The Navajo certainly make interesting patients. A 50+ year old man comes in, rodeo belt bucle, suede cowboy hat, craggy brown face complaining of a sore knee. So, as I think through my differential i ask him about trauma to the knee, when it started, etc. I end up with a story about how he went down to mexico and got a pony for "his woman" and how it ran away yesterday so he spent the day climbing the nearby mountain in search of the horse. "Ever since then my knee's been bothering me, and I can't even herd my billy goats" I just looked at him and asked, "billy goats?". and he says, "yeah, they're real rowdy this time of the year. It's mating season and they're real territorial". And the list goes on. I have patients whose kids got bitten by the family goose, rodeo riders with arthritis, old ladies with sore backs from pinon picking. Noone knows what their meds are, how could they with all these strange names like ranitidine and metformin and lisinopril on the bottles. Compared to many patients I've encountered, they're suprisingly very compliant. Only problem is when they run out of meds they dont come in right away. I ask them where they live and they give me very thorough answers, Nazchitti village, 2 miles east of X past the school and west of the whatever store. :) In general all their answers are very thorough, when they choose to answer that is. Some simply won't deal with me b/c i'm not their doctor or b/c i'm a female. I come into the room and say that i'm a medical student working with doctor Buffaloe and would like to ask them some questions and do an exam. For the most part they are okay with me, but I always know when I'm getting rejected b/c I'll always get a suspicious look in return and the question "What kind of questions?" followed by silence no matter what my answer to their question is. The kids are fun, the babies like me. Hehe, I was reminded of my time in Finland where all the kids seem to be either frightened or puzzled by me. Not here. :) Guess my face is somewhat familiar, at least compared to the white bearded white man who is my preceptor. they come up to me with smiles and proceed to pull my hair out of my ponytail and climb into my lap, all the while drooling over my nice white coat. Bah, what's it good for anyways. So all in all, I'm loving it here. I enjoy these patients and the staff I work with and am forever entertained by their stories of goats, sheep, horses, rodeos, and their unique perspective on the western medicine I deliver. This weekend I go to the capital of the Navajo Nation, Window Rock at Fort Defiance. ¶ 22:09