This blog has conditions

Do not read this blog IF:

Your first name begins with the letter C
You are into philosophy, religion, or basketball
House is your favorite TV show
You do not like eating Quiche for dinner
You have recently hiked near/at Ramona Falls on Mt. Hood, OR
The words, "Hubba, hubba" have meaning to you
You can not eat spicy foods
You like to play golf
Or the game that shall not be named
You have mowed your backyard with a push mower
And start fires with starter logs


You have been warned.


This week I have been in several different areas of the Hospital and I feel pretty special because a lot of the Residents know me. Yea, I'm special =) I've learned the more you try and talk Spanish the more you learn they really appreciate it and will try and let you participate more by sneaking you into the cafeteria. It's awesome!

OB/GYN is probably my favorite part of the hospital. I have been able to see two vaginal births (sin medication) and a hysterectomy. I can honestly say that I never want a hysterectomy in my life. Ever. I have yet to see a C-section but am determined to see one before I leave.

The workings of the hospital are very different than those in the US. I could not even begin to describe all the ways. A very obvious one in OB is that there is no nursery. Babies stay with their moms and that means if mom needs to sleep, go to the bathroom, take a shower baby is hanging out on the bed the entire time. Today one kiddo had a fit when his mom left to take a shower so I swiped him and walked him up and down the halls until mom was ready for him again.

Yesterday there was a taxi... hold up? on the way to the hospital. The buses could not get through and kicked us all off. I was with three others and we took our time walking the rest of the way to the hospital (1.5 miles). Hundreds of taxis blocked major intersections of the streets and there was bags of garbage blocking the smaller ones. This went on in various parts of the city all day and ended on a street close to my place last night.

Oaxaca is a very political state. People are very involved in what is going on around them and have a lot to say. Why this particular event was happening know one could give me a straight answer.

Taxi hold up near Crespo

In surgery I watched an amputation. If that was not clear: they cut off that man's foot. As in his FOOT. Better? I am not sure whether to be amazed and think this is the coolest thing ever or feel sorry for the man. He is about 61 years old, has severe diabetes, and it was infected. The man was also awake during surgery. I think they gave him an epidural.

Burning skin/muscle from bone: Fibula and Tibia already sliced

The man's FOOT

 There is a fourth year resident that is charged with making sure we stay out of trouble. He was also the one that amputated the man's leg. I want his autograph. Instead I got a picture. Almost as good. Almost. If I printed it do you think he would sign it?

Dr. Jesus, Kirstin, Me, His friend

One of the other residents is in the picture as well. It was the only way we could talk the resident into taking a picture with us.

There is a Doctor that meets with us once a week to explain how the health care system works in Mexico, she also over looks our rotations, and ensures we are having a good experience. Tonight was our last night meeting with her. We talked more about Diabetes, Hyper tension, and other common diseases in Oaxaca.

All the gringos with Dr. Maggali

El museo de Santa Domingo y bicicletas

The Guelaguetza is starts on Monday but the town has been gearing up all week and there have been parades almost every evening. I learned that Mexico has a traditional two month vacation in July and August. A lot of people do not have work which gives them ample time to celebrate their culture.

Wondering around town

Circus rides/games along one of the streets

 Saturday I went to a museum in town. It is next to a cathedral, Santa Domingo, and used to be a convent. There are a lot of ex-convents in town that have been renovated.

The first place we went to in the museum was a huge library. It contained books from the 1400s.

HUGE library

 This is a copy of an old map. The indigenous people in the area drew it to show the land boundary lines. Several years back a group of people were having an argument with the government about land rights. The indigenous people brought out this ancient map to prove that the land was theirs. The government let them keep their land, but they took the map and put it into a museum across town.

One of the many elaborate ceilings

There are a lot of artifacts from the Aztec, Mixtec, and Zapotecs.

Botanical garden that is part of the ex-convent

 If ear plugs are becoming more popular now, does that mean culture is reversing?

How they panned for gold/silver

 After the indigenous artifacts came the history of the conquest. 

Spears used by conquistadors

A depiction of the conquest

The Spanish demanded tributes from the indigenous people. This included gold, cotton, nuts, and several other goods.

I would hate to be the horse bearing the rider wearing these spears

Mexican depiction of the Last Dinner

Benito Juarez is a pretty big individual here if I have not already mentioned. This was his presidential desk.  

One part of the museum is dedicated to the Mexican revolutions. There is a huge poster of some of the revolutionaries. I like to believe Pancho Villa and Emilio Zapato are in this picture if not, please let me live in blissful ignorance.

The uniform of Perifero Diaz

Today there was a big bike race and part of the course was I could watch from my house. They had a huge police escort. The car in front looked like it was having WAY too much fun. Like 60mph over the speed limit too much fun.

Enthusiastic spectators

There were two bikers well ahead of this group. The little girl had soo much fun watching. Her mom kept trying to get her to leave but the the girl would have none of that.

Big group of bikers. 

I have also taken up biking myself. 

At my host family's house in the country.

