The Broadway was fully decorated in Christmas foliage, and the staff wore Santa hats, adding to the ambiance...
Here is a group shot of the Tinian 'Mormons' gathered together for a Christmas feast! Ramon Apostal (second from left) is a chef at the Broadway, and prepared a special dinner (adding a few dishes to the buffet especially for us). Jim Bell (the famous swimmer, at far left) was also with us, and happens to be a vegetarian, but Ramon had made sure there was plenty of 'grass' for him to graze on... He supplied us with great stories of his continued adventures around the island!
Prime Angus beef, ham, Ramon's special pumpkin soup... they had even made 'Christmas logs' for dessert-- cake shaped in the form of a wood log-- that were just fabulous! All in all, it was a wonderful meal, made even better by sharing it with friends.
After lunch, Terri and I went for a swim at Taga beach. We really enjoy this part of being on a tropical island-- a short scooter ride for a long soak in warm water! Just as we were finishing, Terri got a call from the hospital (she is on-call at the hospital today)... next thing I knew she was racing to the Hospital-- in her swimming suit! But that is how it is here on Tinian...
With other providers away, Terri is the only provider left on the island. If anything happens, she is the only one that can help! But this is how Terri likes it-- it is why we moved to Tinian. Terri has always enjoyed emergency work (she worked on an ambulance in Hartford, and trained as a Paramedic in Utah). There is just something exciting about NOT knowing what will walk through the door next!
Most providers have a specialty, and enjoy the comfort of seeing the same thing every day. Terri has always enjoyed emergency medicine, and unlike most clinics or hospitals that have access to specialists, Terri must be ready to treat anything that walks through the door.
On occasion (like today) a situation arises that requires equipment or knowledge not available to Terri in the Tinian clinic, so they are shipped-off to Saipan via airplane or helicopter. This can be vexing as it can take one to two hours to get a helicopter here! Today, a patient had to be sent to Saipan by helicopter.
For many, this kind of situation would be overwhelming. But Terri thrives on this kind of medicine because she has prepared all her life for work like this.
One of Terri's greatest talents in medicine is the ability to properly diagnose illnesses (I believe that this is the most important ability a provider can have, because once diagnosed, most illnesses already have proven methods of care-- like the TV series 'House', the hardest part is not treating the illness,it is figuring out what is really wrong!)
The reason this has become one of Terri's strengths is because she has been in medical school for over ten years, being taught by some of the best physicians in the country!
How can this be, you ask? Because she worked as a medical transcriptionist for over ten years. Each day she would listen as doctors from ALL medical disciplines 1) described the symptoms, 2) described their diagnosis, and then 3) described what treatment they were going give the patient.
Just think about it: hour after hour, day after day, year after year, she listened to doctors working in hospitals around the country describe how they cure their patients! It wasn't long before she was typing ahead of what they were saying... already knowing what they were going to say before they said it.
Now, as patients come into her office with all kinds of symptoms, all she has to do is remember what all of those doctors taught her.
Her other great talent is her ability to communicate with patients (which, for some reason, seems to be a talent that is hard to come by in the medical field...). Even during her clinical work in PA school she was recognized as someone with special ability. One case, especially, stands out:
There was a patient that needed to have his leg amputated, or he would die. As a PA student, she was in the room as a number of doctors debated what to do, and tried to convince the patient to sign the permission form to let them cut off his leg. This dialog had been going on for several days, with no luck-- the man would rather die than have his leg cut off!
Terri, like a typical student, stood back to watch and learn as the doctors and nurses did their best to convince this man to permit them to save his life. However, she had seen or heard something the patient had said, that no one else seemed to have noticed...
After the doctors and nurses had left the room, frustrated at their inability to convince the man of the need for surgery, Terri stayed behind. Once alone, she sat and talked quietly to the patient. In about ten minutes, Terri came out and told the doctors that the patient had agreed to the surgery! They were stunned at the quick change that Terri had been able to make in their patient...
From then on, and until her rotation in that hospital was over, they sent Terri to deal with any 'problem' patients!
Anyway, Terri has been prepared well for work on Tinian; and the Tinian clinic has been a wonderful school for Terri to continue to learn this type of medicine. For over a year now, and under the watch and direction of Dr. Toledo, Terri has received training in every type of medicine.
Terri is good at what she does because she is well prepared, and working here is exactly what she has always wanted to do. What most people think would be a nightmare, is simply Terri living her dream!
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
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