Shadowing (but more than a penumbra)

Today, I had the privilege of observing at the Universidad de Chile Hospital in the otorhinolaryngology department (ear, nose, and throat, that is).  The opportunity came about pretty randomly.  My host-cousin is a first-year student at the Universidad de Chile in medicine (the seven-year program to be a doctor).  I brought up the observation I had done last year, and mentioned that it would be an excellent experience if I would be able to observe at a hospital here.  He told me that he had a connection, but I didn't really expect to work out.  The next day, he called me and told me the observation was ready to go and that he would lend me his lab coat because that was the only thing I was required to have.

And so it was.  I was unofficially Raúl Parada for the day.  I shadowed/observed at the hospital from about 8AM until 4PM.  The original doctor I was supposed to shadow with never showed, probably due to the flooding that has occurred over the past few days.  So, when I got there with my cousin, another doctor approached us and said that I would be with her for the day.  My cousin left, and I started the day with Doctora Constanza Valdés.  The first part of the day I was with a small team of a few doctors, a resident, and a sixth year medicine student.  First, whole team went around to all of the beds in the department and the student summarized there situations.  From about 9-12, I was in the clinic observing basic consultations with "my team."  I was kind of uncomfortable for several reasons.  I suppose first of all because language and cultural differences.  Also I don't think they have many people that observe, and I threw most people off even more because I was wearing an official U. Chile lab coat.  Therefore, if I didn't open my mouth, people just assumed I was either a doctor, a resident, or a U. Chile medicine student.  By the end of the morning, I had conversed with everyone in the team a little bit.

I also had a "personal" meeting with the boss of the otorhinolaryngology dept.  He summoned Dr.
Valdés and I because he wanted to know why he didn't know I was there observing.  He talked with the doctor for a bit trying to figure out how this happened, but he didn't really seem to upset.  I apologized for any problem I might have caused, but he said "it's not a problem, it's a pleasure."

I got to each lunch with Dr. Valdés and another doctora from the team.  They were both young, apparently not too recently out of school, and they talked to me as a peer or a friend, not like some kid who came to get in there way.

After lunch, it was arranged for me to go observe in the operating room.  When I got there, I was introduced to a Juan Pablo.  He was also very friendly and helpful.  When we got the room, he introduced me to the doctor who had volunteered to help me out.  He had a lot to say.  We walked around the whole facility and he showed me there equipment and shared his general perspective on medicine.  During the procedure he told me how Juan Pablo is studying for his Ph.D. (kind of like the combined degree M.D./Ph.D. in the U.S.).  After the surgery was over, he left me with Juan Pablo.  The last part of the day with him, was really great.  He is a really young guy, maybe 27, and he (along with most of the younger doctors) seemed like a real person and treated me like one.  Sometimes being a doctor seems so unachievable, and doctors themselves don't really seem like real people.  But, I saw that he wasn't that different from me.

In the afternoon, I watched him repair one of those hollowed-out ear piercings.  The girl wanted to joined the Carabineros (the Chilean police), but members aren't allowed to have piercing like that.  The surgery involved removing the extra skin that had grown around the hole, and suturing the whole back together.  He had it sowed back up in a jiffy, but, due to the deformation that had occurred to the lobe, there was a bulge of excess tissue.  So, he had to "doctor" it a bit.  Because of this, the surgery ended up being about twice as long.  During the second part, I was really starting to wonder.  He kept having to excise a bit more, then a bit more, then see how it looked, then excise some more.  This was a really good experience too because it was just a normal procedure, not necessarily a really "cool" one.  It's important that I understand all the duties of a doctor, not just the "cool" ones.

There's obviously a whole lot I have left out.  I told Mom I would have to make a movie about it to be able to explain everything.  It was a really great day, and my perspective of medicine was advanced because of it.

In other news....

At lot of the different campus of U. Chile have been occupied or taken over by students lately.  They (apparently) do this frequently as a form of protesting the universities policies.  The past two Thursdays, the school of art has been taken over, so I didn't have my Chilean culture class.  Also, last Tuesday the philosophy and humanities students were on strike, so I didn't have Latin class.  I just received an email saying that the philosophy and humanities campus is going to be taken over next week, so my classes that are pure foreigners will be taught at another campus.  That doesn't include my Latin class, so I guess I don't have that on Tuesday!  Additionally, even though I was planning on skipping Latin class today, the university was closed due to flooding.

I can't think of any other news right now.