Blog 26

Blog 26: 10/30/08

My second day at Hospital ISSSTE was tough. In the ICU, being aggressive takes a lot of energy, and after a while I couldn't keep asking the doctors and med school students to explain every little thing. To really learn in that environment, you need to have the requisite knowledge they teach you in medical school. So I decided I'm going to switch to cirugia(surgery) tomorrow, or at least gynecology. Overall, it was a pretty relaxed day. One thing that I don't like about ISSSTE is how hard it is to move from one department to the other. I have to go to the administrative department and get permission (which is contingent on if the lady is even there that day) in order to move from ICU to surgery.

On a side note, one thing I noticed about Hospital ISSSTE is that it's pretty well funded. They have pretty good landscaping, and the hospital is relatively well taken care of, especially in comparison to Hospital Civil.

So far, my favorite rotation has been through the surgery department of Hospital Civil. It's very easy to switch rooms or departments to find what I wanted to see. And most days there were tons of interesting surgeries going on. I'm trying to get Hospital Civil to be my last rotation on this trip, but it's extremely sought after by the other students, so the only thing I can really do is pray. I'll definitely start going on the weekends to see surgeries, being that I don't have many more chances to be there, before and after Puerto Escondido. Also, there's a ton of work to do before this quarter ends. I have a 10 page individual research paper, a 10 page group research paper, and a final paper....YIKES. I've got to jump on that horse quick or else it's not going to get done.

Comida was good today. At Becari, many home-stays made tamales, and luckily there was manteca-free tamales for me to eat. It was really good, and I was pretty satisfied. Dia de los muertos (Day of the Dead) is coming up, and there were little kids dressed up as skeletons and zombies. They performed a dance for our group, which was pretty cute. Dia de los muertos are actually two days in Mexican culture. The two days are dedicated to honoring dead children and adult family members once a year, by making them altars. In Mexico, they actually celebrate the dead instead of mourning them, which is really interesting. The rituals and customs are derived from pre-Spanish cultures, and combined with Catholicism. It's going to be on Friday and Saturday, so I'll definitely take pictures and keep everyone posted. I'll also keep everyone posted about my surgery experiences tomorrow. Salamz.