steadfast, energetic, fun, loving, patient, and again, completely selfless. And she has only grown in these attributes over the years.

As part of this gift, I am going to make a serious effort to record my experiences here in South America. Although we talk almost everyday, I hope that by sitting down and writing my thoughts, I can give her, as well as you readers and myself, some insight into what I am doing. Heather is a record-keeper, so hopefully this will live up to her high standards.

I'll start by giving a quick overview of what's going on, and then will hopefully get into some more detail in later posts.

We arrived in Quito on Sunday, January 31, and reported for orientation and clinical duties at 7:30 the following morning. So far, it's been a blast, although the clinical rotation isn't quite what I had anticipated, and some kinks are still being worked out. I'm working in the ICU of a large, social security hospital in Quito that receives some of the sickest patients in the country. Granted, most of these patients aren't very talkative, but it's been a growing experience, and I'll hopefully get more patient interaction in the coming weeks. I definitely have ample opportunities to speak Spanish with the residents and doctors; Intensive Care Medicine was hard enough in English, and being thrown into a busy unit has been tough and challenging, but strangely rewarding as well. The teams are great, and we even have had some opportunities to teach them some techniques that we use in the US and at OSU, specifically ultrasound.

Our days typically start around 615 with an Ecua-shower, followed by breakfast at home with our host family (pictures to come). We catch the crazy-scary buses around 7 and arrive at the hospital around 730 to round and help out until 12. We then bus to the Spanish-school, find a place to eat lunch, and then have Spanish classes from 2-6. Despite serving a Spanish-speaking mission and minoring in the language in college, I've forgotten quite a bit and it's nice to be able to learn and practice from Ivan, our teacher. I say we because I traveled here with a med school buddy Justin Wheeler, along with 3 other guys from our class. Justin and I are staying with the same family, and the other 3 are spread between 2 other homes.

Since this post is already forever-long I'll finish by saying again that this experience would be possible without Heather, who I miss dearly every day. I will be honest and admit that some very manly tears have been shed since I have been here, even just thinking about my beautiful family in Ohio. I love you and look forward to seeing you.

A view of the ED entrance to the hospital

A traditional Ecuadorean dinner in La Mariscal

A view of our breakfast spread - fresh fruit every day!

Our room, and a faux-studying Justin

The city from our window