Día 6

Unfortunately, this is an early week. We have to be at the hospital a las siete y media todos los días (7:30 everyday). And I'm not a morning person, to say the least.

We get there this morning and meet the doctor that will be taking care of us during our week in the surgery wing. He tells us that today, there are two very important procedures, and that we can watch either. The first is something called a Kasai procedure. Basically, your liver produces a substance called bile that drains through ducts into your intestines to help with the digestion of your food. Whenever those ducts are blocked, your body can't effectively digest food. This procedure basically removes the blocked ducts, takes part of your intestine and creates a new passageway for the bile to drain. The other procedure that we can watch is a colostomy. In this particular colostomy, the patient's colon needs to be inserted into the rectal muscles so that he/she can control her bowel movements. Currently, they have no control over this and suffer from incontinence. We chose to watch this procedure, but I won't go in to detail about what we saw, as I know most of you don't have to stomach that I do when it comes to blood and guts.

Although their quirofanos (operating rooms) are not as pristine as ours, they get the job done. They only have the materials they need for the particular procedure, and they only have basic machines at their disposal. Surprisingly, the rooms were nicer than I expected. After what I had seen in the urgency room, this was really nice (although nothing compared to the US). If you can imagine what a hospital would look like in a poor and run down area of town - maybe like The Projects, for example - this is what we are working with. Maybe that's an exaggeration, but it's the best comparison I can make. I'll try to snap a picture this week if I can! Anyway, the area where the patient is being worked on is obviously sterile and they take this very seriously - thank God. Although we are in close proximity with the work area, I feel at least a bit more comfortable here. Sadly, laproscopic procedures (or minimally invasive procedures - google it), are not common and I wish there was some way I could change that. The risk for infection in this hospital is high enough as it is, and for the insides of these children to be so exposed to the air and other bacteria - it really does scare me. I want them to have an easy and healthy recovery, and watching the doctors pretty much pull intestines in and out of the child's stomach - it freaks me out. I don't see how this is safe, let alone what they were taught in Medical School. But I guess they do it all the time.

Anyway, since we are so sick of la comida en la cafetería, we decide to ask the guy who picks us up from work to take us to a place that  is cheap and has local Dominican food. Best idea ever. We go to this place where we get our entire meal for 150 pesos. And let me tell you, it was at least 3 times the amount of food we got in the cafeteria, and 100 times better. Today, I indulged in arroz blanco, habichuela, y carne de pollo (white rice, habichuela - which is a lot like charro beans, and chicken). I finished my meal with empanaditas de dulce (empanadas filled with sweet guava sauce, and covered in sugar). This is the only type of empanada that I can bring myself to really enjoy.

We get home around 2 and spend most of the afternoon just lounging around. We originally had plans to go to the Blue Mall, but those get tossed by the wayside when Danny, our country director, stops by to see how our jobs are going and to wish my roommate, Christina, a happy birthday. I guess the Blue Mall will have to wait until later this week - which I can't wait for. This mall has 6 floors, and a ridiculous amount stores. An entire floor is nothing but rich people stores (Louis Vuitton, Cartier, etc.), one is nothing but food and a movie theater, the top is an entire play place for kids, and the rest of the floors are for the normal people. Lots of boutiques, tons of shoe stores - basically, it's heaven. Me and the other girls can't wait to spend an afternoon here! It'll be some much needed retail therapy.

Well, I have an early day tomorrow, along with the rest of the week, so I'm off to bed! Hasta mañana mis amores! (See you tomorrow, my loves!)