We started the day by finding out that our pickup to get to the hospital was at 7:30 instead of 8 and we were just sitting down for breakfast at 7:15. There were actually 2 vans picking us up so we got the second one.
As usual, the surgical staff was standing at the front door waiting for our arrival. (Just like home….NOT!!!) I saw many old friends who were pleased to see me and us return. What a nice welcome!
We went upstairs to a large meeting room to begin with a meet and greet session of our two groups followed by the group of patients waiting to be evaluated.
Nancy Mark, head of anesthesia, and I teamed up to see all the patients who had been evaluated by the surgeons and then deemed operable. We sat with several of the surgical residents who helped to translate our questions. We finished seeing patients around 12:30 which was a unique experience. Usually the task goes well into the mid or late afternoon. We had a van return us to the hotel. Kris and the the OR and recovery room staff had already returned about an hour earlier.
I caught up with the group for some retail therapy. Vietnam is an amazing place to shop. Much of what gets sold in the US is made in Vietnam either as an original or a copy that may be very nearly indistinguishable from the real thing. Lots of outdoor clothing brands are available here at very low prices. We visited a luggage store that has an upstairs room filled with handbags and jewelry that seem like perfect copies of Vuiton, Hermes, Prada, Chanel..,all the fancy and very expensive brands for extremely low prices. They even have cards inside the bags claiming authenticity. Impressive!
I bought other items at different stores. My favorite was the spice store! The store has only local items like peppercorns or cinnamon. They have testers that let you smell the spices. They are intense.
Kris and I wandered back to our hotel to relax a bit before our team dinner and what will be a very busy day tomorrow. We had an anesthesia team dinner tonight that was a really a nice way to get us all together. I/we are excited to get started tomorrow.
The Adventures of Anne 