It’s been a week!

Parev Dzez! Anahid here! It’s been a week since we've been in Yerevan, and we have already gotten to experience so much!

My internship is awesome. I owe David and Vram big time for make this opportunity possible for me! I am working at the Soorp Nerses Medz Pzhishgagan Gentron (St. Nerses the Great Medical Center) with the nurses of the 7th floor proctology/cosmetic facial surgery center. The nurses, "kooyr's" as they call themselves, have been showing me the ins and outs of the recovery room, teaching me about protocol and showing me how to do stuff. The main thing I learned was that first you give the patient oxygen (t’tvadzin), then you put the blood pressure cuff on and activate the machine (j’nshoom), third you put the oxygen saturation finger monitor on (balchig (in Russian)), and lastly you hook up the IV (ner yergayin gatilayin hamagark). It has only been 2 days so far, but I feel like I have seen so much. The anesthesiologists, surgeons, and nurses have been so welcoming and so patient with me, encouraging my questions and trying to explain things to me as best as they can in simple Armenian words :)...On my second day, I got to the hospital early and they asked me if I wanted to watch a few of the surgeries they were having that day... I was thrilled! I got see a hemorrhoid removal surgery and pilonidal sinus infection removal. The second surgery was definitely gorier than the first, involving a lot more cutting, cauterizing, and squirting blood… but the first surgery took longer because the anesthesiologists couldn’t do the spinal epidural…they must have tried 30 times and weren’t able to get the spinal needle past the patients vertebral column…they used over 15 needles! Anyway, that patient just got local/general anesthesia in the area of his “bum” and they continued with the hemorrhoid removal. It was very painful for him because they didn’t get the whole area and he was making a lot of painful noises. Anyway, over the course of the 2 surgeries (virahadootioon) I made some interesting observations. The doctors come into the surgery room wearing loafers and sock, they answer their cell phones during surgery, and in some instances they take the concept of a “sterile environment” seriously, where in others they definitely don’t…the patients don’t even wear hospital gowns… they walk into the surgery room and hop on the operating table in their street clothes. I was definitely glad to see that all the surgical instruments and the surgeons actually performing the surgery kept things sterile. I spent 6 hours in the operating room, but it was definitely cool! But other than that fascinating experience, the nurses and I get to socialize a lot over home-cooked meals in the small lunching room, they ask me all sorts of questions about my family and life in America over countless cups of Armenian coffee, and at the end of the day, they still want to marry me off to someone they know...LOL… I just smile and laugh it off! I seriously can't believe I have only interned there for 2 days, because it feels like so much more. It has been a very interesting experience for me to be in a hospital setting and to see how things are run in Armenia. A lot of it is similar, but there is A LOT that is quite different. Anyway, our group, as of today, is finally complete... I just met our Manchester CYMA members and they are great...I can't wait to spend more time with them and get to know them better. The rest of the group, which I have been with for the past week, has made this trip a wonderful experience. I’ll tell you more later though after we finish celebrating Carla’s 19th birthday!! Bye!

-Anahid