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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
  • Return to Bocas
  • The Panama Journals

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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Shrek is Love

Shrek is Love

By juan.lopez, January 24, 2021
Posted in: The Panama Journals

Her mother follows silently and enters the room behind us. We sat down in the dark. I took off my headlamp, and using a plastic bag I found lying around,…

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Shrek is Love
The Ritual

The Ritual

By juan.lopez, January 24, 2021
Posted in: The Panama Journals

I woke up on the morning of our third deployment to some welcome news via email; my request to the college for a one month extension to my placement was…

Read More

The Ritual
Hickory Daiquiri Delivery Dock

Hickory Daiquiri Delivery Dock

By juan.lopez, January 24, 2021
Posted in: The Panama Journals

There have been some interesting developments in the last few hours, and I am going to break slightly from the pre-ordained chronology of these posts for just a moment. On…

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Hickory Daiquiri Delivery Dock
Old Man and the Pulse-oximeter

Old Man and the Pulse-oximeter

By juan.lopez, January 17, 2021
Posted in: The Panama Journals

Sleep was a bit stressful for me that night, the paranoia from having already caused one partial collapse of the dilapidated schoolhouse kept me scared stiff in my hammock. In…

Read More

Old Man and the Pulse-oximeter
I Bless the Rains Down in Bisira

I Bless the Rains Down in Bisira

By juan.lopez, January 17, 2021
Posted in: The Panama Journals

Tuesday morning, 6:26. A loud crash woke me up, jolting me in bed like a startled rat. A swimming pool of water must have been dropped on the casito roof…

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I Bless the Rains Down in Bisira
The OB

The OB

By juan.lopez, January 17, 2021
Posted in: The Panama Journals

First on the agenda for Monday involved chasing down all the loose ends from the previous week. I put together a bundle of medications to be posted to a gas…

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The OB
Nausea, Heartburn, Indigestion

Nausea, Heartburn, Indigestion

By juan.lopez, January 17, 2021
Posted in: The Panama Journals

Surely enough the digestion began and continued into the weekend, or should I say indigestion, because over the follow three days I developed diarrhea and stomach pains. This usually happens…

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Nausea, Heartburn, Indigestion
It Puts the Lotion on the Skin

It Puts the Lotion on the Skin

By juan.lopez, January 17, 2021
Posted in: The Panama Journals

The mountain gets cold at night, something that I failed to adequately prepare for, and I froze my little tush off in the hammock overnight. Houses of la SabanaResident Bonehead…

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It Puts the Lotion on the Skin
Deep in the Mountains

Deep in the Mountains

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

We began our ascent towards La Sabana at 7 in the morning. We had one pack horse with us, and our horse-man Oligio was to be our companion. He was…

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Deep in the Mountains
Expect the Unexpected: ABCD and P

Expect the Unexpected: ABCD and P

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

There was already a crowd of people assembling at the concrete path that lined the main artery of the village. I came up to find the horse, standing idly, as…

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Expect the Unexpected: ABCD and P
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