Rouge Bus Gets Us There

Today I was off to 09 center. I had brought some oranges and rice cakes for the patient I had seen the day before and Dr. Thuy and I went to see him. She did talk with his attending and some changes to improve his symptoms will be made. I discussed if Doctors could work in groups or teams so that patients would have the assistance of several doctors reviewing the cases and have coverage when some one is gone. Apparently this is just not done here and I think that there are some patient ownership issues, just like in the USA.

Dr. Yin presented some interesting research she had done about pain control. It is interesting how similar the pain control problems are whereever you are. However, I know from experience you have to have your own information to present to your bosses to try to get changes made.

Socrates paid a visit and I did my Depression at End-of-life presentation and I think it came off very well. It takes time to do this with a translator. Thi was translating my English to Vietnamese and then I said "Xem lams gi?" (sounds like "seen lambs zi?") Which means something like what "So, what do we do?" and he translated my Vietnamese into English. He looked a little surprised at himself and everyone was amused. I also talked about addiction therapy and I think we need to spend more time on this project.

In the afternoon Cuong and I went to Ha Long. He came by about 5pm and then we went to the bus station. We really did not get a bus there but a rouge bus was gathering passengers and we got on this one. It is really amazing how many people you can put on a bus when you have stools in the aisles. Cuong was really exhausted. He has been burning the candles at both ends and he has a lot of work to do this weekend. It took about 4 hours to get to Ha Long and then to the hotel. I had asked if it was near to the things I needed it to be and it isn't; but it is nice and Cuong and I got a good night rest. I would have had a hard time making it to the bus and Ha Long without him. After breakfast we took the cab to the bus station so I would know where it was and then I went to the docks and he went off to work at the nearby hospital.

Ha Long bay is amazing and check out the pictures on flickr.com link. I got a boat tour, was the only non-Vietnamese on the boat, and off to caves and fishing village and amazing islands. The only down side was that it was smoggy. I talked with many of the passengers and one who worked for the tourism group asked my impressions and what could be done better. I said that more written information in English would be nice and then mentioned the smog and pollution. I think I was just a little too honest. However, she told me that she had read that the US had much more emissions then Vietnam for size. I have to say that that is true. However, the situation reminds me of the the Great Smokey's with a wonderful natural place in danger from the air pollution. So much so that the last trip to the Smokey's made me so sad to see the changes just in my lifetime.

My next post is going to be very exciting!!!!