I thought i would start this blog off with a shout-out to my beautiful girlfriend, Hilary. Thank you for all your love and support. Long distance is never easy on a relationship, but with a little creativity (like shown above) and understanding, it has the potential to bring us closer together. Hilary and I will be celebrating our first year anniversary this month, and although I'm in another country, we will have many more anniversaries to celebrate together in the future. I miss you.
Enough of the cheesy stuff...
Last week my roommate, Duke, and I asked if we could follow our medical director, Doctora Magaly, around her hospital at night. She invited us to shadow her once a week at her hospital, Hospital Carmen. Here is a picture of us three.
Last week my roommate, Duke, and I asked if we could follow our medical director, Doctora Magaly, around her hospital at night. She invited us to shadow her once a week at her hospital, Hospital Carmen. Here is a picture of us three.
Surprisingly, within a half hour of arriving, she had us suited in scrubs and ready for surgery.
The first surgery we saw was a prostate biopsy. Interestingly, I have seen one of these procedures done in the US, but the two were procedures were very different. In the US, the procedure was quick, easy, and painless. The patient usually was awake and the surgery was complete in fifteen minutes with practically no recovery time needed. In Mexico, the procedure was completely different. The difference, in my opinion, was most likely due to Mexico's lack of resources and more primative technology. Anyway, the procedure took about two hours and lets just say the patient will probably wish he was a woman for a couple of weeks haha. Of course, these pictures were pretty graphic so I'll let your minds paint the picture instead.
The second surgery we saw was a C-section of a 31 year old women. This was the first picture I took and after, the doctor looked at me and told me to come closer to get a better shot. It caught me off guard because cameras aren't even allowed in the surgery room in the US. In Mexico, the doctors would pause to have us take a picture while they gave a thumbs up haha.
You can't help but be a new person after seeing a new baby enter this world. In Mexico they call it, dar la luz, which means to give light. I can only imagine the majestic experience of seeing your own child enter into this world. As cheesy as it sounds, it makes you feel more alive and appreciative of the life cycle. It makes you think of the many wonders of the world really how amazing the gift of life is. Corny, I know. I told our director the same thing and she said I needed to say that at next years orientation to recruit more students haha.
Here is a picture of the head surgeon, Duke, and I. It must be a pretty powerful feeling to help bring more babies into this world.
Here is a picture of the clinic I spent the last two weeks at. From left to right there is: Julio, the nurse; Daniel, my clinic partner; Doctora Coral, the doctor; and myself. Doctora Coral was very clear and helpful at explaining each case and I learned so much because of her. Because of the Mexican diet, lots of tortillas and carbohydrates, diabetes is a serious issue in Mexico, and that was probably 80% of the stuff we dealt with. Next week, I will start at a new clinic where I will hopefully learn much more. Also, I'll add another blog post of my adventurous weekend in the mountains later this week. Stay tuned.
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