What a whirlwind!

Hi everyone!

I hope that things are going well there, it has been one heck of a whirlwind of activity here for me! I will do my best to be accurate in my accounts as chronologically appropriate but as a forewarning I may fail. Thank you all for understanding!

I believe I left off last time saying that I would post pictures of our house, so I suppose that is the most appropriate place to start.

 There are beds for nine in our place but currently only four six of us are sleeping here regularly (Kelsey, Tilly, and I) and two other missionaries. Two of the other girls are on a month long break from their two year commitment here and another is house sitting at another missionary's home while they are away. With everyone's clinic schedules, it is rare that the house is full. Kelsey, Tilly, and I never have shifts together which is super awesome because then we can meet the other missionaries and learn from stories from each other. I am thankful that the schedule worked out that way.

We do live in a gated community with a guard station at the entrance. Taxis must give their driver's license to the guard if they are dropping someone off and the guard takes their information just in case we leave something in the cab and to keep tabs on who is in the community. The other house that houses missionaries is in another subdivision that is gated as well. Both are very safe, and it is common to see people out walking in the mornings (before it becomes too hot- by 7am).

I went for a nice walk this morning, about 40 minutes long. It was peaceful and beautiful. The homes in our subdivision are very pretty, and every one is so unique! I was surprised to see random chickens, roosters, and ducks roaming the streets.

It is very common for us to be stared at here, and we were stared at while we were running today. It is a curious kind of stare, nothing bad. Everyone is so friendly and helpful here, it is part of the Filipino culture! I have been called "beautiful" as I walk by some of them which is certainly an adjustment. They generally know who we are when we go out together because we are the only white people in the area, they associate us with our clinic. Again, they are helpful as we blunder through transportation and being directionally handicapped.


My first day at the clinic was yesterday on 'swing shift' aka 2-10pm. I met another missionary at the other house, which is just a short walk from our house and we took a jeepney to the clinic. I may have mentioned that they are old jeeps used in the war several years ago converted into taxi/bus combos. It was good to have someone with me for my first experience. She knew just which one we were looking for, they are labeled with locations on them and she helped me to recognize which one to take. Did I mention how everyone is so helpful here? There is no such thing as a full jeepney. People pile and pack in pretty tight. I got to ride shotgun which was an experience in and of itself. I didn't realize that the front of our jeepney was flat and so, as I eluded to in an earlier post, when traffic got crazy and we got really close to another jeepney I about had a heart attack. My eyes got very big and I got a little nervous. When you arrive where you want to go, you clink your coin on the bar in the back or smack your lips at the driver and then they stop. It is 8 pesos to take a jeepney which is $0.19USD one way. Very cheap and very nice to avoid long walks and sweating before changing at the clinic into scrubs.


When we got on shift, there was one woman who needed to be seen in the postpartum room. She delivered at 9:30 am and it was time for her baby's bath. They wait six hours here, minimum and check the baby's temp to make sure that it is holding where they want it to be and then they give it the first bath. We had to boil the water on the stove to have hot water to give the bath. I took vitals on a few babies and moms while we waited for our postpartum check at 3:30pm. After the bath, we wait 15-30 minutes to recheck the baby's temp and if they are holding where we want it, they are able to go home. That  my friends is a minimum of six-seven hours from delivery to discharge. How crazy is that? Kelsey got to see this labor, which I hear was pretty quick. It was her third baby and she was walking around like she had never been pregnant or just delivered a baby. it was INSANE to me! Granted this is only if there are no complications, dizziness or extra blood loss. The woman's bonna (husband or partner) washed the tub for us after we were finished. The bonna or their bontay (with is a helper they bring with them) brings them meals, towels, blankets, baby diapers, and anything that you could need while there. The bonna or bontay are also responsible for washing the plastics that the woman delivers on to prevent contamination. They get them a sugary drink after delivery too. We got to pray with this woman and then send her on her merry way.
They walked out of the clinic and will be back in three days for newborn screening which involves a heel stick to collect blood to send away for testing for genetic defects.


