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The Stethoscope and the Machete

My Journey Through the World of Humanitarian Medicine

  • Lumbini Medical College
  • Butaro District Hospital
  • Afghanistan
  • Maternity Hospital for Gaza
  • Princess Marina Hospital
  • Kyangwali Refugee Settlement
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Category: The Panama Journals

This was the first adventure that launched my blog.

When I was a medical student in Ireland, I started my final year of college expecting to watch closely, be a little bit useful, and learn. What I didn’t expect was to find myself operating as lead medic alone in the Panamanian jungle resuscitating a 13-year-old native boy kicked unconscious by a horse—and that was only my first day. Yikes.

So began my ten-week adventure as a part of Floating Doctors, a humanitarian group I had signed up for in a desperate attempt to salvage some value from a 2020 that ripped a calendar full of planned electives out from under me.

Despite having never shouldered real medical responsibility before, I was suddenly involved in a lifetime’s worth of bizarre patient interactions, in an unfamiliar region, dealing with everything from brain-invading worms to diabetic nerve damage to toxic pregnancies. As if that wasn’t enough, I also had jellyfish hordes, snake bites, tropical storms, and bubble gum-chewing apes to contend with at every turn.

Pushed to my limits, discovering first-hand what it truly means to feel fear, I initially floundered. As time went on, I slowly found my feet by calling on every humour-based coping mechanism I could think of. By striking up a rapport with each patient no matter how dire their circumstances, I began to turn the tide. Above all, I learned the value of asking the right questions, both in medicine and in life.

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Mad Max and the Passionfruit Margarita

Mad Max and the Passionfruit Margarita

By juan.lopez, March 4, 2021
Posted in: The Panama Journals

Before I go any further, I would like to address a few things that people have asked me about. Mainly this is pertaining to patient follow up, or whether I…

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Mad Max and the Passionfruit Margarita
Captain Ahab Scales the High Seas With a Critically Ill Patient on Board Vol. 2

Captain Ahab Scales the High Seas With a Critically Ill Patient on Board Vol. 2

By juan.lopez, February 22, 2021
Posted in: The Panama Journals

I stepped off the concrete path into the dirt in front of her, and gestured for her to sit down. We needed a wheelchair, fast. Somebody, a nephew, was sent…

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Captain Ahab Scales the High Seas With a Critically Ill Patient on Board Vol. 2
A Million Tiny Frankensteins

A Million Tiny Frankensteins

By juan.lopez, February 22, 2021
Posted in: The Panama Journals

Our third clinic of that week, which was taking precedence over Thursday base clinic, brought us to the neighboring village of Valle Escondido. It was the same community from which…

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A Million Tiny Frankensteins
Period Pains in the Garden of Eden

Period Pains in the Garden of Eden

By juan.lopez, February 22, 2021
Posted in: The Panama Journals

This following week would provide a much appreciated break from the madness of overnight clinics. We were staying locally, hitting three communities within thirty minutes of our base. This was…

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Period Pains in the Garden of Eden
Money Worries

Money Worries

By juan.lopez, February 22, 2021
Posted in: The Panama Journals

The adrenaline based hangover lasted about a day, and by the time Friday morning came around I felt 95% of the way back to normal. I took the boat into…

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Money Worries
The Little Green Men at the Controls

The Little Green Men at the Controls

By juan.lopez, February 22, 2021
Posted in: The Panama Journals

Some version of me that felt slightly foreign got out of bed that Thursday morning. My phone slept in, still sleeping in rice from the night before. The death of…

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The Little Green Men at the Controls
Ensenada Part V

Ensenada Part V

By juan.lopez, February 10, 2021
Posted in: The Panama Journals

I didn’t have much time to dwell on the journey. I got out of the boat, found the other Doctor Nicole, and quickly presented her case. She told me right…

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Ensenada Part V
Ensenada Part IV

Ensenada Part IV

By juan.lopez, February 9, 2021
Posted in: The Panama Journals

Back in the rancho, a shell of a student doctor saw the remaining patients. I was distracted, stressed, and all things in between; it was not my finest work. My…

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Ensenada Part IV
Ensenada Part III

Ensenada Part III

By juan.lopez, February 8, 2021
Posted in: The Panama Journals

The next morning we rose groggily and got ourselves in working order. Rain was coming down now in high volumes, and low cloud coverage coloured everything of cloth with a…

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Ensenada Part III
Ensenada Part II

Ensenada Part II

By juan.lopez, February 8, 2021
Posted in: The Panama Journals

One of the things I was beginning to notice on our deployments was how dire the situation had become for all things prenatal in these communities. It was thought that…

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Ensenada Part II
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