Thursday - Last Night In Sagam

Today went by quickly. Paula was rounding on the patients admitted to the hospital, so I had the chance to catch up on work emails, contact a few consultants regarding some of our patients, and do an ultrasound to take a better look at an elderly gentleman's heart, kidneys, bladder, and prostate. Being able to use ultrasound has been a true game-changer out here. Not long ago a good friend of mine was telling me how point-of-care ultrasound, or using the ultrasound machine at the bedside to aid in diagnosis and treatment, could be learned rather quickly. I didn't believe him. When I was a resident, one of the attending physicians told me I should be able to read basic echocardiography of the heart - that it wasn't all that hard. I didn't believe him either. But now just about 2 years into using ultrasound on a routine basis, I feel like a whole new dimension of medicine has opened up to me. I'm thankful that I've had the opportunity to learn about it, and I'm happy to get the chance to pass on these skills to other clinicians in training that are interested in learning.

After work I came home, took a nap and tossed the frisbee around a bit. We then made an all out Mexican feast of refried beans, Mexican rice with garbanzo beans, pineapple salsa, chips and guacamole, and tortillas. A little chocolate for desert and good dinner table conversation topped it off. It was a good last night in Sagam.