A labor patient came in around 6:00pm, but did not appear to be very active in labor. She came to have the heart rhythm checked because at an earlier appointment they found an irregular rhythm. She went to an OB at 1:00pm per referral from the clinic on Friday and had been told she was 4 cm dilated.   Because she had a check at one, we waited until 7:00pm to check her again. She was still 4cm and so we had her walk and sway her hips to speed up the process. The clinic admits women once they reach 4cm, but not normally if they are less than that. When we doppled the heart rate, it was still irregular and we continued to monitor it. The missionaries were not worried about the heart rate though because typically they resolve after birth. Her labor did not process much more while I was at the clinic. It was very nice to see the admit process for a labor.

At 8:30pm the clinic guards came in telling us that there was another labor patient. I was so excited! I said a few Hail Mary's that the baby was okay and that I would get to see the birth, even though it was nearing the end of my shift. God was listening because the baby was okay and I DID get to see the entire birth! She came in with visible signs of contractions. I am still pretty rusty with palpating for contractions but I was able to feel that they were strong and there was not much time between them. I observed her birth and process after I did vitals on her a few times. The baby came out at 9:07 with very little pushing and very little fuss. This woman, NormaJane was good. She was able to listen to the midwives to help position herself to deliver quickly. Also, she was very far along when she arrived. She did not scream or whine really but grunted a few times and then baby was out! She did loose more blood than they like like to see, 550cc so they did start an IV to replace fluids. Baby was a girl with good APGAR scores! I got to 40minutes of postpartum checks on mom and baby.

This is where they keep supplies at the clinic

The birthing room. There are 5 beds, all separated by curtains.

The birthing cart. Pretty basic.

Public health poster to test your baby for genetic diseases.

Baby girl and proud mama! First birth I saw here!

The clinic ambulance took us home after our shift at 1015pm because that's what they do at night because it is safest. Once home, I changed and fell asleep really quickly, as I had woken up at 2AM unable to fall back asleep.

Missing you all! Love,

Casey

Welcome to Davao!

Officially we have made it and begun to settle in! We arrived yesterday, Thursday the 31st at about 830AM at the airport. While in Manila we met another intern, Laurie who is from Texas. We chatted with her and she sat behind me on the plane to Davao.

Our flight to Davao went well.  It was pretty short (about 2.5 hours) and we watched Wipe Out on the t.v. in front of us and plugged into the armrest to listen. Flying over the country was BEAUTIFUL! The coastline was full of fish farms which were just squares or rectangles in the bay. The country is very hilly and there are also a few mountains. The water was a beautiful blue as we flew over small chains of islands. I can't wait to go to the beach and experience it first hand!

 These are all pictures of flying into Davao. More or less of Mindano in general. The mountains were fascinating to me.

While on the plane, there was a man originally from the States and gave Laurie a lot of information about the Philippines and I was able to overhear a lot of it and have been asking a lot of questions to the current missionaries and our contacts here. The man on the plane mentioned that the Philippines is famous for its seafood and fresh fruit. I have already experienced DELICIOUS pineapple (tidbit of the day- the Philippines produces 40% of the world's pineapple), mangosteen, and pomelo. I am very excited to try new fruits and the fish!

 Mangosteen. You eat the White part and the purple part apparently stains things really bad. Mom, Cori, Carol, and Bev- I know I am in danger zone with this one! However, it is so tasty! They are really expensive this year, and just coming into season and they had a smaller crop than normal.

Kelsey in the back of the van that picked us up. We were kinda packed in there like sardines with everything!

