The Palace at San Souci

A short walk from the compound is the Palace at San Souci which stands in ruins, a mere shadow of its previous glory.  Henri Christophe built San Souci in the 17th century to mirror Versailles, but an earthquake in 1842 left the palace in ruins.  After centuries, children play soccer on the vast fields and high school students litter the steps as though the invisible walls form a library.


I ventured up to the ruins with a friend after work one day and we were bombarded with locals wanting us "blancs" to buy their goods at one of the few tourist attractions in Haiti.  We ignored them and walked toward the palace gates, but somehow my friend was a few paces behind me and a local closed the iron gate behind me, trapping her on the outside.  I turned and realized what had happened.  They wanted to exploit whatever money they could from the blancs.  After the last couple of days I had been through at the hospital, I was emotionally fatigued from our work and this gesture enraged me.



As a side note, I "speak" French.  The quotations indicate that I'm coherent and can compose an intelligible thought, but I'm always aware of my grammar mistakes and vocabulary deficits.


I calmly walked back to the gate where my friend was standing and in perfect French had a dialogue with a tradesman:
What's going on?
You have to pay $5 each to see the palace.
I know you don't have to pay to see the palace.  And we don't have any money.  We work at the hospital in Milot for the sick children.  Please let her pass, sir... (He frowns and the gate opens).  Thank you.


My friend's jaw dropped open once we passed.  What did you say?!  I wasn't even sure I knew what I had said.  But the adrenaline of being indignant at our exploitation when we were working so hard was enough to inspire fluent French.  We stayed at the palace until the sun got close to the mountains and headed back for the town.

The neighborhood boys

Top row: Maria, me, Sara, Sol, Toofie, Eddie, Samuel, Jamesly
Bottom row: Beverly, Luvin

These boys are awesome.  They were waiting for us at the gates of the compound every day asking, "Le ballon?!"  Our daily soccer game took place at 5 pm sharp.  The score never really mattered and we ended each game with a Coke.

They were joyful, child-like, and innocent.  In a country where childhood is not a right of passage, it was important for us to embrace these neighborhood boys while also letting loose the stressors of our own day.  I nearly died when they greeted us on our last day wearing fairy wings from a dress up box we brought.

Most of these boys are orphans or are living with extended family.  Some of them go to school.  Several of them would quietly pull us aside and ask if we had any food.  I emptied my bag full of Cliff bars into their hands on our last day.  They have inspired us.

Stay tuned for future plans to get these boys to school for $120/year while also celebrating the Haitian sensation in the US!

Broken Hearts

It was a new day.  Wednesday morning.  A good night's sleep and hearty breakfast behind me, I was ready to start clinic again after a rough day on Tuesday.

My first patient walks in.  A 12 year old boy with his father.

Chief complain: chest pain.

Once he sat down I could see his thrill through his t-shirt.  

My heart sank.

In the United States, the complaint of chest pain is fairly common in pediatrics.  It is rarely related to cardiac etiology.  More commonly it is costochondritis, pleuritic, anxiety, etc.  But I was in a third world county and knew within a minute of being in the room that he had rheumatic heart disease.  

I swallowed the lump in the back of my throat and blinked through my tears.

The diagnosis confirmation came later that afternoon when his CXR, EKG, and ECHO returned.  His cardiac function is at about 60% so we placed him on some medications to help him maximize what function he has left.  Inevitably he will need surgery.

There is a group from the United States that replaces heart valves.  They do about 100 surgeries every year.

He's #126 on the list.

A hard day In Haiti

We had two children die today.

It's a lot to process because these children were fairly stable and would not have been in the ICU in the United States. The most recent death was after a 45 minute resuscitation. But I can say that our team worked like a well- oiled machine. I always have a pit in my stomach afterwards like I could have done better. I suppose that's not a bad thing. The cross cultural differences really impact the care as much as the lack of resources and it's not easy to get used to.

