A Grand Adventure

First off, I would like to apologize for not posting anything sooner. Not to say that you (the reader) are sitting next to your computer longingly awaiting my next blog about my experiences in Taiwan, but when the computer is virtually my only means of communication, I know that at the very least my parents are a bit apprehensive about my being away from home and enjoy hearing about the day-to-day. You see, my computer has been feeling a bit under the weather. A couple days after we arrived, it started misbehaving and simply shuts off all on its own about every 10 minutes or so. This is the longest it has stayed on so I decided to bravely attempt a post. If it turns off mid-post, I may cry, but I suppose I will get over it.

Alright, alright, I'll get on with it. Quite a lot has happened over the past few days. The night we arrived, as I said in my last blog, we enjoyed an amazing dinner with the superintendent of the hospital, along with several other physicians and vice superintendents, and a large portion of the nursing staff, including the director of the nursing department and her associate directors. This two hour dinner made us feel so welcome. The people, as I said before, are unbelievably hospitable and everyone seems thrilled to have us here. We exhaustedly had a devotional time and then went straight to bed.

On Saturday morning, a few nurses took us out on a walking tour of some of the city. They brought us down TianMu, the main road near the hospital and our residence. Everyone was thrilled to see the city. I, for one, have already taken a couple hundred photos. They showed us a few good restaurants and places to stop for Bubble Tea (which we have had every day since we've been here). We walked by Taipei American School, where Taipei International Church meets on Sunday mornings. Near the end of TianMu there is a large department store (much like Nordstrom) with a Chili's on the top floor. I'm sure I'll snag some Chili's chips and salsa at least once on this trip. There is a large movie theater next door to the department store which we plan on going to at some point during our stay. We walked back to the hospital where we enjoyed dinner at the Cheng Hsin Hospital's nursing home. Residents and their families were all in attendance as it was their lunar new year celebration.

After we returned from our walking tour and lunch, we had about a 10 minute break before the next group of nurses picked us up for yet another adventure. Apparently, a couple years back, a student was left at the train station by accident so, with about 6 nurses to guide the 10 flighty Americans, we headed to the MRT station in Mingde district. The train is a common form of transportation in Taipei and has been pretty much full on every ride we have taken thus far. The MRT took us to Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall where we got off and toured the grounds of the museum commemorating the life of Taiwan's first president and national hero. This is particularly special for us, because Chiang Kai-Shek's wife, first lady Madame Chiang founded Cheng Hsin Rehabilitation Center for polio victims. The rehabilitation center has now expanded to become Cheng Hsin General Hospital. Although rehabilitation is still a big part of the hospital's work, Cheng Hsin now has a psychiatric ward, nursing home, obstetric department, pediatric department, emergency room, operating room, several med-surg and intensive care units and is renowned for it's Cardiology department. We then took the MRT from Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall to Shilin Station where we decided to take a little rest. Here we got "world famous" Two Peck fried chicken and iced lattes with tapioca balls. Yes, everyone, I partook of the chicken and, I must say, it was delicious. We then walked to the former official residence of Chiang Kai-Shek and Madame Chiang in Shilin. They lived on sprawling grounds that are still well-kept. The land is absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, since we had missed our tour of their actuall home, we never got to see the inside. By the time we had walked the grounds, we were all exhausted, including the nurses leading the tour. So, they kindly decided to grab a few taxis to take back to the Health Building (where our dorms are). By this time, I think it was after 6 o'clock and, although exhausted, several of us decided to walk to the market we had shopped at earlier in the day. It was raining outside but the air was so warm that none of us minded in the least. After buying a few groceries we came back to the Health Building where we grabbed dinner from the cafe on the first floor. I had a tuna bagel and peppermint tea. So delicious. Then we shared devotions and went straight to bed.

Sunday morning, we met at 9:45 and walked to Taipei International Church, held on the 2nd level of the large American school in Taipei. The service started at 10:30 and we all had the opportunity to introduce ourselves. We felt very welcome and although the service was fairly traditional, I think everyone quite enjoyed it. After church, we walked to a dumpling restaurant that was recommended to us where the sweetest Taiwanese man, noticing our confused American faces, helped us place our orders while waiting for his own food. He explained that he lived in the US while getting his Master's Degree and that he was happy to help us because he had nothing better to do while he waited for his food. Most of the restaurants have menus in English, but unfortunately, this place didn't. I ordered shrimp dumplings. Apparently a shrimp dumpling in Taiwan equates to one piece of shrimp wrapped up with a whole bunch of pork. Hm...who would've thought. But I was starving so I didn't care. After scarfing down our food we quickly changed and met Jenny, the director of the nursing department at the hospital; Jenny's husband, Dr. Jo; and Dr. Tsai, the Deputy Superintendent. The 3 of them drove the 10 of us up to Yangmingshan Mountain in Beitou. The main reason for our visit up the mountain was to see the cherry blossom trees that are in bloom here. I was astounded by the view driving up the mountain. Taipei is a bowl at the base of gorgeous green hills. Quite distinct from the city, in the hills there is much open space. Much of the fertile soil is utilized for terrace farming. After driving up a windy two lane road (not much wider than 1 real lane) for about 35 minutes, we arrive at Yangming Park where we were given time to walk around on our own and take pictures for about an hour and a half. Dr. Jo bought a few of us gelato in the cafe and souvenir shop in the park. I had rock melon and guava gelato. I have no idea what a rock melon is, but it sure was delicious. After walking to another small park that had an unbelievable rooftop view and gorgeous cherry blossoms, we drove to a small town for a special dinner. I have never experienced anything like this in my life. There were 13 of us, total, and we sat at 2 separate tables but each table was provided with dish after dish after dish. About 12 dishes in all...from a whole bass fish, to spicy shrimp, to ginger and sweet potato soup, to bamboo shoots with pork. It seemed as though the food would never stop coming. After a couple meals that had been less than delicious, this meal more than made up for it. It was one of the best dinners I have ever eaten and we all ate until we were stuffed. Fat and happy, we left the restaurant to purchase some calla lilies from a street vendor before returning to the cars for the drive back down the mountain. Our final stop on our way home was a lookout spot. We could see the entire city, all lit up. We enjoyed oranges Jenny had purchased from a street shop while we captured pictures and took in the view. This was, by far, the best day. The funny thing is that we had requested Sunday afternoon off on our schedule, but Dr. Tsai insisted on taking us to the park and, although at first reluctant and a bit upset, we all walked away feeling exhausted while also feeling completely content and immensely blessed. Again, we arrived just in time for devotions, a shower, and bed.

