Back at it.

(A rare winter cloudy sky Sunday, when we arrived in Cafayate.  Hasn't been a cloud since.)

We arrived happily in Cafayate Sunday evening and have been enjoying sleeping late and relaxing.  This is the start of a two week school winter vacation so Cafayate is buzzing with Argentinian tourists and others as well.

Feeling a bit back to normal today. After a few days of pure vacation and practice with castallano (more common here than espanol). I am back in the swing of things. I started this morning at the hospital in Cafayate, under the guidance of Dr. Carlos Vargas, general surgeon.

My walk to work at sunrise.

This morning when I arrived, Dr. Vargas was doing diagnostic ultrasound. Here, gallbladder problems are very common, so mostly, that is what he looks at. I saw two normal gallbladders before we continued to rounds. From about 8-9 all of the doctors (and I think head nurses) round on all the patients in the hospital. I would estimate that there are about 10 beds for children and 10 for adults with an additional 4 each for intensive care. There is also a labor and delivery area that is pretty small, but has space for about 8 newborns. During rounds I was introduced to everyone and especially to Norma, the head doctor (I think).

Next we went to the quirofano (OR) I had a little more chance to get to know the other doctor, intrumentador y enfermera (nurse) there. They all complimented my spanish, especially once they found out that I haven't taken classes before. I of course appreciated that and then continued to miss half of what they said. It was really good to be back to speaking spanish. And while some of the other doctors (on rounds) clearly speak some english, they know I want to learn spanish and the folks in the quirofano seem pretty limited to spanish. I am very happy about this.

There was a laporoscopic cholycystectomia first this morning (have I mentioned that they are very common). They were unable to simply pull the gallbladder out when it was detached because it was so full of stones. I knotw this because they needed to remove the stones. If I had to esimate I would say that there were a good 3 tablespoons of stones before they successfully removed it.

After the first surgery there was a little down time so Dr. Vargas gave me a tour of the rest of the hospital, did an ultrasound on an ER patient and introduced me to the director of the hospital. Everyone gave me warm welcomes and invited me to do whatever I want while I am here.

For the second surgery, I scrubbed in! (first time) (means I got totally washed and dressed in sterile garb, and got to help (kinda). The surgery was a hernia repair and they debated on whether it was an old direct hernia or a new one, but I didn't understand the resolution. I held a retractor and was able to feel the hernia before repair. It was great to be as close as I was because it was a lot easier to see how careful and deliberate every movement and cut was. They nicely explained all of the layers of fascia (connective tissue) and exactly what they were doing. Again, all in castallano.

That was it for the surgeries today. Tomorrow is c-section day.

I left the hospital and got a cab to La Estancia for a nice late lunch with Dave, however, power is out here so I am blogging and waiting to see if it comes back on.

My walk home.

Don't worry Dan, there is a place for visitors to play futbol while they wait (v. the neighborhood kids.)