Hot, Hot and more Hot

This is apparently the time of the year when the temperatures go up and for 2-3 weeks people will be sleepy, as Bac Sy Thuy from Ha Phong tells me. I was so hot I had to take off my tie and not wear my white coat since it is so thick. I was a little embarrassed the other day to fall asleep laying on one of the tables the using my very thick new Vietnamese dictionary as a pillow. However, today some of my colleagues took a little nap by pushing chairs together and I think I will try that next time since it looks more comfortable. All the families and patients are looking for shade and a little breeze. I think this nap thing would be a good import to Birmingham. We seem to have similar climates and it is pretty restorative.

Another Thuy asked me to vote on line for Ha Long Bay as most beautiful place in world for some contest. I haven’t seen it yet but since I plan to go next weekend and I hear that it is spectacular, I did.

Despite the sleepiness I am getting a lot done and have a few more talks to work on this week and then should be able to be done preparing them. On these long days I spend most of my time at the hospital. At morning report, which is in English, even before I came, to practice their language skill, I am asked to give a little topic discussion. Yesterday and today we have had cases of possible gastric cancer which is very common, second only to lung cancer. I have no doubt that the incidence will reduce as Vietnam continues to invest in its infrastructure, since it is known that both preserved foods and H pylori plays a role. The hospital is just finishing another floor and will expand to 300 beds soon. In the morning I spend the time consulting on patients and discussing medicine and palliative care with the other doctors. Of course air pollution is a problem now but people seem concerned about the environment, and while they want development they want a healthy country too.

Today I gave one of my first official lectures which I shared with Yen to preview. They translated my slides into Vietnamese, and I was pleasantly surprised that I could read the occasional whole sentence. Granted, they were my original sentences, but it is still a thrill to be able to figure them out in a different language. As a bonus, because the hospital had electricity today, they were able to turn on the air conditioner in the conference room. I have a couple of others formal lectures to give tomorrow.

With Skype (a free downloaded computer program) I get to call home every day. For free! I highly recommend it. I can only imagine the loneliness that would exist when letters that might take weeks, and before that it would take months, to be delivered as your only way of staying connected.