Oct 11, 2007 - New Hospital

So, I have been at the same hospital for almost two months, and I decided that was enough of consistency :) I am not leaving my current hospital, but I was given a chance to, a few days a week, go to another hospital and shadow other doctors. It sounded like a good idea, and so I entered the world of...Centro Medico Talk about a different world. I thought my hospital was big, with it's funny hallways going everywhere and little departments springing up everywhere. Centro Medico is gigantic, much less one hospital as a complex of buildings...

Oct 9, 2007 - IV baby

So, today at the hospital I actually did something. And by that I mean, I totally put an IV in someone!! It was really cool. I have been tagging along behind the nurses every time they put an IV in someone, which incidently is every patient we have. I have asked each of them how it is done, and then little things, like which vein they are going to use, why they hit the hand before they put in the needle, so on and so forth. So theoretically I know how to do it, but the hardest part of the IV is sticking it in, checking that you're in the...

Oct 8, 2007 - Mexican Concert

Another lovely weekend in Mexico. Friday night was spent making the cake (as I might have mentioned). Saturday I went to the big gigantic market, San Juan de Dios. The Projects Abroad staff took us there our first day, and Leonie and I were terrified. We were positive we would not make it out alive. So going back we wanted to be sure we didn't get lost. So we took Carlos (one of the staff). That was fun, Leonie bought a giant Mexican sombrero. She has wanted one forever, and was so happy to get this one. I got some DVD's, not what I was...

Oct 6, 2007 - Lets make a cake

Famous last words: Lets make a cake. Ok, so, Leonie and I love cake. A couple weeks ago Leonie said she wanted cake, and I responded with "ok, lets go to the store, buy a mix and make ourselves a cake". Leonie's eyes got huge, she was shocked. Mixes are no way to make a cake! So she wrote to her parents and received a few good German recipes, the real cake. Last night was the appointed night for our cake adventure. Wow, what a cultural experience. Taking Leonie to the grocery store I mean. She spent like, ten minutes rejoicing over the...

Oct 3, 2007 - Oh boy

So, I get to see surgery now! Not in my hospital, oddly enough, but in another one. The doctor that sets up our program also works in a smaller, private hospital. So there we can see plastic surgery, which sounds pretty cool. Actually, today I had the adventure of finding the place. See, Carlos was going to take me, but then that would have been later in the day, so I decided I could find it on my own. I know, aren't I a genius. Well, it wasn't really on my own as my host dad knew where it was and drew me a really good map. But I managed...

Sep 27, 2007 - Three Day Weekend!

For some reason that has never been explained to me, health workers in Guadalajara have the day off tomorrow. I don't know why, all I know is only those with guardia (those that have to stay another shift) have to go tomorrow. This is really exciting because it means I get more than three hours of sleep tonight. I don't know what I will do when I'm not so tired I almost fall over on Fridays. I haven't gotten as much sleep as I wanted since the very first week I was here. Which reminds me, I have now been here six whole weeks. Wow that's...

Sep 25, 2007 - A wax museum and a quiet ER

Sunday I went to Guadalajara's wax museum. Ok, so it's not Madame Tusauds, but it was fun, and nice not to be the only tourists in a place. There were lots of people I didn't know and a really random mix of people I did. Like, Nicole Kidman and Brad Pitt but no Tom Cruiz or Jennifer Lopez. George Bush was right next to Saadam Hussein and Mao Ze Dong, I had to laugh. There was a horror part, but luckily we went through just behind some little children. Not only did they get all the stuff that jumped out at them first, but they were even more...

Sep 21, 2007 - CAT scans and X-rays

Hooray for another Friday! I am really looking forward to this weekend, maybe because I'm just so tired by the end of the week. Cool things are happening at the hospital though. The doctors in the ER are really nice, always willing to explain things if there is time. And unlike in Peds, there is often time to show me cool things like the X-rays. Yesterday was pneumonia day in our ward, 2 of our 5 patients had pretty serious pneumonia. So I learned stuff like what was wrong with their X-rays, and the different kinds of pneumonia. Today we...

Sep 19, 2007 - ER

So, I am in my new rotation now! It was a trick, the first day, to find the ER. One would think a rather important part of the hospital like the ER wouldn't be hidden away so carefully. But ours is, tucked in a winding hallway. It has lots of exits though, like, the most I have seen in any part of the hospital. I feel like it's so people can get away easily, but I don't know why that would be necessary. Anyway, it is cool. Much tamer than you see on TV, I saw more blood in the maternity ward than I have seen in ER. Most people come in with...

Sep 17, 2007 - Independence Day

Sunday was Mexico's independence day. That's cool...not that I could tell. See, I couldn't actually tell that it was independence day. There have been flags and lights and ribbons for a week now, and there were no more and no less on Sunday than any other day. There was apparently a parade, but I skipped that for a rodeo. The rodeo was pretty cool! It was a classic rodeo, with lots of men on horses in big hats. I have never seen a rodeo before, so that was pretty cool. They made their horses do some really cool stuff. I was amazed how fast...

Sep 15, 2007 - One Month

So it's official, I have been in Mexico exactly a month. That means I am a fourth of the way done with my entire Mexican adventure. A whole month...it seems like a really long time. A lot has happened, I have met so many people. I have learned so much, and not just about the hospital. Honestly, being away from home has gotten wierder instead of more normal. I'm used to going on trips, but never before have I been on a trip that lasted a month. Well, not on my own anyway. A whole month. Mexico definatly doesn't feel like home, but it does...

Sep 13, 2007 - Another kind of adventure

So, last night I went bike riding. Before I left, Irene informed us it was going to rain. This is not unusual, I think the four times I have gone bike riding, three of them have been in light drizzle to real rain. So I threw a sweatshirt in my basket, it being far to warm to actually wear it. Off we went, on a longer bike ride. It was going to be really cool, they told us. Then, the prophesied rain started. We all screamed and rang our bells, ready to defy Nature like we defy traffic laws. Then it started to really rain. And then...I cannot...