Day 25

You think after going to bed at 10:30 I would be completely rested today, especially since I naturally woke up around 5:45. Nope! 3 hours later I was exhausted. Brigitte and I were heading to the DOT center again for the morning again to complete our research. They have all been so thorough and helpful in understanding their clinic that collecting data has been quite easy. When we got there the director of the clinic put us to work doing the DOT (directly observed treatment) for all the patients. That involved getting their charts, administering them their appropriate medications, asking them about their symptoms and how they are doing and signing off on the paperwork on the completion of the days treatment. Throughout the time we asked questions and got to the basis of what we needed to know. The idea is to get all the baranguay's to have a way of screening and treating TB because the DOT now is not even close to helping all the people affected by the disease. One-sixth of the world's population has TB so a compete cure would take trillions of dollars. However we aren't even close to helping the large population affected because no good system is in place for even screening for it. Not everywhere in the world is like the US. So anyway the DOT center's reason for not setting up the screening and treatment in each individual Baranguay (even if it was a mobile clinic for screening) is because they believe the people who test positive will shame their families, be embarrassed and possibly be banished from the community. The people here are so appreciative to receive any type of health care so my interpretation of their reasons was that they haven't thought through a good way of making the system a positive outlook on health care, being proactive and creating a "fair" or community type of setting that rewards the villages for them efforts in trying to help the process of eradicating TB. I won't go into the nitty gritty details but Dr. Schuster had a fantastic and well thought out program that has so much promise.

Once we got back the clinic looked quite empty. Most everyone had gone back for lunch. I think the word has gotten out that we'll be closing up and our last day (half day) is tomorrow. It will basically be for wound care and follow ups. I went and sat at the dock for a while because the weather as beautiful and it is my absolute favorite spot to just sit, listen to music and absorbing every minute of living in this beautiful paradise for a few more days. 

We ate lunch and a few of us went up to clinic to see who was left to help. Dr. Schuster gave everyone the option of working so some stayed behind and took a nap. Even my exhaustion didn't let me nap. I swear I don't know how to ever relax. I have to be doing something. Anyway there weren't too many to see so we were able to finish early. When I got back I considers joining in on the nap but decided instead to do insanity. Man that is rough after being sick. My body just felt like it was hit by a truck. As soon as I finished we all were planning to head up to the cold springs to go swimming. Our nurses, translators and pharmacists joined us which was wonderful. I'm going to miss them all so much. They've become like a big family. 

When we got to the springs it was already late in the day so we made it a very relaxing experience. We brought Jon Jon our monkey who was less then excited about riding on top of the Jeepney or being near the cold springs. He prefers staying in the cabana and climbing on the roof, far far away from the possibility of swimming. Only here can we bring our pet monkey to the local swimming pool. And only here are swimming pools made from natural waters running from the volcano. I'm not sure how I'm going to be used to going home without living in a complete menagerie with dogs, cats, chickens, roosters, monkeys, and water buffaloes running around everywhere. I may need a dog in my life.

We stayed at the springs for a while before hedging back to the dorms where  I showered just in time before dinner was prepared. We planned on going into Sorsogon after to use the Internet and run some errands but apparently some military officials are all over the area hunting down some "hikers?" I really don't know the story but some helicopters went over Sorsogon bay today which was very rare given there is no air traffic in this area. Again I have no idea what's going on outside of my little bubble here...and frankly I like it like that. So our Sorsogon trip is postponed to tomorrow afternoon when it's light outside to go. Either way everywhere we go we are surrounded by our Filipino bodyguards/family who have a watchful eye on us at all times. They are our own personal detail. Brian, Junior, Jomar and John are our top agents. I adore all of them. It'll be hard to leave a lot of our new friends once I leave. This is when I came say thank you Facebook!

So anyway, not the most exciting day but it was very fun nevertheless. Tomorrow is the last day running the clinic. Time flies far to fast. I can't believe it has already been nearly a month!

My favorite spot from the dock

The cold springs

Some of our awesome clinic members!

Monkeying around