La Araña Pequeñita

Highlight of the day: We went to Alex and DJ's dorm to watch the basketball game, and when we got inside the building, there was a bunny sitting on top of a bush. He was really soft and sweet. Petting such a cute little animal on campus was pretty awesome!

   It is always a busy day at El Hospital para el Niño Poblano. We spent the day shadowing Dr. Hugo again. Today we were in a different section of the emergency department.  The emergency room is separated into different sections: shock rooms, observation rooms (for patients they are not sure how to treat yet), and pre-hospitalization rooms (for patients who are going to be admitted soon). Also on the bottom floor of the hospital are the medical labs, tests such as x-rays, MRIs, CT scans, and other offices. The rooms for the specific tests are all painted to make the environment more welcoming to the kids.

     There was a girl admitted today who was only 33 days old. She had surgery on her gastrointestinal organs, because some of her tissues were fused at birth. She had a bag inserted in her stomach that will be removed in a month or so if she maintains good health, but she had to be admitted because she was having surgical complications. There seem to be a lot of transferred patients at El Hospital para el Niño Poblano because it is the most specialized pediatric hospital in the country. 

     On the other hand, sometimes patients have to be transferred to other hospitals nearby because they are too old or large for the hospital. Today there was a patient who was 17 years old and was diagnosed with leukemia. He was average size for his age, but since the hospital is geared toward small children, he could be better treated at a hospital geared towards adults. There were even some younger children, six or seven years old, who were suggested to transfer to a different hospital in Puebla, because their cases were not severe or specialized enough for their age group to necessitate a hospitalization at El Hospital para el Niño Poblano.

     Overall, I really enjoyed my time at El Hospital para el Niño Poblano. I enjoyed getting to watch different tests in progress, getting to learn more about cancer, and especially getting to see how doctors care for such little people. The "tiny humans" are so delicate and need a lot of care  and attention that older patients do not require. From holding a child's hand while getting blood drawn to singing "la pequeñita araña" (the itsy bitsy spider), there is always someone who could use more attention. Pediatric medicine is an entirely different type of medicine than family practice. Pediatric medicine is a little bit of everything, but everything is for the "tiny humans."