Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Almost to the End (unfortunately)

The closer it gets to Saturday, the more I want to change my flights and stay here longer. I've enjoyed my time here so much and I am really so sad that it's almost over. Both Monday and Tuesday mornings I was in the hospital and I saw the usual kinds of patients: motorcycle/car accidents, alcohol/drug intoxications, abdominal or chest pains, and wounds that needed stitches. I think I have seen at least one patient from each of these categories every day that I have been in the hospital which is concerning because supposedly the month of January is relatively calm since so many people are out of town on vacation. Since Argentina just recently had a change of President and governing political party, I've been told that a lot of people are choosing to stay home and save money because they're not sure how the economy is going to be for the next couple of months. Even still, if this is how the hospital is during a quiet month than I can't imagine how it is when everyone is back in town for school and work.

Tuesday night, I decided to do a night shift in la guardia and I had also been invited to an asado at the hospital that occurs every Tuesday night. An asado is a typical Argentine gathering similar to a barbecue back home where the menu consists of a large portion of beef or pork. They roasted a whole (but small) pig and cut it up for everyone to eat - it was delicious. This began around 10:30pm and once everyone had finished eating people sat around and chatted until almost 3am. Some of the doctors and residents were still working their shift so people would come and go but it was a relatively slow night in la guardia so there weren't many patients to see. Everyone asked me a lot about my life in California and the medical school process back home. People here really enjoy comparing life in Argentina to life in the US and I ended up talking so much for so long that I lost my voice today. I really enjoyed getting to know everyone on such a friendly level because things like this don't happen in hospitals back home - at least not the ones I've been to.

After the asado, I ended up going back home around 4:30am (technically this morning) and sleeping a bit so I could be back at the hospital at 8:30am to do my regular four hours of observation. By the time I went home around noon, I was so worn out that I took a 5 hour nap. Now I'm about to go to sleep again so that I can get up and do my second to last morning in the hospital. I really wish I had more time here in Cordoba to spend time in the hospital because I have been able to see and learn so much in the short time that I've been here but I am grateful for the experiences I've had and for the people I have gotten to spend time with here.

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