After the womens hospital, we rushed home to meet the rest of our group and drove to an orphanage outside of town. We brought toys and cothing for all the kids and a couple of the students bought a big shrek pinata and stuffed it with loads of candy. I didn't know what to expect when we got there but when we started unloading all of the toys the kids began to gather. We had the kids sort of line up and at first we just started handing them out to each child to make sure they each got one but we realized that we just had so much that we let them have at it. And of course they went crazy. Most of them just started hoarding the toys, finding bags and pockets and even their mouths to stuff them in. It was really fun to see them.

There was this one girl who couldn't have been older then 5 -- oh she was just so adoreable. She had her hari in high pigtails and had the biggest grin with a few teeth missing. She was just beatiful. It was so fun to watch the kids and the pinata. I haven't really participated in something like that since I was a toddler. Once even a little bit of the candy started falling out the ENTIRE group would sprint to the center despite the fact the person was still hitting it. luckily no one got hurt. After we passed around the rest of the candy we jut played with the kids for a couple hours. They have a huge play ground and soccer field out back and a couple of the litle girls look a liking to me so they showed me around their place. It was a pretty big compound with a church in the center. They had the meanest dog and a bunch of the chickens and parakeets. Ee decided to all dance to we drove the van around to the center and blasted some Mexican music. A couple of the guys got the little girls to dance with them. We got some really great pictures.

All-in-all it was a really great experience. It made me super sad because I became a little attached to the little girls that I played with. they were just so precious and wonderful. I wish so much that I spoke better spanish so that I could communicate better. However I did a good job of holding my own, and the little girls helped me out a little bit.

After the orphanage we grabbed some dinner and went back to the hotel . It was sort of our last night (because the next day we all planned on going to the beach) so I decided to go with a couple of the premed students to the night shift at the general hospital. Even though I was super tired, I fiigured I should absorb as much as possible, and I'm so glad I did. I got to see and do some of the coolest things! The guys I was with are planning on being surgeons so they've been focusing on watching surgeries, so that's what I got to do.

I watched an appendectomy on a young boy, which was especially cool for me because I've actually had the procedure done on myself. It didn't take the surgeon more then 30 minutes. I've found that the patients are hardly EVER out under! the poor little boy with appendicitis was shakign so badly and as I held his hand to calm him doen I asked the anthetist why in the world they only do local anesthetics. He response was like "well why not?". I told him that to me it just seems like it just so stressful for the patient to be akake during sometimes very invasive surgeries. I know that i would NOT want to be awakw to smell the burnig flesh and hear som of the sounds of the surgery and even the chatter of the staff. It was just another reminder of how they dont pay any attention toward the psychsocial side of health care. I mean, that boy must have been sitting there shaking for about 10 minutes and no one tried to comfort him. IT was just so suprsiing to me. after that surgery I watched a gall bladder removal and I got to scrub in!

I would have never been allowed to do that so easily here in the states so it was so great. the staff had me don steril attire etc and I stood right next to the surgeon as he did everything. he had me help by holding a retractor for him to pull back the tissue. I gained a new respect for the staff because man, it gets tiring! As the surgeons was cutting through he explained the whole procedure to me and would even stop to let me look more closely. when he finally got down to the gall bladder he let me palpate it (it had a massive stone inside and was very hard and inflammed)and let me stick my hand inside to feel around for the rest of the organs. it was the highlight of the trip.
I just so exhilerated it made me want to be a surgeon. I want to learn to do what they can do. I think it;s just so amazing. The surgery was for a hernia. I;d never seen one before but apparently this guys was very bad. He must have let it go for quite a while because it had gone through the inguinal canal and filled his right scrotum. The surgery was really complicated and discouraging to me because I realized how much a surgeon has to know! I mean I would just absolutely love to learn it all I wonder if I even can.