Return to Guyana

My 1st blog entry of 2012 is only a month late in being written which, considering my propensity to be horrible at remembering things like this, is not that bad. I've been back in Guyana for a little over a week after a wonderful 3 week vacation in the States, followed by a stressful and restless 2 week medevac. I was supposed to return to Guyana on January 9th but circumstances arose which caused me to be delayed until February 1st. Needless to say, I now need another vacation to relax after my 1st vacation. Ironically enough, I have been sick with the flu this past week, pretty much unable to leave the house so I guess in a weird way I did get a second vacation after all :)
 I have been medically approved to return to Guyana for about 6 months. Most of you reading this blog probably know the reasons why I was detained in the States and why I only got approval to be back for 6 months, at which point I'm not sure what will happen as far as medical separation goes. Unfortunately, there is no way to tell what will happen before then. If you don't know and you're curious, jut ask. You all know that shyness is not one of my problems and I have no shame in sharing my life's many ironic and sadly funny stories :)

It has been a little weird being back, both good weird and bad weird. Now that my time here has an expiration date on it that's even closer than before, I am even more determined to make the most of my time here. Not only so that I can leave feeling like I did something good but also so that, no matter what, I am happy with how I spent my time here. I have decided not to pursue my original project that I mentioned a few blog entries ago about pre-natal nutrition. First of all, there just isn't time. This project will take at a minimum 9 months to complete, not counting time to prepare, plan, and analyze the data. With how uncertain everything has become, it just isn't practical, in my opinion, to start a long and time intensive project that I may have to abandon halfway through. I also do not want to start anything that leaves my clinic in a bind if it doesn't get finished. I don't want to start any big grants or make any promises I can't keep. So instead I m going to focus on smaller projects that the staff of my clinic wants done, like organizing patient files and doing more health talks. I want to focus on working with the patients and really getting hands on clinical experience. My favorite part of working at a clinic is interacting with patient and it's what the clinic staff wants me to focus on, which is a good enough reason for me.

I am also going to try and write more blog entries in the coming months (since I know you all love them so so much lol) and take more pictures, which I will also try and remember to put the link to on this blog. It feels good to be back here in Guyana, my home away from home, and I am excited to see what the next 6 months have in store for me.