Magellan 2018: Glaucoma in Hawaii

I'm sitting in the airport waiting to board my plane. Sadly, my magellan experiance has come to an end, but I know for a fact that I will be back to the magnificent island of Oahu. My flight is not till later tonight so I have some time to write a short post about my last adventure on Oahu. Today I hiked to the Kalihi Ice Ponds. Finding the beginning of the trail was a little challenging, but with the help of google and some locals, I eventually found my to the waterfall. It was raining a little bit; therefore, the trail was super muddy. I definitly saved one of the best trails for last because the waterfall was not the only thing I got to see. Along the path I came across these old buildings with lots of art which was pretty interesting to look at. I also found this jeep that has been here for who knows how long! It was a really interesting part of the hike because I was able to imagine who it belonged to and how it ended up in this area. My imagination ran wild! I c...

Today I went to Kailua Beach which is known to be one of the top beaches in the world. Known for the smooth sand and clear waters, this beach was exquisit. I felt so at home laying on this beach and taking in the scenery. After spending the afternoon on this beautiful beach, I decided to get lunch at Buzz's. This resturant is right by the beach and has a very tropical feel to it. Tourists love coming to this place to eat because you can sit outside and look out at the ocean while enjoying a nice lunch or dinner. I really enjoyed my "steak burger" and fries and would highly recommend to anyone visiting Kailua beach!

Today I went to the Dole Plantation! Honestly, I was debating whether or not I should spend the time traveling across the island to this location. I almost decided against it actually. However, I realized that I might not ever get the chance to visit so why not just spend half of my day exploring this part of the island. Boy am I glad I went! At the plantation they have a garden maze which is labeled as the world's largest maze. I felt like a little kid running around trying to find my way. It started to rain but I was prepared and truthfully I did not care because it was still such a fun time. I rode the train that takes tourists all throughout the large plantation where they grow different crops including cocoa, bananas, and, of course, pineapple. I was amazed at how big this field was and how much work goes into maintaining and shipping the pineapple acorss the country. At the end of my day at Dole Plantation, I wanted to treat myself to some ice cream! A...

Today I went back to Makapu'u Lighthouse because there was more to it than just the lighthouse! In fact, there was a lot more! Part of this trail includes tide pools; however, it takes a while to get to them! Hiking down the side of this mountain took a while and my feet really started to hurt climbing down the rocks. However, when I reached the tide pools it was totally worth the hike down. There are gaps inbetween the rocks which create blowholes. The rush I felt standing over these blowholes was insane. There is a huge gust of air that comes up and it took my breath away as it hit me. The little bit of salt water that hits my face was so refreshing as well. Swimming in the tide pools was fun because as each wave came in you get some new water and new fish. The fish swim all around you and the water is not too deep so it is pretty safe. I have never experianced tide pools before so this was a very fun adventure for me. I even found some hermit crabs that were fun ...

Today was surgery day! I felt like a real doctor getting to dress up in my srubs. I got to watch a total of eight different surgeries. Every sugery day with Dr. O has been very enlightening because before each surgery he would give me a run-down of what he was going to do and what I should be looking for as he performs the surgery. During the surgery I sat in the OR room and watched on a screen what he was doing. I took notes during each one and then afterwards we would sit down and talk about the surgery. I asked many questions and was able to learn so much about different corneal issues. Today, Dr. O mentioned to one of the other surgeons that I was interested in Pediatrics and to my surprise she invited me to watch one of her surgeries as well! Dr. Wong performed a strabismus surgery which is basically a surgery that adjusts the muscles behind the eye. I was particullary interested in this type of surgery because growing up I had an eye disorder which almost left me needing this typ...