Mas de cirugia y medicina interna

In surgery yesterday I was able to see surgery on a woman who had a tumor in her neck. The doctors cut into her neck, tried to avoid her carotid artery (sometimes unsuccessfully), and cut out the tumor. 

Tumor cut from the right side of the neck

After, I watched virtual surgery. The doctors performed a splenectomy on a little girl using laparoscopy. It was pretty neat! Why they preformed the surgery, I am not sure.

Today I was in internal medicine. It is a more depressing part of the hospital. One man has an autoimmune disease. His skin is covered with scabs and open wounds. The doctors keep netting around his bed and collected blood today for analysis. 

In the bed next to him is a 27 year old woman who is married with three kids. She was having problems back in February but the doctors told her she was fine. After several months and many different misdiagnosis, including anemia, the doctors finally determined it she had Leukemia. Last month she was able to undergo chemotherapy and is going through rehab now. Her story sounded like it could have been on House. She is so pale but looks strong. It's a very different place, internal medicine.

AVISO: this blog contains graphic pictures

For the past two weeks I have been working in clinics. This week they moved me, and two others, to Hospital Civil. There are four general places there: surgery, intensive care, emergency, and gynecology. The last two days Kirstin and I have been in surgery. We start the first hour with the residents as they do rounds on the post-surgery patients. After, we head to the surgical rooms to watch the surgeries. The doctors are very friendly, patient, and work to help you understand what is going on. The rooms are always full of doctors, nurses, students, and others to talk to.

Kirstin and I all scrubbed for surgery

The first surgery we saw was of an 11 year old girl. She had a fistula just above her right ear. The doctors inserted a catheter, stitched the fistula to the catheter, and melted/cut it out. 

Fistula removal in process

The second surgery was for a 78 year old woman. She had a hip replacement some years back but the metal inserts had become disconnected from her leg. The doctors went in, pulled out the old and put in new plates. It takes a lot of work to do that! The doctors had a hard time putting in new plates because they could not get them to fit just right.

Burning/cutting in to the femur

That would be her femur

Screwing it all down

Tools of the trade: screwdriver, hammer, wicked looking wrench

 Today they operated on a 50 year old man. His radius was shorter than his ulna due to a past accident and as a result he did not have full motion of his wrist. The doctors cut into his side, took a piece of bone from his ribs, and after braking the ulna placed the rib bone piece into his arm. They then screwed in a metal plate to hold it all together. After his arm was stitched together they screwed a joint into his arm and hand (through the skin!) to prevent him from being able to move it. They said they would not remove it for two months. 

Putting his ulna back together

On a slightly less grotesque note: Oaxaca is getting ready for the Gualaguetza! There is now a whole street set up with circus rides and food stalls! 

A blog so big it should have been made into 3

I went on more tours around Oaxaca today. It started with visiting a HUGE Tule tree which happens to not really be a Tule tree because those don't exist. The tree is over 2000 years old and was named by the Aztecs who conquered the area. It is over 50m in diameter.

Montezuma Cypress

 We then took a very long drive to the Hierve el Agua. I snapped a few pictures from the van along the way.

Hierve el agua is a natural calcium and sulfur spring. The water is not really boiling, nor is it hot. The way in which it comes out of the ground makes it appear as if it is boiling so that is where the name comes from.

A spring at Hierve el agua

A pool created by the spring

The calcium in the water stains the rocks white. This makes it took like a water fall (when really it isn't). 

Las cascadas

Sitting at the edge of the world

Enjoying the cool water on a hot day

After Hierve el agua we went to another ancient city called Mitla. The city was taken over by the Spanish and destroyed save but one section of a palace. This was to remind the people that their gods were not as strong as the Spanish god. 

The remaining section of the palace

 This is an original building. No acts of preservation were done by the people prior to the 20th century but the building remained intact due to the construction. There are a lot of tremors in the area and the Zapotecs developed a way of dry construction (without mortar) that made the buildings flexible. What they did was place the stones so that there were still small holes between them and when there was a tremor the rocks were able to move freely. 

The original building had red painting on it. The rocks are still stained a light pink from where the were decorated. The red in the picture is from recent restoration to show what it may have looked like.

From the front

Courtyard of the palace

The dry construction

Inside the palace

 The Spanish built a church on top of one of the destroyed sections of the palace. This was to show their dominance over the Zapotec gods. 

After Mitla we went to a textile place where they made rugs. The family that ran the place was of Zapotec origin and still spoke the native tongue (as well as Spanish and English). They talked to us how they cleaned the wool, prepared it, spun it, and dyed it.

The tools of the trade

 They then showed us their method of weaving rugs and several completed rugs. 

The tree of life

After returning back to town I wandered around the Zocalo looking for food and water. I also ran into a clown, fireworks, and a parade. It was pretty awesome! The parade was a demonstration for the Guelaguetza which is a big celebration held at the end of July every year in honor of Benito Juarez. The celebration starts on Monday with two more festivals on the following Saturdays. The name, guelaguetza, comes from a Zapotec work meaning "mutual offering." The celebration focuses on tradition dances, dress, and customs from the different regions of Oaxaca. This year marks the 80 year anniversary of the festival.  

Posing with parade dancers

Posing with a parade dancer