Surgery and Shalom

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Yesterday Dr. Iglesias told us that we would be observing surgeries at the hospital today. He also told us that while the OR is the one building at the hospital that does have air conditioning, there is a central control for all of the rooms, so if they are doing a C-section in one room, they have to turn off the A/C in all of the rooms, so that the baby doesn't get hypothermia. I'm sure many of you know that neither of us particularly enjoys surgery under the best of conditions, so the thought of being involved in surgery in a possibly very warm room caused us to approach today with some trepidation. Luckily, there were no C-sections today so the OR was nice and cool and it turned out to be a pretty good day. First we saw a tubal ligation and then we saw a repair for a woman whose bladder had prolapsed into her vagina. The surgeons used pretty much the same techniques that we've seen at home, but there were a few very big differences. The biggest is that they do not use disposable sterile gowns and drapes. Theirs are made out of the same material as scrubs, which is something we've definitely never seen before. They also didn't use a cauterizer or suction for excess blood, which are pretty much standard on any operation we've seen in the US. It was also interesting to see that the dynamics in the OR here are pretty much the same as at home - bossy OR nurses and cocky surgeons who make fun of their patients while they're under anesthesia. We ate our lunch in the open air hospital cafeteria next to 2 stray dogs which didn't seem to bother anyone besides me, but I managed to survive.

In the afternoon, we went to the Shalom orphanage which we hadn't been to before. When we arrived, the kids were still eating lunch, so we got to sit and hang out with them while they ate. The orphanage is run by an American Christian ministry, and they have their school on site, so the kids learn a lot of English. They were excited to show off their skills and asked me if I liked every food they could think of and then asked me if i liked my mom or my dad or my brothers. They also knew colors, numbers, and days of the week. It was fun because they knew enough so that they could teach me a few Spanish words and I was able to teach them a few new English words. We also took a few pictures of the kids and the little kids were soooo excited to see themselves on the LCD display on the camera. One little guy just could not get over it and stared at the picture for quite a while pointing to each child and saying their name over and over again. I love it that kids are so easy to entertain!

After they ate, we set up our clinic in a building out back. We saw a few kids with colds and allergies (nice to know pediatrics is pretty much the same everywhere) and one poor little guy with an ulcer in the back of his throat who was just miserable. Dr. Iglesias gave us a tour of the orphanage which used to be the house of one of the ex presidents who fled the country during the civil war (in the 80's) The grounds are very spacious with a nice playground for the kids. The ministry is apparently the biggest noncatholic religious presence in the country. They are funding a clinic nearby which will be staffed by Dr. Iglesias, some of the docs and students from his med school and visiting VCOM students. It sounds like it will be really great for the patients and the med students. Another interesting tidbit that we learned today is that Christian (aka non-Catholic) organizations use the star of David a lot in their logos in El Salvador, which is definitely appropriate since Christianity comes from Israel as well, it is just strange since it is almost always associated with Judaism in the US.

After work we went to the grocery store and bought some more fruits and veggies to try including maranon (a red japanese fruit that grows here and tastes kind of perfumey) ayote (tastes just like zucchini but is crazier looking) guindas (tiny littly green star shaped cherries that are SOUR) and more jocotes, pineapple and mangos. We also got chan seed which is the main ingredient in the drink we had at the buffet and made the drink out of them. Not as delicious as at the buffet but still pretty good. We bought a bunch so that we can bring some home.

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