Week 3 has come to a close. We started our week coming off a visit to the Cristo. I am recounting the week as I look out toward that behemoth of a rock statue from Cindy's apartment halfway across the city.
I found a local church with my compadre, Will Pryor last Sunday. It was my first experience in a Mormon church. The congregation was incredibly friendly. Many came up to greet us, however, I still relied on Will for most of the translating. My listening abilities have always lagged behind my ability to speak Spanish, and this was no exception. Just when I thought I was getting a handle on the language, I realize how much more I have to learn as I failed to follow the reverend's sermon.
The rest of the week was dedicated to gaining more medical exposure. Several nights, Will and I stayed in the American clinic until 11 PM. We've been told that the Concha, the neighborhood surrounding the Clinica, is very dangerous at night. However, we have grown comfortable enough with the city to grab radio taxis back in the evening when it gets dark. One evening we were pressed to jog back without a taxi, and we still made it back safely. Nevertheless, I still hesitate to make walking from the Clinica an option during the evening... day-time, no problem.
Anyway, back to the medicine. The week continued to have its fair share of plastic surgeries. Nose jobs take the cake. The procedure seems to be associated with a status statement as some doctors have told me. Several new procedures were scheduled this week, but Will and I continued to get great exposure to laparoscopic cholecysectomies, rhinoplasties, and cesarean sections. Appendectomies (which I found out can also be done laparoscopically... go figure) made their appearance this week. I observed one surgeon repair hemorrhoids. One young patient had an orchidotomy (an elegant euphemism for dropping testicles). Another patient had a perineal abscess repaired (ask me about the process if you ever care enough to know, also very interesting!). Several hysterectomies were performed. One of which removed a tumor. But when discussing tumor removal, the one I saw compares very dimly to what my friends Will Royster and Nicole Haghaasdfjbasdkj saw while in Viedma (see their blog).
Despite blood, fecal accidents, and some surgical instruments inspired by the SAW-series, I have discovered that lack of anesthetics makes me most uncomfortable in the surgery room. Until this week, I have found surgeries procedural and painless. Yet, it was one of the smallest surgical procedures that I found most disturbing. A patient came in with a dislocated distal phalanges in his thumb. The patient was provided lidocaine for the first 20 minutes, but he was not unconscious. Every prick and push was accentuated with a painful groan or scream. The experience only underlines what I hear from Nicole and Will and past groups who have spent time in the Burn Clinic where children are under sedated, lack pain killers, face debridement and amputations and the painful process of recovery.
All in all, this experience is wonderful. I may be lacking the limited resources and painful stories found in the Burn Clinic, but I am still having to swim in unfamiliar waters. While I am improving my Spanish, I am still interacting with people I barely understand. I am seeing surgeries with much more ease than I would experience in the States. I am also experiencing an amount of independence in traveling and city living that could land me in serious trouble if I make stupid mistakes. I know that I'm becoming a better person from this.
A quick blurb on our weekend Chapare adventure. Six hours of beautiful Amazonian forest, rivers, waterfalls, and cliffs. Jumped off a cascade several times only after Nicole and our guide, Ghino, did so. Rappelled down a cliff for the first time. Stayed in a hostal for the first time. Got lost and nearly exhausted funds that would have stranded us in Villa Tunari. And finally took a last minute, God-send, taxi trufi back to Cochabamba during a rainy night with several near collisions head-on with 18 wheelers. Great bonding time, great spiritual refresher, and no regrets. Planning to finish up this last week with a light dose of AWESOME.
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