Today at the office we had a special guest! I met an opthomologist who was visiting from Vietnam. She decided to take a break from her practice to travel to America and shadow opthomologists here. She thought that traveling around America to shadow other surgeons would broaden her knowledge of the field because in America we have so much more technology and instruments than they do in Vietnam. She taught me a lot about her culture and we compared stories about school, food, and just life in general. She was truly an amazing person and I am so glad I got the oportunity to learn from her while we both learned from Dr. Olkowski. Her first stop was Hawaii which she was very excited about for obvious reasons; however, I thought it was so funny when she told me that she could not wait because Pennsylvania was her next stop. I told her to be prepared because PA is so much different than Hawaii! I found it to be amusing that she couldn't wait to leave hawaii and be in Pennsylvania. ...

Besides all the beaches around Oahu, the hiking trails all over the island are big torist attractions. Therefore, I spent a lot of my time trying to hike as many of the beautiful trails around the island as I possibly could. This past weekend I hiked Mano Fall. Walking this trail was the most amazing adventure I have every had. Between the stream running through the forest and the bamboo surrounding the trail, I truly felt so at calm and happy.  One really cool part about this trail was that throughout the path there were mulitple signs that informed the hikers about different wildlife and plants to look for as the trail continued. I really enjoyed these features because many of the plants and animals are native to Hawaii and it was interesting to see them in a natural habitat rather than a place like the zoo. After a 30 mintue hike through this bamboo forest, I finally reached the 150 foot waterfall! This was such an incredible sight and totally worth the hike. I...

Today I took the time to visit the historical Pearl Harbor. I got up early in the morning in order to be one of first guests at the gate because the first thousand people who visit get a free ticket. This included a 25 minute video session during which we watched a documentary on the history of Pearl Harbor. Then, we took a boat ride out to the USS Arizona Memorial to honor the men who died during the attack. During the boat ride out to the sunken ship, they played a beautiful version of the National Anthem which really set the mood. At Pearl Harbor there is also a walk through museum that holds many exhibts. Although it was a small museum, it held so much history and enlightened me on the attacks on Pearl Harbor. Truthfully, I am not the type of person who finds history very interesting and I was never very good at the subject in high school. However, visiting Pearl Harbor and seeing the USS Arizona really made me feel proud of the country I...

Today was a really amazing day! One of my friends from high school used to live on Oahu and he introduced me to one of his friends who still lives on the island. We hiked the Makapu'u Point Lighthouse Trail and what a beautiful view. He showed me this secret part of the trail that only locals know about that leads you straight to the lighthouse. The main trail that torists hike only gives you a bird's eye-view of the lighthouse, but this unknown part of the trail gives you an upclose encounter with the lighthouse. This lighthouse was featured in the movie 50 First Dates which is one of my favorite movies, so this was such a cool experiance for me!

Tonight I can proudly say that I hiked Koko Head! This is a very  challenging creator trail and includes 1,048 steps all the way up to the top. About half way through I did not think I was going to make it, but adrenaline kicked in and eventually I literally crawled to the top. This hike leaves your legs feeling like jell-o and is basically a natural Stairmaster. I have never been so exhausted in my life. However, the view literally took my breath away. There was an old bunker at the top that I found, so clearly I had to jump inside and snap a picture! A friend I was hiking with was able to capture this really cool silloute photo of me at the top of Koko Head with the city in the background. So pretty! At the end of the hike, after climbing down all 1,048 stairs, there is a telephone line that many hikers throw their shoes onto! This is something many tourists like to do to commemorate finishing this ambitious trail. I only had one pair of tennis shoes with...

So far this week with Dr. O, I have seen so many patients with a variety of backgrounds. I have met incredible people who have been all over the world and some who have never left Hawaii. I learned that people travel from every island just to be examined by Dr. Olkowski! My eye doctor lives five mintues from my house, so I could not image having to travel by plane for an appointment. At EyeSight Hawaii, they have these high-tech screens in most of the examination rooms that have informative videos and diagrams. This way, when Dr. O is explaining to a patient what type of disorder, disease, or problem they are having, he can pull up a diagram or video to give the person a better visual about what they are dealing with. This is something I have never seen before; however, I find it to be very helpful because patients feel more comfortable when they fully understand what is happening.  Yesterday at the office, Dr. Olkowski let me watch a laser procedure during which he pe...