Bean Soup with a Breast Surgeon

while everyone back in the states was picnicking and watching the fireworks, i was doing something quite different on July 4th. i got to observe surgeries at the Hospital Viera here in Teguc, shadowing Dr. Zelaya, a friend of Janet. the first surgery i observed was a orthoscopic knee surgery with Dr. Zelaya. i had seen one of these surgeries last year while at governor's school, and it was rather different than the one i saw yesterday, which shows the differences in medical technology and advancements between the two countries. the second surgery i saw was a breast reduction and lift....talk about a crazy surgery!!!! it was so incredible though. the anesthesiologist was at least two inches shorter than me, with 4 inch wedges on...yes she actually wore wedges into the operating room, with the surgical booties over top, no less. hilarious. one thing i realized very quickly was that it is ten times more difficult to understand spanish when the people speaking it have surgical masks on. i felt like a complete idiot when the head surgeon spoke to me because i had to ask her to repeat everything. she asked me if i liked beans. i said yes. then she asked if i liked bean soup. i said sure. then she asked if i had had any yet. i said no. then she asked if i wanted some. i said "now?" and everyone laughed and said the hospital cafeteria makes excellent bean soup and that she was going to take me to have some for lunch after the surgery. some how i managed to get all of this in spanish, after a few repetitions at least. the surgery was very long and the anesthesiologist and the surgeon (both women, by the way) were worried i was going to fall over...i must have looked rather out of it. i was fine though...the surgery technique was absolutely fascinating-i won't go into details, but i was definitely in awe. unfortunately the surgery lasted longer than expected, so the surgeon couldn't have bean soup with me in the hospital cafeteria. perhaps next time :) i'm supposed to go back sometime this week for some "neat" surgeries that Dr. Zelaya has planned, so we'll see. sorry i've been slacking on the blog, i will definitely try to keep up!!!