So my roommate Kristen returned to the U.S. last weekend and now it’s just me and my host mom here plus other students. Things have definitely taken a turn for the laidback. There’s not anything particularly exciting happening, but I will tell you about my clinical experiences this week.
The doctor I’m following around is a gynecologist. My first day there he had a surgery and while we waited for his to begin we observed some other surgeries in progress (a total hysterectomy, a surgery for infertility problems, and another for urinary incontinence). Dr. Salazar’s (the one I follow) surgery was to remove a myoma on a woman’s uterus. He was doing it by laproscopy but when he went to sew up the uterus it wasn’t working so he had to make another incision to suture the uterus properly. It was kind of interesting. That was Monday.
On Tuesday, there were consultations. I saw a lot of pap smears and vag. exams, which was actually a lot of what I saw today as well. However, in the morning Dr. Salazar was doing colopscopies, basically to view the cervix and neck of the uterus. That was more interesting than consults in my opinion.
One of the more interesting things that I was able to see on Tuesday was a prolapsed uterus. This old woman (76yr) was saying she had been having this problem of her uterus prolapsing, so the doctor was basically like…yeah we can do a hysterectomy.
So that has been my clinical experience so far this week. As far as things I’ve been doing to hang out…the past two days after clinic I’ve gotten lunch, gone online, and walked over to the Basilica. I discovered the other day that this week they have 24 hr adoration at the chapel connected to the Basilica. The adoration is with special intention of creating holy priests, families, and fight for the right to life. When I was there praying a woman talked to me and asked me where I was from. She gave me a holy card and a rosary that she said (if I understood correctly) was made in a monastery. She told me it was a great protection if worn around my neck. Anyway, it was really nice of her to take a special interest in me. After adoration, I stayed around the Basilica and went to a nearby café to read 1984.
Today I did basically the same thing, I went to pray at the Basilica, read more of 1984, and hung around there until the 6 o’clock Mass. While I was waiting, this woman came up to me—she looked indigenous and she was selling mandarins and grapes. Here’s how it went (roughly):
Por favor mi hijita, quiere mandarinas o uvas? Son muy dulces. Dulces!
No tengo hambre.
Para despues.
Ah no, gracias
Por favor, ayudame. Son muy dulces.
Cuantos cuestan?
Siete por un dolar. (Once I asked the price she started getting out a bag and bagging my mandarins, which I had yet to commit to buying)
Y por uno?
Siete por un dolar. (She wasn’t having me only taking one…and at that point I basically caved)
Solamente tengo un cinco, tiene cambio?
Si.
Ok. (So I got mandarin oranges and she was right they were very sweet and delicious. I even had just a one dollar bill, so I didn’t even need change. I’m glad I bought them. I’ve been missing fresh fruit at all my meals.
At the Mass in the evening, it was the feast of San Pedro y San Paul. The priest gave a great homily. He had a lot of fervor. Also, it was cool to hear the Spanish version of the gospel where Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him. In Spanish they differentiate between when Jesus says Agape and Philos. Jesus asks Peter, me amas? And Peter replies Te quiero. And then in the end Jesus says me quieres, and Peter says Te quiero. I thought it was cool that it was differentiated unlike in English where we just have the one word.
After communion, a old woman sat next to me in the pew I was in, different from which ever one she was in before. She started talking to me during Mass and was like, De donde eres? Cual Estado? Ah y la capital de Indiana es Indianapolis no? It was nice of her, but I also kind of felt bad because she reeked and I didn’t want to breath through my nose. I suppose she hadn’t bathed in sometime. But at the end of the Mass, the priest was blessing people with holy water and she was like, come on you need to get the water. People are so much more enthusiastic about blessings here. Anyway, that was interesting.
That’s all for now. Tomorrow is a bit of a celebration with all the students and then Friday I’m going to a traditional medicine hospital in Otavallo. It should be interesting as they pass a cuy over the person’s body to detect illnesses. Although, in all actuality I may not post about it seeing as it’s one day before I leave.
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