First day in the OR

Estoy muy cansada. En la manana, me fui a la Clinica Guemes donde Dr. Rene Cadillo esta trabajando esta semana. Es un anestesiologo... (mas en espanol un otro tiempo.)
  
(I am very tired. In the morning I went to the Clinica Guemes where Dr. Rene Cadillo is working this week.  He is an anesthesiologist.) We went back and forth between four OR's all morning.  I saw some of the surgeries but not much.  More later.  Today I tried to focus on using as little English as possible (although Rene speaks wonderful English).  And started to learn about anesthesia. The surgeries included a carpal tunnel surgery, one for large nodules on a mans hand caused by gout, a hysterectomy and more. 

**(NERD ALERT) The coolest thing was the way they do the nerve block (stop the nerve from transmitting anything) for the hand surgery.  Dr. Cadillo uses an insulated needle except the tip is exposed.  He puts it into the arm with some voltage and can tell when he is close to the nerve because the arm starts to move.  Depending on which muscles move he can tell which part of the brachial plexus (nerves to the arm) he is near!  I thought this was very cool.  Then he can block only the nerves that he needs too!**

All in all it was a great experience and it is clear there will be more to come. After the OR I figured out how to buy a bus card because otherwise you have to pay with peso coins and these are nearly impossible to find. I found a great lunch spot where I successfully ordered a Quiche like thing and a salad with beets, eggs, and carrots.  Yum!  I successfully rode the bus to class and made it home too.
 
I am off to clean up for dinner at Rene's house with his family!  And to figure out how to get a taxi there. Chau.