This morning's clinic had a dichotomous group of patients. They were either really sick or totally fine. Some kids would come in complaining of cough for 3 days and when I told the parents they were fine, it's a cold, and this would go away in a few days, they didn't believe me and wanted medicine. Really? It felt like the US where I write a prescription for saline drops.  The other half was a baby with a moderate congenital heart defect and a 10 month microcephalic baby with hypotonia. There is no in between.

Tomorrow is a new day. I will get rest and start the morning with rejuvenated energy.

Byenvini à Haiti

I thought I was in Tanzania until I heard the beautiful Haitian Creole. There are so many similarities between Haiti and East Africa that I feel right at home here. The smell of burning wood and trash is actually a comforting, sweet smell bursting with lots of memories. The locals live similarly with street side vendors, carrying 20 gallon buckets of water on their head, and aweing at the "blancs" (white people) as we walk by. The most welcome difference is that I can speak with the people! Finally my 7 years of French is coming in handy! I even made a care plan for my patient with the nurse tonight en français.

The houses are made of cinder block and tin roofs. It's easy to imagine how devastating an earthquake could be when four simple walls are constructed right on a flat piece of dirt. I'm told by my colleagues that life is actually improving from their earlier trips as the roads are paved, there are lots of baby goats, and power lines line the main roads. 

Life is simpler here and being out of my "comfort zone" makes my heart happy. I put quotations around "comfort zone" because it implies that it's uncomfortable for me to rough it in a third world country. Quite the contrary. Those who know some of my crunchier tendencies or have traveled abroad with me can vouch for the laid back nature of my life. What really makes my heart well with tingly bubbles is realizing how blessed I am, getting both feet back on the ground with my fellow humans, and embracing a completely different way of life. 

Life at L'Hopital Sacre Coeur (HSC) has been pretty easy thus far. We have been rounding on the patients with the Haitian doctor and we admitted a little girl to the OR with a tib/fib fracture tonight. We even took the afternoon to enjoy a local beach. Tomorrow we start clinic and I'm afraid I will eat my words about how Island Time has made our stay so pleasant. 

Remind me to talk about:

-the children, particularly nutrition and kwashiorkor. 

-resource limited medicine with the world's greatest resource

-the team

-the food

Packing List

Headed out the door.  But real quick, here's what I'm bringing for 10 days in Haiti:

- 4 shirts (scrubs are provided by the hospital)

- 2 shorts

- 1 dress

- lots o' undergarments (I have learned my sweaty lesson)

- giant bag of Skittles

- a dozen granola bars

- 2 pairs of shoes: chacos and Saucony's

- IV start supplies

- liquid multivitamins

- gloves

- alcohol

- needles for meds/syringes

- 1000 stickers

- Harriet Lane

I was surprised to find all of my belongings packed quite easily into my suitcase and backpack.  I knew I was low maintenance, but this impressed even me.  

Off for the airport!  Check back in or follow me on Instagram.

Haiti

It's been a while...  Since I traveled to a country where I didn't speak the language.  Since I've ridden in the back of a truck and had pit stops that included bushes.  Since I ate fresh tropical fruit straight from the farm.  Since I cared for a child born into an impoverished life without the means of caring for themselves.

I need this...  The adventure of diving into a new culture.  The ruggedness of a third world country.  The sacrifice of my gifts and service.  The humanity of caring for a stranger's child.  It's been a rough winter and I really need this to get my feet back on the ground and remind myself of my driving passions.

As I prepare to depart for a medical mission trip to Haiti, I decided to bring back Local Townie because it was one of the most redeeming experiences of my time in Tanzania.  Live blogging the daily routines, struggles, and experiences helped my memory remain sharp, yet realistic.

I'll be spending about 9 days working at CRUDEM'S L'Hôpital Sacré Coeur in Milot, Haiti (a short drive south of Cap Hatien) with a group of colleagues through Children's National and various other children's hospitals in the US.  I'm the only pediatric nurse practitioner from our group and I'll be running the outpatient clinic as well as taking call on the wards at night.  Despite my experience with international medicine in East Africa, the stakes are so much higher in this game, and I feel the burden of being the sole provider with immense responsibility.  Being a student in an exotic setting carries far easier responsibilities than managing resource-limited medicine independently.  The opportunity alone is humbling yet exciting.

