So after arriving on Sunday evening & having a meal with the rest of the house, Monday was a chilled day of orientation and getting my bearings. I went to the local park with Stacy (one of the housemates) from Florida and we looked around while the weather was mild. (Picture 1)
Monday evening was the official orientation with Cammi (the Colombian) from Work the World. Mendoza has Siesta every day from 1pm to 5pm where many shops close (slightly inconvenient) so we left the house around 4.30pm in order to see shops open again for the evening. We went up to a cafe in a high rise building (14th floor) with some nice views of the Andes. (Picture 2) (Picture 3 was a snack in the cafe)
Tuesday was my first day in the hospital and was an experience (see first day post). Since the first day my understanding of how the ward is run and how different it is, has grown. The nurses station is located in the centre of the long corridor and houses the majority of the medication supplies as well as the limited resources and pigeon holes allocated for each patients meds. The I.V. drugs, tablets and paperwork are all put together and completed at the nursing station.
On Thursday I worked with nurse Mario who had 1 patient in the morning and he had looked after the same lady for 2 months. She had a rare condition called Pemphigus Vulgaris which causes painful blisters to form starting in and around the mouth but developing anywhere on the body. The condition has no cure but has treatment for some symptoms with steroids. With regular steroid treatment another condition occurs called cushings syndrome which causes acne, fatty deposits in the face and stretch marks, as well as muscle fatigue and weak skin that doesn't help for her blisters. Mario was tracking her progress over the weeks and showed me pictures of how the blisters have improved since being admitted. She was transferred to another hospital at the end of Thursday and got upset because of the relationship Mario had developed with her over the months.
Friday came the zonda (Picture 4), the warm weather front with strong winds with lots of leaves falling down.
More to come...
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