Yesterday, we settled in a bit. We got a grand tour of our dorm and then jumped right into a great breakfast of homemade cinnamon rolls and fruit at the home of one of our contacts here. After breakfast we had an intense overview of the Filipino culture, life at the clinic, and how to get around Davao. Thank goodness it is all written down, I will be able to go over it during shifts at the clinic because I am sure I don't remember it all! Here are some high points:

• He/she is interchangeable. For example- Once a woman gives birth, she will not be offended if you call her girl baby "he" in conversation. She may do the same thing. Their language does not represent sex in conversation the way that we do. 
• Hissing, smacking lips, or kissing the air is an appropriate way to get someone's attention. 
• To ask someone to come here you NEVER beckon with an upward finger motion, it is taken sexually. Instead you face your hand downward and wave your hand towards you- I would say it is like digging a hole in the sand. 
• Take off your shoes whenever you enter someone's home. Barefoot is good or you can wear a pair of sandals that you have designated for in the house wearing. 
• Transportation: walking is good, jeepneys (used in the war for transportation several years ago and are now converted into a sort of taxi service), taxis, triceys (these are bikes for hire with a side car), or a motorcycle that you ride on the back of. 
• Traffic is crazy! People swerve in an out of traffic all the time! There are no stop signs, stop lights are suggestions, and honking is appropriate as well as hardcore staring. 

After our orientation we went to the mall to change our money into pesos. The exchange rate is 43 pesos to one American dollar. We got cell phones yesterday so that we can all text each other with updates about baby checks, etc. For the phone with 100 load (1 load per text), it was 1090 pesos and was about $23.00.

The mall was pretty overwhelming, lots to see and do and we were running on not a whole lot of sleep so I think we will try that again soon. We were able to catch about 12 hours of sleep last night to catch up which was great! I will post pictures of my room soon, I promise.

Fans are a must here! It is pretty toasty to say the least here. When we landed yesterday it was 36 degrees Celsius but I haven't really found out how hot it has been since. I suppose that's a little different than Iowa where everyone jumps right to temperature discussion. I guess hot is hot either way you call it :). I did hear that it was chilly, 50 degrees F, at home yesterday. Brrrrr!


Peace and love,
Casey


 
 

Nearly There!

Greetings!

Just a quick note to let you all know that the three of us are almost there! We have one more flight from Manilla to Davao. This will be a short 2.5 hours. After the nearly 12 hour flight from Minneapolis to Tokyo, I think this will be a little more bearable!

I will for sure update you all on the details of our travel and arrival once I have a chance, and maybe am a little rested... my days and nights are officially confused. We left Iowa on May 29th and it is May 31st here at 0340AM.

Kelsey and I traveled from Cedar Rapids together and met up with Tilly in Manila. It sure is good to be all together and on the last leg of our journey for the day... or days (we left on the 29th Iowa time and will be arriving on the 31st Philippines time at 6:30 AM here). I have lost track of my days and nights and am looking forward to getting them back on track again! Not to mention being able to sleep laying all the way down and in a bed!

So far our flights have gone well, Kelsey and I enjoyed the touch screen movies, games, music and tracking of our plane to keep us occupied. We had a little turbulence over some Canadian mountains but otherwise it was pretty smooth.

This is a view over Alaska, just as we were about to fly over the Pacific. (The in flight map told me it was Alaska :)

T minus 13 days!

T minus 13 days and counting until I load up and ship out to the Philippines for the summer! This is incredibly crazy to me! I am so very excited and am working on lining final things up before I depart. 

little reminder

Yesterday I had my appointment with the travel specialist to talk about vaccinations and travel safety. I got my Hepatitis A vaccination yesterday and also started my Typhoid oral vaccination this morning. From a nursing perspective, I am very fascinated by the oral vaccination. It is given in four doses with one pill taken every other day. It must be kept in the refrigerator and has a high risk for non-compliance which is why they tend to lean towards an intramuscular version (just like when you get your Tetanus booster or flu shot) to assure that the proper dosage was administered. I assured my doctor that I would have no problem with compliance and was issued a prescription for the vaccination. One thing I did find interesting and good (again from a nursing perspective) was that they gave me a bracelet to wear to remember to take the pills. It is similar to the Lance Armstrong "Livestrong" bracelet but says "Remember Oral Typhoid Vaccine." 

Today has been a VERY BUSY day! I spoke to the Philippine Consulate today and it looks like my visa will be dropped in the mail to come back to me tomorrow. Please say some prayers that it arrives here on time (sooner than later would be great). 

