Just Call Me Eva Brandes, M.D...

Ok, so I'm not anywhere near being a doctor, but I sure felt like one today!! On the way to the hospital, Dr. Obregon asked me if I wanted to scrub in for one of the hernia surgeries today. I thought, "Wow, how nice that he is inviting me to be in closer where I can see better." So, we get to the hospital and Dr. Obregon's assisstant was teaching me how to scrub in. I got done and told him I'd wait right inside the OR while he scrubbed so he could show me how to get all the sterile stuff on in there. At this point, he informed me that he was not scrubbing in since I was assissting. I tunred around and made eye contact with him, just to make sure he was still talking to me, and sure enough, he was looking right at me. "Alright," I think to myself, "I think I can do this," and I get into all my gear. I am not a sterile field. Hannah, you would love this. Every time anyone gets within two feet of you, you get to tell them, "Don't touch me!!" I thought of you and it made me chuckle. So, we start the procedure, and before I know it, Dr. Obregon is asking me to hold things and cut things and stuff the omentum (the stuff that comes out in the hernia) back up into the stomach. We also found an undescended testicle which Dr. O had me remove after careful instruction. We closed him up and Dr. O said I had done so well, he was wondering if I wanted to scrub up for the next procedure, which was a gallbladder removal. So, I did. His normal assisstant did too. That's a little more extensive of a prodcedure and it took all three of us. It was unbelieveable. He's going to have me scrub up for some more, maybe tomorrow, and definately next week, since some of our workers are leaving on Sat and they will be short in the OR. YAY!

I was back in the PACU this afternoon, which was alright. We were able to discharge a lot of our patients, so there wasn't a ton to do. I spent about an hour and a half talking to these two young girls who wanted to learn some English. It was pretty fun trying to talk to them. They know just a little English and I know so little Spanish, but we were able to communicate quite well still. They were absolutely precious. They asked me to stay down here and be their English teacher. hahaha. It was so cute.

They do not provide toliet paper in the facilities around here, which I was aware of, and brought my own. I realized today how quickly I was going through it, and realized I probably should have been rationing it since I might not have enough to last the whole trip. I might be waiting on a loaves and fishes miracle before the next week is through. ha. Realistically, it shouldn't be a problem. I haven't asked yet, but I'm sure I can borrow from other members of the team.

Four more members showed up last night. One of them is the guy who does cleft lips and palates. He brought some pictures of some work he has done. It is incredible what he can do for those kids! He started seeing some of them today and will begin those surgeries on Mon.

His wife is an absolute God-send. Oh my gosh, what an answer to prayer she is!!!!!!! She started a conversation with me today asking if I had ever thought about med school, which led us to talking about the whole process I have gone through in deciding what I want to be doing, and what draws me to different fields and what my concerns are. She was telling me about some observations about my personality and desires that she had made in the 24 hours that she has been here, and it was AMAZING what she had picked up on. There were moments when I felt like she was describing me better than I can describe myself! She styarted giving me some advice and insight that she thought might help in processing everything, but I had to leave becfause my lunch was over and I needed to get back to work. I was pretty bummed about that. She came up to the PACU later this afternoon to finish the conversation and it was so encouraging and helpful! She had some great thoughts and the whole time she was speaking I was overwhelmed with the feeling that God was speaking to me so directly through her. I don't have a great conclusion about where everything isgoing, but I am definately beginning to have a returning sense of peace about where I am at and I have a MUCH better idea of what my different options are and stuff like that. I hope I have more chances to talk to her before the trip is over.
The strike ended today which was good. We were going to go downtown tonight since we could finally drive safely. The surgical team gets back much later than the clinical team (all of our days at the hosp have been btwn 12-13 hours!), so by the timewe got home, theclinical team had eaten dinner and they were ready to hit the road. They dicided to take one bus load downtown, drop them off, and come back to get us, since we would be done eating by then. When they got back, they returned with one of our doctors and one of the Bolivian workers, Willie. He apparently has a kidney stone. So, we took some time to get him settled and figure out what we were going to do about that, and then it was so late, it wasn't worth making the trip downtown, since we would have been there for about 15 mintues before heading home. So, here we are again! Please pray for Willie. He is in a lot of pain.
I'm not sure if I will get the chance to email again before next week. We have plans for the evenings and for the weekend. But then again, I didn't think I would have the chance tonight either, and here we all are. So who knows. Just in case I don't get another message out, someone better email me and tell me how badly the Vikes beat the Eagles. I will be checking my email Sun night for sure!!
We are ready to leave, so I am done. I love you all. Thank you for your prayers and emails.

Eva Joy : )

mom-can you make me an appt with Val for Sat, the 22nd? thanks.