In the OR today I really started attempting to understand what they were saying or at least a little more in depth than my prior listening which led to only general impressions of what was going down: i.e. "And we've got a screamer ladies and gentlemen." I noticed the one thing I can understand is that the instruments' names are the same with one exception. When they call for any type of clamp, of which there are many, they call it a "Kelly". If they are handed the wrong type of clamp they say Kelly repeatedly until they get the one they desire. Now in the states we do have a kelly clamp and this clamp and its unfortunate name when I started out my first year in urology probably took years off of my life. One of my home attendings who is particularly scary and anxiety provoking (to the point where years and years of residents have made their careers revolve around avoiding him) uses this instrument a lot and always at best sounds extremely annoyed when he calls for it (at worst ferocious). Some day later in life I may just have PTSD attached to hearing my name.
Wednesday was national women's day, i think. As far as I can tell it means women (all young and old) get flowers. What a fabulous holiday! from this point forward I am going to enforce this holiday yearly in the states. On the way to the hospital beautiful flowers and their vendors lined the streets. Everyone stopping to buy them. It smelled wonderful.
This morning we explored the ICU and I found the most stark contrast to the western medicine I am used to. 40+ beds were stuffed into a medium sized room (tgh chest pain er bay only or 1/3 of the ice skating rink at Rockefelller Center). Patients in various stages of their Icu care (some intubated and some not) were side by side ("reach out and touch someone" side by side) without any type of divider or partition. Family members fed, bathed, and caressed their loved ones who were all merely covered by a sheet or blanket as the staff did their business. It is my understanding that staying in the hospital here costs approximately 90 cents a day regardless of level of care.
For our lunch/siesta break today we decided to head to the citadel. As an aside, I found out that even the school children get this 3 hour extravaganza. The citadel which is inside the old walled city of Hue, houses the palace that was the center of the Nguyen dynasty of Vietnam from 1802-1945. The grounds are quite expansive and in various stages of rehabilitation. In addition to the well manicured gardens and beautiful architecture there were Germans by the dozens thus explaining the weinerschnitzel that is found on at least three menus I have seen. Steve says any type of westerner is a new phenomenon since he began coming here 3 years ago. It is great for the economy and vietnamese accented German is quite intriguing to listen to, however we all leave a footprint, some larger than others. Also found in this complex is a fair amount of artillery that the U.S. left behind. After the citadel we wandered through back alleyways and just paid attention.
The excitement wasn't over for National Women's Day equals a department party at Breakfast 97 (a restaurant owned by one of the urologists). The food was excellent and never ending and the Huda beer was free flowing and also infinite in it's supply, so much so that I got showered in it. I guess if you are going to be doused in beer it might as well be your new favorite one right? Bottom line these people know how to party. Assuredly not the "stodgy" affair I was prepared for. And who was leading the beer pounding? The 4 ft nothing chicks we were there to celebrate. How it worked is they walked up and said "One beer". This meant: "pound your beer now". What ever happened to asians not metabolizing alcohol well? These people did not get that memo.
Pics: my new room, The citadel
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