BREAK please?--EDITED

EDITED..because i realize my unedited version wasn't detailed enough...

So, I FINALLY have some time & energy to blog about the week. This week has been so packed! But, I really enjoyed it because I gained experience here that I probably NEVER would have gotten back in the states.

This week was my week at Hospital Civil, a hospital for the uninsured. Since I wanted surgery, I had to be there at 7am and I had to wake up at 5:30 ish to shower ...ugh. So,basically, during the mornings, we would do rounds with the residents with patients which was really cool because I felt like one of them as well :) The patients we saw were basically patients who has had surgeries the days before. It was interesting because I was able to hear a lot of medical terminology in Spanish while doing rounds, but at the same time, it was extremely difficult to understand. After rounds, we would wait to scrub in for surgeries. I loved it because it was my first time seeing surgeries, and it's so great that I got to be so up close and personal about it too! I learned a lot at this hospital especially because all the people there are so willing to explain everything to us. For instance, I had a question on the "Hartmann bag" that I read on the patient's chart and I asked one of the residents. He ended up going into a WHOLE elaborate explanation with board drawings and everything! :D He then showed us patients with the Hartmann bag. Basically, it's when the intestines, due to scar tissue from possible surgeries before, doesn't heal properly. So what happens is blockage. Your poop can't get through basically. What they do is the cut the intestines in half where the scar tissue is, and then connect one half to the outside of the stomach...and the bottom half is sealed. So you see a hole when they lift up their shirts with the tip of the intestine visible and a bag connected to it where your feces will just end up traveling too. We saw TONS of surgeries from appendectomies, hernias to big surgeries such as stomach bypass surgery due to a tumor, orthopedic surgeries, etc. In fact, Ally, Maggie and I loved surgery so much, we would voluntarily at night. So, on Wed and Thurs night, we went back for a night shift! Unfortunately, there wasn't too much going on in surgery so we went to Ob/Gyn where we saw live births and C-sections! We ended up going home at like...1-1:30am ish those two nights. I was planning to go back on Friday night, but I was way too exhausted for anything by Friday especially since my flats gave me 0 back support.

On Friday though, we switched out of surgery since we were only there for 3 days. We wanted to give others a chance at surgery, so I switched to Ob/Gyn since my other option was Peds. God knows I don't really prefer kids. It was so emotional even though I had seen live births nights before. This one woman was giving birth to her first child, so her vagina was kinda tight still. It was really really difficult for her to get the baby out since every time she pushed, it seemed like the baby's head was retracting in...Finally, the baby came out, but the baby's head was so big, it ripped her vaginal wall. So they had to suture it back. I guess the pain of child birth was so strong that nothing else compared because when they stuck a HUGE HUGE needle inside her vagina, she barely winced. When the baby came out of her...I was so filled with emotion. It's seriously SO surreal seeing a human life pop out of someone else and especially through SUCH a small hole. LOL. Seeing how much she had to go through for her baby, and seeing the baby finally out, I couldn't help but tear up. Makes me appreciate LIFE and mothers! I saw a second case where another woman was giving birth for the first time. This time however, the chief attending had to come in and perform the birth since the woman's vagina was too small. I freaked out because he had to use metal clamps to pull the baby out! But still, they couldn't get the baby out so what he did really SCARED the beejies out of me! HE CUT HER VAGINA! SNIP SNIP SNIP! OMG. There was so much blood...more than surgery I felt! Omg...it was kind of traumatizing. I'm seriously so scared to have a baby now. Haha. C-sections are scary, but LIVE BIRTHS are SCARY too!! :( All I know is, this is the best form of birth control ever. Lol. It's also interesting because in Mexico, they do not let ANYONE in with the mother who is giving birth...no friends or family. So the women are FREAKING out since they are alone. I personally think it sucks that they need to be alone during such an important and terrifying moment in their lives. I also got to witness a hystorectomy which is when a women needs to remove her uterus due to something such as cancer, which my mom had. It was a stressful surgery and the surgeon sweated through his scrubs and through the surgery coat he was wearing. He was literally sweating bullets. Okay, not literally. Anyways, I got to see the uterus and cervix just sitting there. Reminds me so much of my mom's case. She had her uterus removed at like...36 or something.

Also, on Friday, we got to attend a hospital wide class too and I got to learn about HPV in Spanish! Haha! Anyhow, I LOVED Hospital Civil. This is by far the BEST clinical experience I've had ... EVER. Up close and personal with surgeons...I mean, HOW cool is THAT! Plus, just the residents I've met and the doctors that I've talked to made it SO hard for me to leave this hospital. Hopefully, my next rotation will be awesome, but I know it won't match up to this. This experience has made me even MORE pumped up for the future! I know that this is definitely what I wanna do...not surgery in particular..but medicine! I love it!!!!

that large mass was a tumor. it was so big it was crushing the pathway leading from the stomach to the intestines so this patient was having trouble eating...so instead, the docs did a bypass and just sewed the two organs together so that he could eat again. they couldn't remove the tumor because it was too advanced. this surgery was crazy because this patient's intestines were just hanging out....omg....it was crazy..

awesome doctors! some of them are my age!!! makes me impatient!

the two nicest docs ever! the guy (dr. paul) on my left is only 22!!!! the guy on my right, dr. Tairi Mejia, is 27 and married...but extremely good looking. ^_____^

the craziest surgery I saw besides the stomach tumor ... this patient had a dislocated elbow, but she waited 21 days before seeing the doctor so in order to fix this, they had to do surgery since there was already fibrosis. LOOK at the drill in her elbow!!!!!!! also present is the tricep.

Anyhow, those past three days were the best, but also the most tiring! My shoes were HORRIBLE for support..and standing for hours on made my back hurt! Plus, 3 hour sleep for 2 nights really wore me down. So, I'M EXHAUSTED! AND, it's Muertos weekend, which makes everything a whole lot more crazy! Since I have HORRIBLE stamina, it's been hard for me to recover...in fact, I'm STILL so tired. I am also 2 weeks behind in reading! :( BUT, tomorrow is the big day! I need to be at Dra. Adela's house at 6:30 am to set up for the altar at the panteon which is basically the cemetery. I'm pretty excited! I'll definitely update you guy on Muertos once all this craziness has passed. I'm also happy because there's only 35 more days until I get to see my family! I mean, I LOVE Oaxaca and all its festivities and food, but I also miss my friends and family.

OH YEAH. Apparently, I've been getting these weird bites all over my body. They are not mosquito bites because these bites itch, but when I scratch them, they bleed and form like a scab...and it HURTS. =( They've bitten me in places where they are not supposed to and it hurts and it's ugly because it leaves a LINE of scabs! So, I found out they were FLEAS!!!! Ugh. I do shower btw...but my homestay mom says it's probably the people in pueblos since I went to Mitla...or the taxis/buses. But I wonder why they are only biting me...I must taste good or something. Anyhow, I gotta go buy some meds for myself and pick up laundry...and sleep more.. haha.

Adios amigos!