Goodbye Grenada

Canadian soil – there’s no place like home, and even though Toronto is a little ways from home, it still feels more comforting than landing in Detroit and having to cross the border. I was thinking about what I would miss about being in Grenada and here are my top choices:

1. Grand Anse Beach – the white sand and warm salty water cannot be beat after any midterm or final.
2. La Luna Beach – privacy, seclusion, and white sand with warm salty water.
3. True Blue point running route – seeing the sea on both sides of the trail.
4. Shower water pressure in the dorm – its so high pressure it hurts sometimes.
5. Lack of materialism – I love it, I wish it was always like this everywhere.
6. The stars - there are so many and they twinkle. The dippers, Orion, and Cassiopia were always easily found.

To be honest – this environment was ideal for studying. Other than going to the beach, there wasn’t much else to do on the island. There were no materialistic distractions, no easily accessible movie theatres, no televisions (although, by the end the internet was an addiction), and mostly everyone else was studying around you, so it was very motivating to do your best.

Here’s what I won’t miss:

1. Living in the fish bowl – God I hated the dorms – I enjoy my privacy and isolation, and being able to choose who I will see around and who I will not.
2. Getting hit on all the time whenever I left campus – they start young here….like at 10 years old.
3. Reggae music on the buses – not the good kind – the “reggae on crack” type.

That’s really all I could think of at this point – it’ not like I’m leaving the West Indies yet. I didn’t really feel any sadness or remorse leaving the island. It was sort of like a really long summer camp.

Anyways, now that I’m home I probably won’t be posting till I get to Vinnies. So to all my lurking readers: Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year etc etc etc.

Seven Sisters

Yesterday Aziza, me, and another couple went up to the Seven Sisters in Grand Etang to do the waterfalls hike. If you decide to see all seven falls, the hike it takes about 3 hours or so, and it entails jumping 5/7 waterfalls, with the second last waterfall being about ~40 ft (12m) jump. The day was sunny and hot, and it seemed like the perfect weather for some good hiking. And it was good – in fact it was phenomenal…….except for the mud – which put a nice slick, slippery coat over everything. For the first half of the hike, it took about 25 minutes to actually get to the first waterfall. After seeing the first two, the rest of the hike was crazy (and barefooted) and it started with climbing up the steep trail while holding on to tree roots/vines and watching out for razor grass which would give some nice cat-like scratches if you brushed against it. The mud made it fun, but challenging – and once we reached the water, there was no other way to get back but down the waterfalls. The water was so crisp and refreshing, and it was such a change from the warm buoyant salt water I’ve gotten so used to down here. We swam through freshwater, climbed along the sides of boulders, and jumped the smaller falls before we got to the big one.

Everyone did great, and we all made it with only some minor cuts and bruises (there were a lot of opportune moments for a slight slip of the foot, and oops, there goes middle meningeal). The big jump was awesome…..for the most part. I didn’t have any qualms about jumping it, but I didn’t enter the water with the best possible form, because holy cow I have huge hematomas on the back of my upper thighs (the initial sting gave me some good childhood flashbacks).

Our tour guide was awesome and he even said that I climbed like a Grenadian (I hoped I didn’t look too much like a ‘city slicker’ as my father calls everyone who wasn't born in the 'old country').

Anyways, if you ever get the chance the surroundings were absolutely breathtaking. I took some pictures with a waterproof 35 mm disposable, so once I’m back in civilization I’ll get them developed and post some of them up.

100th Post

At the beginning of the semester I set a goal that I wanted to reach 100 posts before I left the island of Grenada. Tomorrow I have my final pathology exam, followed by my clinical skills practical on Tuesday, and the clinical skills written final on Friday. Somewhere in between I have to pack all my stuff, and I hope to go hike the Seven Sisters waterfall tour in the rainforest here. In one week from today I should be making my way home! My time in Grenada is coming to a close and I cannot believe that 1.5 years have gone by already. Terms 5 and 6 are completed at Kingstown College on the island of St. Vincent (aka Vinnies). We start hospital visits with our course work next semester, and Vinnies has better hospital facilities for us.