I also spoke with  the guidance counselor from my high school and received some very good news. The student government voted today to donate $200.00 to purchase over the counter medications to donate to the clinic I will be working in this summer! I will be looking around for the best deals on Tylenol, aspirin, and prenatal vitamins in the next few days and will be able to bring those supplies along on my trip. Thank you Beckman High School!

Kelsey, Tilly, and I met with an MMU Communications and Publications staff member today to talk about our trip a little bit. We are all so very excited to start our journey and may be getting a little stir crazy waiting to load our planes. One thing for sure is it sounds like we are all pretty excited to dive right into the experience.  Speaking of which, they will also be blogging their experiences you can follow them at:

www.kelseybishop2012.blogspot.com  and www.tillyschmidt.blogspot.com  respectively. I am so very blessed to be able to learn alongside and from these two ladies this summer, not to mention share in some sure to be awe inspiring births!

One final note for the day... FINALS! It is true, finals are among us! I am pretty fortunate to only have one actual test and two take home papers and then it is onward to SENIOR YEAR! Now that is something I could get used to saying! I am so very excited to continue on my journey to my nursing career and have some amazing people to thank for all of the support I have received! 

Well I am off to study study study!  Next time I write, I will  be *crossing my fingers* all packed and ready to go! Please feel free to e-mail or subscribe to my blog if you have any questions! 

Dreamin' big,

Casey

Happy Faced

calories consumed in honor of birthdays don't count...

Today's weather was the perfect reminder to me to stop being so stuck in a a grumpy rut. I am naturally a pretty optimistic person and my week hadn't been going so well academically but the mid 70's, light breeze, some good laughs with friends, and a floor activity helped to kick my funk to the curb. I am so very grateful for the awesome people I am continually surrounded by: my friends, my family, my staff members, my bosses, and the helpful people at MMU have certainly helped me to realize that the important things in life aren't things but moments shared with others. As I prepare for bed tonight, I am happier than I have been in a while, thanks in large part to letting a few laughs out tonight (...but maybe sharing half a pint of Ben and Jerry's with Sarah at 12:30 AM had something to do with it too... all in moderation...), recognizing that I cannot do everything and prioritizing is okay to do.



Additionally,  I arrived back to my room to the note below, it was icing on the cake to a lovely day! My residents make me happy!

Nights like tonight remind me that laughter is good, connections and communication are necessary to survive.  Sharing stories is key to survival, because without others in our lives, where would we be. I am immediately reminded of two quotes:

 HERE'S TO THE NiGHTS THAT
turned into the mornings. 

THE FRiENDS THAT
turned into family

THE DREAMS THAT
turned into reality

AND THE LiKES THAT
turned into love.

I love people who make me laugh. I honestly think it's the thing I like most, to laugh. It cures a multitude of ills. It's probably the most important thing in a person.  ~Audrey Hepburn 

So my shout out today is to those of you reading this blog. Thank you for being in my life. In some way, you have all helped to shape me to be who I am at this very  moment and have helped me hold my head a little higher as I put on some rain boots to make it through some muddy puddles I have faced in my life. Thank you for keeping me on track and for understanding when I need a moment to just be. Thank you for having my back and for reassuring me when the goings get tough.  I LOVE YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH!

Thank you God for placing such a wonderful support system in my life! 

 

Happy Birthday!!!

Dreaming big (hopefully some serious zzzz's soon) and sending love,
Casey

RU2Busy4Me?

Last weekend, I attended a retreat on campus entitled, "RU2Busy4Me?" This was obviously a play on the fast paced texting language our society has developed. The retreat was held on campus over a 24 hour period. I was eager to participate in the retreat and get to see some friends I had not connected with in a while and to get into as some better habits during Lent, and I'm not just talking about drinking more water, swearing less, and eating less junk food (although those are also important too!).



This is not the first retreat I have attended, but I have to say it came at a great time! I had not truly dove into the Lenten season at the time or begun to reflect on the season. The retreat was a great way to get some time away from my crazy busy life to sit in silence to open my eyes, ears, and heart to God. The retreat focused on a life built around Sunday and taking time to keep God in our lives.