Finally, my 7 years of French will pay off, although discussing infectious diseases and antibiotics was not something that we practiced.  I'm hoping to pick up the Haitian Creole pleasantries to give myself some street cred.

Bonjou! M rele Becky.  Mwen se enfimye amerikenn.

My hope is that I can be somewhat connected and can document the experience through shoddy wireless internet, so I invite you to check back for updates.

Na we pita!

The year of the YOLO

Another year done.  Accomplished.  It's been quite the year.  Impromptu graduate programs, new friends, old faithfuls, ups, downs, travels, marvels, goals accomplished, failures endured.  C'est la vie.  Carpe diem.  Or the modern twist: YOLO.  You only live once.  On my birthday this year I pacted with V to seize the day because there should be no regrets in these final fabulous years of our twenties.

Forget tigers.  Forget roosters and snakes.  This is the year of the YOLO.

Thankfully, V committed to being the good-bad influence on me.  Sleep in the grave, there will be time enough for it when you're dead.  There may be days when caffeine has to jump start my day or months when the checkbook doesn't quite balance, but no one ever looks back on their years saying, "Man, I really wish I hadn't had such a rich life of experiences."

A similar influence: KGLove...

One of the coolest girls I know. Her wise words will stay with me into the year of YOLO as I reluctantly got excited about how great life is going. When I pumped the breaks on my excitement because disappointment threatened on the horizon, she told me that the thrill was worthwhile, "because everything that comes along is worth getting excited over.  It's the best thing that ever happened to you until it's not... Then you add it to the list of blessings-in-disguise until something comes along that makes you understand why it all happened in the first place."  The Gone Wrong list may be long, but the forever optimist in me knows that it all turns out in the end, otherwise, it's not the end.

Then there's Rob:

We both showed our out-of-state ID's for a couple of local brews and realized that our upbringing in this sweet little college town was the quintessential childhood that most only see in the movies.  And while we both cherish those formative years, our exodus from the town was so that we could know how special our lives were, how much we had been given, and to harness our hunger to do good works.  I grew up with the idea that for those to whom much has been given, much is expected.  We echoed the sentiment tonight in that we feel an obligation to do more with our lives because of these gifts.  But more importantly, the key is not to look at it as obligation, but an opportunity.  It's people like Rob that reassure me, not all who wander are lost... They just ventured off the beaten path to make the world a better place.

Cheers to 2014

Treat Yo'Self

Today is my 14th shift in a row.  I am exhausted.  Between working full time, starting another graduate school program, and fulfilling my [unpaid] clinical hours, I haven't had a day off in two weeks.

Such is life.  After I burst into tears three days in a row, ugly crying Dane-Cook-style into the mirror repeating "I'm doing my best," I knew that I needed to change something.  Since my academics and employment were non-negotiables, I was at a loss of what to do.  My wonderful cousin asked me, "Becky, what was the best thing about today?"  I don't remember my answer, but it was the start of me asking myself that question ever day.

So here I am, two weeks later, and I have made it a point to do something that is "the best part of today" every day.  Think of it like Parks & Rec's "Treat Yo'self".  

It can be as easy as taking a shower and blow drying my hair.

Or taking a walk in Georgetown with my dog and friend with an ice cream pitstop.

Buying myself peonies.

Going to a see a new band play on H St.

So as much as my life is hectic and stressful, I am so proud to say that I'm taking good care of myself.  This crazy schedule has kept me in one place for a few months, helped me be more present in my community, and appreciate the small stuff...

Just taking time to smell the peonies.

Finally, spring!

Though not the coldest of winters, spring sure took its sweet time in arriving in DC.  At long last, yesterday my toes peeked out from their blustery winter in boots and made their way into sandals.  I enjoyed the 80 degree day with one of my best friends as we walked around the Tidal Basin to see the cherry blossoms in full bloom.