Monday was our first day working at the hospital. From 8-10 we were provided with the condensed version of a tour of this enormous hospital. I was blown away by some of the rooms. For $300-600 more per day, a patient can have a hospital room comparable to a hotel suite...and I mean a NICE hotel sweet. From 10-2 we worked our first shift. Everyone rotates to different areas of the hospital. There are about 2 nurses in each unit that speak good enough English to be our preceptors and are willing to allow us to work alongside them during their shift. I started out on a Medical-Surgical floor that is specifically for patients with various cardiac conditions. Julie was my nurse preceptor and we had a blast together. I got the opportunity to speak with a patient that lived in Bellevue, WA for a short time. He was ecstatic when he found out there were female American nurses working in his hospital. He shared a few stories with me, including telling me the "REAL" story of how Seattle got it's name (ask me sometime...it's a good one). I then visited the echocardiography room. I witnessed two echos and the cardiologist that performed them took me back into the office to show me pictures and footage of various patient's hearts and explained to me their conditions and treatments. After giving me a printout of one patient's echo, he insisted I bring him some "green" next time to pay him for his services :) After lunch, we went downstairs to the area where the cardiac catheterization lab is located. This is also where the operating room is and where the cardiac intensive care unit is. Cheng Hsin just received a machine, much like an MRI machine, that uses a magnetic field to insert cardiac catheters. The doctors sit outside of the operating room, behind a slew of computers and use a mouse and a small keypad to direct the catheter and, in this case, perform an ablation for a patient with atrial fibrillation. This machine is the first in Taiwan and an American technician was there walking the doctors through the procedure. If I heard correctly, this was only the 2nd time they had used the equipment. Although the procedure was not yet finished, my shift was over so Julie walked me back to the 3rd floor. From 2-4pm everyday, we will meet as a group to discuss our day and have a short lecture. On Monday we were given a presentation by Joyce, one of the associate directors of the nursing department. We returned to the dorms and were given free time until devotions at 8pm.

Today and yesterday were the same as far as clinicals go. I was in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit. My patient was a 51 year old male that suffered from a subdural hemmorhage (brain bleed) caused by a medication he was taking for a heart condition. They removed the right part of his skull on Monday to relieve intracranial pressure. He has a nice big bandage on the right side of his head indicating that there is a missing bone and he is very heavily sedated. It has been interesting to witness the medical practices in Taiwan. Although they practice very safe medicine, it is quite different from our own in a number of ways. Fenny, my nurse preceptor yesterday and today was very sweet and helpful. Yesterday afternoon, following our shift, we were given a short presentation and tour of the hearing center here at the hospital. They provide a school for young children who are deaf to prepare them for entry into kindergarten. Classes are setup sort of like interrogation rooms so that parents can watch their children and learn from the teachers without disturbing the class. We were able to watch part of a class session and, even though they were speaking Mandarin, I felt the excitement of each child's voice and loved looking into their beautiful little faces as they curiously walked past us in the hall. Today, instead of a post-clinical lecture, we attended a lecture at 7:30am given by the same doctor who did the echos on Monday. With physicians and nurse managers in attendance, the cardiologist gave a lecture regarding the current treatment for mitral valve regurgitation. Although a heavy topic early in the morning, we were provided with a delicious variety of Chinese pastries, tea, and coffee.

Our 2nd night here, Dot McKim (one of my professors) mentioned that she hoped this trip would plant seeds of desire in each of us to travel and witness and utilize our medical skills in other cultures. I immediately piped in, explaining that it took less than a day for that seed to be plopped down in my heart. I love this country and it's people and am excited for future opportunities to do more work here and all over the world.

So, here I am...that has been a small bit of my experience thus far. I promise I will never have another blog as longwinded as this one. My computer has yet to shut off on me! Hallelujah! I'm convinced it's because everyone prayed for my computer last night after devotions. I know it sounds silly and petty, but I think God wants me to keep in touch with friends and family as much as I want to. I'll be sure to post some pictures now that they have all downloaded onto my computer.