Shrimp Bits versus Bacon Bits

Sleeping in?

Saturday morning here and will be late Friday night back home. I have finished another week and getting in the swing of things. Morning report and review of patients in AM with Professor Hinh continues. I am concerned that I got a younger doctor in trouble for not considering the probable development of second primary tumor in young women with breast cancer rather then a metastatic lesion to the other breast. Things got a little tense and then much discussion that I can only get part of then review with me. Basic issues like the development of chemotherapy resistance and how chemotherapy works are reviewed. People are trying so hard to do things correctly that the science behind is treatment sometimes not clear to them. I have to balance the science behind management with concrete discussions of next steps. Now that they know about Socrates they roll their eyes and groan when I start to teach but much more politely than they would in America.

I just am not very hungry with heat and travel so staying on bottled water. Cholera epidemic has been going on for a month. The government has finally openly spoken about it in the press and my sources tell me that 50 patients being admitted to hospital for dehydration daily. The source is still not clear but may be shrimp sauce. However, very common, almost universal condiment is tiny shrimp about 3-5mm in size whole dried and sprinkled on every thing. They are tasty with salty, shrimp crunch taste, Marci says that they most be like bacon bits in use only shrimp bits. I think that they might catch on in USA. Perhaps this is an investment opportunity.

In the afternoon we have had a lecture about HIV and although in Vietnamese I listen and can catch a few words. When I see on PowerPoint slide—Phat- I asked Cuong what did Buddha have to do with D4T and HIV medicine. He begins to laugh and starts to tell class and there is a row that breaks up the lecture for about 5 minutes. Apparently Phat means both Buddha or rash based on diacritic marks which I do not remember. Part of this is that I think that it never occurs to them that the words seem similar to people outside their language group.

Today I have had a longer sleep after talking with my mother via Skype and home as well. It is amazing that only a few years ago communication so difficult. The world really does seem flat. I am doing laundry shopping and some writing and then out to see some more Hanoi sights this evening. Eric has been called away to Ho Chi Minh City so I will the lonely American here for a few days. More about the Hanoi city later today when I post again. .