09.09.09!!!

Today was a fairly good day. I’m getting used to being here and starting to figure things out. The way they practice medicine here is a quite a bit different than the US so it’s a bit hard to pick things up. It makes me look like I don’t know what I’m doing I think when it’s more that things are just different. For instance, I’d say there about 10-20 years behind the US as far as medical technology, at least at this hospital. Their x-ray machine is old school and they have to develop their own films in a dark room. They have a pretty good ultrasound though and there is no CT or MRI at this hospital. We had a emergent appendectomy today which was really interesting; I was just observing. It was open technique, no laparoscopy available here. Their sterile dressing were all cloth; no disposable material like we have in the states. All the equipment was pretty old. The anesthesia machine was old school. It did have a sat monitor, pulse, and BP, but no heart monitoring or CO2 monitoring. They used isoflurane, with the option for halothane or one other I can’t remember, no desflurane. I’m not sure how they induced anesthesia. So, anyway, things are different, but they do a pretty great job with what they have and the surgery today went really well. I was also able to be involved in a motorcycle accident in the ER, which was great. The guy broke his radius and ulna was all and had a few scrapes, we put him in a neck brace and got x-rays of c-spine, lumbar spine, and pelvis just in case. It was pretty fun day.
I’m meeting lots of new people. This guy, Willhelm, I met is the unofficial tour guide for the area. If everything works out, he’s going to take me around on Friday to see a bunch of the Mayan sites in the area. I’m excited for that since that was one of the big things I wanted to do while I was here. It’s amazing how nice people are here. They are always smiling and saying “Hi” to me in the hall. They just seem to be open to accept anyone, at least most of them. I think we could learn a few things from them in the US. Anyway, things are going good and I’m excited to see what the rest of the week holds. Until next time . . .