Clinic Stuff

The little boy has been doing good since his surgery, though it's hard keeping a toddler entertained all day long in the clinic while we work. He and I made a deal that if he kept himself occupied in the mornings, then I'd watch a movie with him in the afternoons. Of course that didn't work out too well but everyone in the office took turns babysitting throughout the day so I still gave him a movie. And in reality, having a kid sit quietly for two hours is in everyone's best interest. I was planning on doing work at the same time, but you can see how well that worked out.

Side note, picking noses is a favorite pastime here.

We whipped through all the kids movies I had within a few days. I was a little on the fence about showing him Nightmare Before Christmas since I thought it might be a little scary for a four year old (I'm way stricter with the kids here than my own imaginary children). Turns out he loves it (naturally) so we watched it back-to-back three times.

He's so cute! The next day he had to go for a check up at the doctor's office and he started crying when he heard I wasn't taking him. He started saying, "No, yo quiero Tio Shawn!" (I want Uncle Shawn) AWWWWWW <3 Adoption papers are being filed as we speak.

Luckily he got the all-clear at his appointment so now he's back to his living in the Baby's house. I miss having him around but it's definitely a lot easier to get work done now. Speaking of getting work done... next week I'm filling in for one of the nurses! For the next three weeks I'll be working the normal RN hours here which are 8a-8a (24 hours) followed by 48 hours off. I'm pretty psyched for the new schedule, it's definitely closer to how my body works (not the working part, but the two days laying in bed part). I also get to sleep in the clinic the nights I work! Woohoo!! Almost as exciting as staying in a hotel! I'll have my own private bathroom, a microwave and the ability to stay up as late as I want without worrying about disturbing my roommate! The only thing that I'm not too excited about is that fact that since next week is Semana Santa (Holy Week), the whole orphanage is working with a skeleton crew. All the normal Guatemalan staff are gone for the week and the volunteers are left to run the place. Let the chaos ensue. I'm hoping that the kids will be so enthralled by having the volunteers living with them that they'll temporarily forget about all their medical ailments and stay far away from the clinic until the doctor and Tia Rosa come back. I mean, I can handle a headache and a scraped knee, no biggie, but if the kids here start complaining about possible appendicitis, I'm kind of at a loss. Okay, not at a TOTAL loss, I mean, I did go to nursing school, I just mean I don't want to be in the position to have to make the call of whether or not a kid needs to go to the hospital, especially in another country. Let's all keep our fingers crossed that that doesn't happen...