It seems like an exaggeration, but the cherry blossoms are so beautiful, especially on the Roosevelt Memorial side of the basin.  They look like snow covering the trees and the falling pedals are nothing short of romantic.  It was an even more surreal moment to realize that I live here when I see thousands of tourists coming from all over the world to see my historic city.

My day's walk took me 8 miles through my neighborhood, the Mall, Dupont, and finished at the White House for an evening stroll with Lulu Bear.  The arrival of spring marks my fourth season in DC.  I can tell that I have adjusted quite well to city life, but I have stayed true to my North Carolina roots too.  

I love the warm weather seasons, but there is nothing like that first day of wearing shorts, feeling the warmth of sunshine on your pale winter skin, and realizing that you don't have to go back to winter for 7 months.  Ah, spring!

What Every City Girl Needs

Living in DC has been quite an adjustment from my local small town life.  More cars, more buildings, more sirens, more going on at every hour of the day (I think that's why the LT blog has been so scarce).  But living in the city is totally manageable, actually quite fun in fact, if you know the tricks of the trade.  I will dispense this advice now:

1. Most importantly, get a group of girlfriends.  I call my girls "the bridesmaids" because we were all in the wedding party of one of my dear friends who lived in Chapel Hill and DC.  Good city girlfriends should:

-Be able to go out or stay in and have a fantastic time.

-Tell it like they see it, even when it's not pretty.

-Give advice on what [not] to wear.

-Call you when they're randomly 5 minutes away from your house so you can go ahead and put the wine in the freezer.

2. Get a warm coat.  The best investment I made in 2012 was a Lands End down parka.  The website said it was most comfortable between 0 and -30 degrees Celsius.  Sold.

3. Wear comfortable shoes.  Not those jenky Target shoes that make the balls of your feet burn or give you blisters on your heels.  Spend some cash on a cute pair of boots that will last several seasons.  When you're walking five blocks and spending the evening on your feet, the last thing you want to think about is when you're going to see a chair again.  

4. Have a cute dog.  Preferably a dog that flirts.  Lulu is an equal opportunity socializer and makes friends anywhere she goes.  I'm looking forward to front porch season when we will spend our days on the patio.

5. Have neighborhood digs.  A coffee shop, a bar, a sandwich place, a gas station where people know your name (or at least your face).  The neighborhoods are what keep the city feeling small.  

6. Keep the air mattress ready. Once you get settled into your fantastic city life, everyone is going to want to visit.  I'm really looking forward to the Girls' Weekend coming up in April.

A Pep Talk

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by

I want to be on the road that leads to AWESOME.

And that's what I've been doing these past couple of months.  I turned onto 16th St the other day and had to metaphorically pinch myself because I couldn't believe I was living in Washington DC.  I'm closing in on my fourth season here, though spring feels like it is procrastinating.  Spring, if you're listening, get your act together.

Spotted on 17th

Yarn bomb!  Makes me feel like home.

A White House Christmas

Each year, the holidays remind us of the many blessings we experience over the course of our lives, from the simple pleasures of laughing and sharing our meals with friends and family to the fulfillment that comes from giving back and serving others.  May we all carry forth the spirit of the season and time time to lift up others in our homes and communities-- not only during this special time, but also throughout the year.

-Barack and Michelle Obama

ZooLights

 There's still time to catch ZooLights at the National Zoo!
December 20-24, 26-30
January 1
Dusk until 9 pm
Enjoy Zoo Tubing, the Zoo Choo-Choo, Snow Globe, Carousel, hot chocolate, and more!

Let the National Zoo help you celebrate the holidays with a bright night out.

Modern Family Christmas

Happy Holidays from our little modern family!

