"Doc meets Dorf" Day 1....I thought wrong.

And I'm back! Back to work, back to getting up early. (Little German lesson for all, Dorf means village)

For the next two weeks, I am working with a general practitioner in Hannoversch Münden. It's an hour commute with the train every morning. (Hann. Münden is small with 28,000 people compared to 129,700 in Göttingen)

I was super tired this morning but definitely did not want to miss my train so I got my butt out of bed.

Having grown up with a dad who is a general practitioner, I kind of knew what I would be dealing with. Patients with small (or big) problems, a very intimate doctor-patient relationship and generally nice atmosphere.

I quickly found the practice. The secretary showed me where I could put my stuff and I waited for the doctor to arrive.

Dr.D is how you would imagine a general practitioner in a rural area. He arrived in slacks, white shirt and vest. He has a mustache, glasses and is an older sir. He showed me around the place and then we immediately started seeing patients.

It was a mix off all different things. Since Dr.D has worked in the area the last 15 years and before that in the hospitals in the area, he knows his patients very well and the appointments go very quickly.

Weakness, stomach aches, head aches and such where some of the complaints the patients had. Since one of the other GPs from the area is on vacation, his patients come to Dr.D in the time the other guy is gone. I got to take the history of one of the patients and preceded to examine him as well.

The time seemed to go by quickly because we constantly had something to do.

I had a 45 minute break and decided to go to the bakery and check out a bit of the town. It has a very lovely "downtown" with fachwerk houses, an old church and little forts scattered around.

I only have 3G in very limited places so I couldn't even spend my break on my phone....city life problems.

After the break, Dr.D and I went on house visits. We went to two nursing homes and a house. 

The first seemed very nice and the nurses where very sweet towards the patients. The patients all really like Dr.D. The older ladies often flirt with him. One even offered him to stay with her. Oh my.

The second was also nice. The corridors where decorated as though they where part of a museum with old furniture and old clothes hanging from a clothing line, old sewing machines and pictures. 

We then drove about 10 minutes to get to the home of a nice older couple. We checked on the husband, chatted with the wife and then made our way back.

Dr.D dropped me off at the train station and I had to wait a half hour before my train left.

I had checked the opening times of the practice online and it said they were only open from 9-12. I thought for sure that I would be back home everyday by 1PM.  I thought wrong. I wasn't back in Göttingen until 5PM today (and went directly to my lab). Dr.D said we would be done a bit earlier today because his daughter is in town which means the next two weeks I might not be getting home until even later. I had originally planned to spend the morning in the practice and the afternoons in the lab. Looks like I will be having long days (plus a few night shifts) the next two weeks. Can't wait for Saturday to sleep in!

Baci, V