What if this was waiting for me after class or work?

Through a "grand silence" we were released at 11:45pm to return to our dorm rooms, apartments, etc. and return in the morning for the remainder of the retreat. Our "grand silence" challenged us to not speak until the morning, text, use computers, or watch tv.  Being on call and doing rounds at midnight and 2:30 AM would prove to be a bit of a challenge without any standard means of entertainment to keep me awake. Fortunate for me, a good friend of mine was also on call for another area of campus. We hulled ourselves up in a room with our bibles and cups of tea. While the both of us sat in silence praying and reading the Good Book,  we were directed to different readings. We sat in the silence reading and sharing (via dry erase board) the passages we had discovered. Through the course of two hours, we had been led to five separate passages pertaining directly to all we had covered in the retreat (forgiveness, Reconciliation,  prayer, listening to and spending time with God). This was one of the most mind boggling Friday evenings I have had in a long time. Bruce and I sat in awe of the passages we had read and the truths we were told during the retreat. At one point Bruce was frantically writing on the board and I stopped him to finish the statement.

God is SOOO great! He placed readings of great value literally into our hands and hearts at a time that we were most in need of them. This opened my eyes to the true preparation of Lent for Easter. There are so many days that I buzz through my life saying I will stop and pray later or I will pray when I go to bed.  Guess how many of those times I actually follow through with that 'promise'? How many times do I drop everything to run an errand or hang out with a friend, or surf  the internet? How can I say I am too busy to pray?! How can I say I will stop by the Chapel later when Jesus died for me? As I said, the retreat came at the perfect time for me (isn't it funny how things like that happen... good thing God's watching out for us, huh?). It truly helped me to re-prioritize my life and rearrange my hectic schedule to allow daily reflection and prayer.
So I say AMEN! I am also working on slowing down my life a little bit and allowing myself to have more times of silence and reflection. 

 Lord, 

Help us to slow down.

Help us to spend time with you daily

and to hear your words.

Help us to see the wonders of your hands

and to allow ourselves to be at peace with being in your stillness.

Thank you for the gift of each day you give us

and thank you also for not ever being too busy for us! 

Help us to respond to your message with: I'm not too busy.

Amen! 

Dreaming big and sending love,

Casey

It's Official!

It is officially official! So far this week (and it's only WEDNESDAY) the check I sent to Newlife went through and my flights were put on the credit card! I have to say it is so great to have such support from my parents, without whom I wouldn't be able to make the trip to the Philippines this summer! A HUGE THANK YOU mom and dad for supporting me in all that I do! Now let's hope that my passport comes in the mail this week too, because that would be ICING ON THE CAKE! 
It's crazy how close this dream is getting. It feels like only minutes ago that I was only considering applying for the internship and now I feel it is only a few hours away. Don't worry everyone, I'm not departing TOMORROW (I have so much to do this semester that if it were tomorrow, I would probably cry).

That leads into what is going on presently: my classes are underway, so far I don't feel terribly overwhelmed. Feeling not terribly overwhelmed, I have taken some time to work on crocheting a blanket (my first), setting up some activities for my floor, and free reading! I have missed free reading so much since starting college that I am definitely taking advantage of the {little} time I have now and LOVING every minute of it! I have begun to study for the NCLEX, just a little every week, but enough to review what I have already learned. It is certainly a good feeling when someone asks me a question I can answer because of classes you I have taken.
My clinicals this semester are kind of crazy: ICU, Telemetry, a general medical floor, and some Peds work. This week, I get to go to Kindergarten to talk about dental health with a few other girls in my class. Spending time in the library picking out books and considering how to teach a 5 year old, really made me appreciate my friends in the Education Major. You ladies and gents do truly great work and deserve mad props! I'm sure I will have more to say on the topic after Thursday, eh?


Well I am off to study and {maybe} get some zzz's in with some dreams!

Dreaming big and sending love,
Casey

Update: my passport came the following week on Tuesday, within a week of my initial post! All that's left is to apply for my visa!