Alexis Boots: Medicine, Week Two

Posted in: Pinhead Intern Blogs, Alexis Boots, 2017 Interns
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Hello again reader. This week went by extremely quickly!
Starting on Tuesday we had our first actual full office day. Meaning that we were in the clinic instead of the OR. We had many follow- up patients and a few new patients. This day consisted of removing some skin lesions but mainly just scheduling more follow-up appointments and etc. We also got to know our two new PA students, they are two girls from Boston, Massachusetts.
The office day was like being in any normal doctors office, the nurse or nurses would go in and ask question of what was going on and how long it had been going on to basically just take notes for the doctor. The the doctor went in and either diagnosed the situation or scheduled an appointment to remove any type of skin lesion or skin cancer.
Kitty and I played the role of being the nurse with the PA students. We would go in and introduce ourselves and then the PA student would begin asking questions. We had to split up almost every time though because there were five of us on Tuesday. This was an awesome feeling because you actually feel like you’re the nurse instead of the patient for once.
One patient that had a very intense wound was a gentleman who had burned his hand cooking. These wounds were not even blistered but just the flesh and the scabs that were beginning to form.
After getting done at the office we had to head over to the hospital to discharge the patient from the day before that had the panniculectomy. She had to stay overnight due to an abundant amount of nausea.
Wednesday was another office day. This time it was mainly procedures although there were still some follow-up visits. We removed stitches, which I actually got to do, and removed a cyst. We also did a bunch of biopsies. This means we took a tiny sample of what looks like a skin lesion to make sure it’s not cancer or any other type of disease.
Thursday was our last office day for the week. It was a short day not only due to only a few patients being scheduled, but Dr. Moorman also had some personal matters to attend to, but we still got to help remove three skin lesions and take another biopsy.
Friday was an OR day and we had another breast reduction. This women was smaller and we removed only a total of three pounds from her breasts. Comparatively, Dr. Moorman removed somewhere around eight pounds in the other breast reductions we attended. The procedure took four hours and went smoothly.
That evening we went home and played card games with all the kiddos. Saturday morning we got to sleep in and have a relaxed day. We also went and swam in the pool with Stephan and Ava for a good three hours. Later that evening we had a fire and roasted some marshmallows for s’mores. After dinner we headed to bed for the next day to arrive.
Sunday morning we woke up and gathered our things to go to a island called Buck Island, which is only a 30 minute boat ride from Saint Croix. This island was so beautiful. The water was so blue and clear on the beach. Although unlike most islands near Saint Croix this island was just beaches all around. There was nothing else, no buildings or anything. We got to go snorkeling again and try out stand up paddle boarding. It was a blast!
I can’t even begin to thank Pinhead or my host family for all the amazing things I’ve learned and gotten to do from the medical side of the opportunity to the adventurous side!

 

 

 

 

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