Becky, Lulu, and Lorea

Birthstaycation

There are few things on this planet that get me more excited than the thrill of my birthday.  In some sort of blissful alignment of the stars, I scored 10,  yes count them TEN, days off from work.  Usually the sound of a week and a half off from work would send me barreling toward the airport, but travel was not going to work out for me this year.  So I decided to have a staycation for my birthday... actually, I had a BIRTHSTAYCATION.

In order to have a successful birthstaycation, one must plan well in advance and invest in quality research to fill your days so that you don't end up watching reruns of Full House on TBS.  Luckily, I had some besties coming to town to help me out.
Cat & the DC bridesmaids- pre-birthday trip to Florida to see this lovely lady tie the knot then home with then brought the celebration back home.
Meg- flew all the way from Oregon to celebrate my actual birthday with me.  It takes a true friend to manipulate their work schedule and make it look like a coincidence.
Laura- a quick redline metro ride from Bethesda.
Kelly- rounding out the weekend to help me keep celebrating all the way from North Carolina.
Audrey- couldn't resist a reason to come to the city from SW Virginia.
Lo- roommate, friend, and equally as ridiculous about birthdays.

Here's how the week went:
Birthday tapas at One Lounge- I highly suggest the happy hour deals!
Happy hour at Fire & Sage- an unexpected treat with Meg post birthday shopping.  Because any time can be happy hour, but specials are from 4-7 pm.
Dinner at Ping Pong Dim Sum- come hungry, leave hungry.
Best burger in DC at Desperados followed by my neighborhood dive Stetson's.
Bottomless brunch at 14K Lounge.  Worth the groupon, don't go back at full price.
Climbing at Sportrock with my favorite climbing partner Kel.  Felt so good to ruin my manicure with gristle and chalk.
Birthday PARTY at Policy & Saint Ex.

The Year of Becky had its successes and "rainchecks" (we won't call them failures just yet, because every year is the Year of Becky), and ended with a bang.  This is shaping up to be one of the best years yet as I romance my new city, find some romance myself, make amazing new friends while nurturing some of the oldest, and gameface for life.

Absentee ballot

Election week is here and it could not be more welcomed in my house.  Time to start filibustering some legislation and stop the TV ads. By popular request, I'm showing you some of the best of my fall since you last saw me...

I celebrated Columbus Day by visiting the Reading Room of the Library of Congress.  The RR is only open to the public 2 days per year.  The other days it is a research library, full of people way more smart and motivated than I am.

A simple afternoon walk can easily turn into a tourist attraction in DC.  When you're surrounded by so much history and architecture, you have to take the time to stop and smile for the camera.

A cool fall day at the Jefferson Memorial.  Lulu discovered ducks in the tidal basin for the first time.  When she saw them again at Meridian Hill Park, she dove straight in after them.  

Great Falls is a fantastic destination for a day hike.  About 20-30 minutes from DC and absolutely beautiful scenery.  The parking lot can be a little crowded, especially on a warm, sunny day, but if you push your hike beyond the first couple of overlooks it gets much less busy.  We went on the Virginia side, but the Maryland side has lots of rock scrambling that looks like a lot of fun.  There were climbers setting up top ropes for a few easy climbs, which is definitely something for me to look into.

Work has been great!  It's a busy schedule and I think the grass is always greener on the other side of the pasture.  Some days I love sleeping until noon and having lazy mornings/afternoons while other days I hate that I miss out on the "normal people life" and happy hours/nights out.  I have gotten acclimated to the hospital and am starting to dive into more projects.

Halloween was great fun too, despite the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.  We faired pretty well in the District despite the grave forecast.

We are heading up on my favorite season... Birthday season!  It's going to be a busy week then I have ten days off for play.  I'm calling it my Birthstaycation.  Stay tuned.

All in the neighborhood

As Labor Day marks the end of summer and the start of fall (perhaps my favorite season), most Americans hit the grill for a neighborhood potluck.  I'm just hanging out in the neighborhood today before I head into work (an unfortunate oxymoron).  My friend Barack had to skip the potluck too because he's headed to my home state for a bigger party... the Democratic Party.