It’s my first week in Mexicali, and it’s already been an interesting and educational one!   It took a few days to get hooked up to the internet – but I must say Telnor is certainly faster, more efficient (and cheaper!) that any internet service provider I’ve had before.

So far, everything has worked out with fewer complications that I’d expected, and I’ve already been back to the operating room with the good doctor, and visiting several of his patients.

Right now I am working on creating a pre-operative optimization protocol for the thoracic patients with one of the respiratory therapists at the Mexicali General Hospital.  (You may remember hearing about Jose Luis during my first visit.)  The doctor I am studying with is pretty easy-going but that doesn’t mean he lets things slide.  When I first proposed the ‘pre-op plan’ he said – “sure, sure, by all means… but I want to see a review of the literature on the items you want to include” (pulmonary toileting exercises, pre-operative beta blockade, patient teaching methods).  So, yeah – I’ve got homework, but I am enjoying the intellectual exercise.

I am almost finished with the English version of a patient education brochure, so once he looks it over – I’ll start trying to translate it into Spanish (with lots of help!)

Saw a couple of cases yesterday and Friday – including a pediatric case on a little tiny two-year old girl with an empyema, which meant I also got to meet one of the pediatric surgeons who was assisting on the case.