Although I loved my time here in Grenada, I’m really excited to finally be moving to another island. St. Vincent was beautiful when I was there apartment hunting, and I’m looking forward exploring the island. I’ll finally be living in an apartment off campus which I’ve been dying to do since first semester. Everything is fully furnished, the balcony is huge and looks out to the ocean, and for the first time in my life I get to sleep in a bed bigger than uterine proportions for more than a few nights.

Anyways, I’m back to my books for one more round. Hopefully these next few days get a little sunnier, because I think the wet season has been squeezed into the last two weeks around here. Although I can’t complain about the rainbows everyday….

Q & A

Q : can you please post some resistance exercises?

A: Resistance training is any activity that makes your muscles work against a weight or force (this is why using pink dumbbells is not resistance training). I can give you some examples of resistance exercises – but it would probably be more beneficial if I knew your age, current activity level, any current health conditions/injuries, whether you’re a gym member, or exercise at home, and a few other things. There are a number of different ways to go about resistance training – and it really depends on what you enjoy – that way, you’re more likely to stick with it. Take a look through my reading links especially Krista Scott Dixon's site (directed towards females), and the exercise directory has a lot of information and demonstrations for just about any gym exercise possible.

If for example, you were a 25 year old female who engaged in some sort of cardio/aerobic activity 3-5 times a week, and has no health problems plain ‘ol squats, push-ups, lunges, dips (with leg on a chair), are great resistance exercises you can do at home using your own body weight (or with a sack of potatoes for extra resistance). But, if you were a 50 year old female, who hasn’t been exercising regularly, and has joint pain I would not give the same suggestions. Most importantly you have to figure out what you like, and what works for you. I can spew off a million different resistance exercises using dumbbells – but if you hate dumbbells (because you’ve actually tried them for a reasonable period of time) then that really won’t help.

Look around on the internet, there is a plethora of information – it can be confusing because there’s so much of it. If you know me personally I come home in two weeks, call me or shoot me an email if you’d like more specific suggestions/ideas to incorporate resistance training into your exercise.

Fight club

The first rule of fight club is that you do not talk about fight club.
The second rule of fight club is that you DO NOT talk about fight club……

Essentially once you enter the health field, the same rules apply. We had a lecture on Tuesday morning about HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) law in the US when we begin to start our rotations. So now I’m a little confused about what is reasonable to share about my experiences and what is not. But I feel that I can convey a little of what I get to observe and see in a manner that will not disrespect the patient – hopefully things will become more clear with the experiences.

Elephant sightings

On Friday we went to the local hospital and met with a patient to interview, and do some basic physical examinations on. One thing about being in the Caribbean is that I will be able to see certain health conditions and problems here that I will probably never encounter as long as I’m in the US/Canada. So I have to say that it was truly an amazing experience to meet the patient I saw on Friday.

During our first 2 semesters in clinical skills had to write a couple of papers. The first topic we wrote about was acute rheumatic fever, and the second was infective endocarditis. The first condition is rare in the US these days, but can still be seen more frequently in developing countries such as Grenada. When I researched the topic back in first semester, and found the signs, symptoms, and diagnostic criteria – I really had no clue of what they were, never mind what they would look like. The scariest part of these conditions is the damage it does to the heart valves. Many patients end up having to get heart surgery to repair/replace the damaged valve. After visiting with a patient, I felt so sad because the lack of medical resources in this country, and the history of patient compliance do not always add up to a most happy ending.

It is unfortunate that the best way to learn is through experience, but as our neuropath professor “the Emperor” said: it’s like seeing an elephant – something you will never forget.

Ladies please read!

And yet another article about the benefits of resistance training for women:

Long-Term Training Ups Growth Hormone Used for Stronger Bones and Muscles

I cannot stress how important it is for women to do resistance training with their exercise. And if you even think of mentioning anything about "getting too big" I will go into a blinding rage, and attack you with my 'massive' muscles. I will also sick myself on you if I catch you using pink dumbbells........yeah.