Who let the dogs out?!........Samoa did!

Sorry for not blogging for a few days
hope everyone is good
trying to think whats happened over past week or so
Think i last wrote that we were going to a beach for the weekend.
Went to Lalomanu for the weekend. Was lovely...but got bit burnt.....and still really red...beetrootish..which in a way is good as hides my embarassement sometimes lol!
was lovely to lie on a beach on sat and sunday and go snorkelling. We stayed in an open beach hut. Literally was a circular shaped hut made of wood..and totally open. It was right on the beach so we had a seaview. Normally you have to pay lots of pounds in a hotel for a seaview. But we paid 14 pounds a night for the hut which included breakfast, dinner and a Saturday night show. At night, it had tarpaulin you could put down, but all night you could hear the sea. It was lovely to sleep right on the beach on mattresses on the floor. The ants for company werent great and the floor was hard, so didnt get much sleep. but listened to the sea and looked out at the darkness of the sea at night, so was great experience!
Started paediatrics this week. Wasnt a fan of the paediatrics (kiddies) rotation at home, but so far in Samoa it has been really good! The intern is lovely and gets us involved. The consultant is quite scary but nice. Listened to a lot of childrens/babies chests.....most have pneumonia. There are a few kids with bronchiectasis and this is what kids in Samoa have instead of cystic fibrosis. For a reason i havent yet discovered..they dont hvae cystic fibrosis in Samoa but they have bronchiectasis. On today's ward round, it was just 3 med students and the intern, so we were like the F1s at home. Writing in the notes, helping make decisions, though i always erred on the safe side. The doctor wanted our help on decided whether she should send kids home. I didnt want the decision on my shoulders..get out clause i know..so we all decided the safest option was to keep the kid in for another night!
Did my first cannula on a child today. It was a screaming kid, but wiht the intern's help, managed to get the cannula in. Then admitted a poorly kid with rheumatic fever. As often happens hear, the family dnt bring themselves or their children into the hosp till quite late, and by then the patients are v.poorly and in a lot of pain. This kid was screaming in agony when the doctor put a cannula in, as she had arthritis in her joints, which is one of the signs of rheumatic fever. So having a doctor put a needle into an already sore and swollen hand...isnt nice
we may be going with some other med students here to an island called Manono tomorrow. Its a 20min ferry ride from Apia and you charter a boat for teh day. Apparently its a lovely little island. Can walk around the whole island in 2.5hrs and there are no dogs in it...yay!
so many dogs here in Apia. All strays. Most have been okay to be honest. was quite scared before i came as heard there was a problem. At night there are lots wandering around...but so far i just walk in the road to avoid them!
We are then going to the other island of Western Samoa called Savaii. We are hiring a car with 2 other med students. It takes about 1hr15min to get a ferry to Savaii! We have heard and read that it is a beautiful island with more to see than on Upolu which is where we are based. We are going to do intense travelling around for 4/5 days, and then go into the hospital in Savaii to see what its like!
The weather here is just really tiring. It has been rainy and cloudy past few days but still so humid!
Hope everyone is good
not sure if will have internet again till pos next wknd..but still get facebooking etc and keep in contact. Apart from if you want to tell me how badly Man Utd are doing atm!
ive heard! lol
xxxx