Day dreaming

Today I am blowing off a baby shower for a friend of mine. Don't fear, we are having another surprise shower for her next month. Of course since it is a surprise, she doesn't realize we are having another one for her and she will probably resent me until then.
Instead, I am listening to Bongi's interview on the DR. A show. I was unable to catch the live broadcast. In listening to Bongi speak of the medical training in his country, I think it would be a method that I would enjoy. Gathered from his blog posts and this show, I envision it as shotgun training so to speak, sink or swim, flying by the seat of your pants, relying on yourself and your own skills, hand sewing instead of stapling, knowing how to do open procedures before you learn them laparoscopically.
In my desire to assist on general surgeries, I never count laparoscopic surgery. It is it's own category, a non-surgery so to speak. When we are doing a particularly nasty lap chole and the anatomy is skewed, things are bleeding, there are adhesions everywhere and the common duct is not easily identified, I have been known to chant in my head, "Open, open, open..." Some surgeons will stubbornly plod on for a great length of time and then finally decide that it is time to open in order to finish the procedure safely. Others stubbornly continue on until they have conquered the diseased gallbladder through the camera, as if opening is admitting defeat.
In bowel resections I'm always happy when the surgeon does a hand anastamosis, it means more for me to do. A double layered closure of the anastamosed lumen of the bowel is definitely an art form and in my opinion, definitely worth learning.
I am not sure on the money conversion but it sounds as if medical school and surgical training is much less there. Something I may actually be able to afford. Of course, it is probably all relative if you remain in South Africa to practice. I don't know the laws but often surgeons trained in other countries (continents!) are not allowed to practice in the US. Even an RN's training may not be recognised. The years spent in school are fewer it seems, beginning just out of high school (high school is a very distant memory for me) with what sounds like a more streamlined curriculum. Science, science, science, and perhaps fewer of the filler pre-reqs that you'll never remember nor use again.?
I think I had better start practicing my accent......
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