My Cape Town Adventures: Working Hard or Hardly Working?

The next step in my research project won't take off until after my trip because the doc has a few more things to wrap up, so this entire week has been spent in theatre. I pretty much have the lay of the land at work now, so I roam from theatre to theatre to catch the most interesting cases (and I've quickly caught on that there are neurosurgeries on Tuesdays and Thursdays!)

The conjoined twin from my MRI experience last week has entered my life once again! Only this time, I was able to see the "twin" without the bandage on, which was the coolest. Thing. Ever. Everyone was whipping out their cameras and phones to take pictures of it, so of course I whipped mine out as well! I'm refraining from posting it here because I know several of you don't quite appreciate medicine in the same nature as I do, but please email me if you'd like to see photos.

The "thing" on the baby's back was being colloquially referred to as a conjoined twin, but in actuality it's called a "parasite twin" because it isn't completely formed. It mainly consists of an enlarged bulge, but it does have one tiny arm and one tiny leg with a "foot," both of which are quite deformed and oddly configured. There was also a deformed, external brain that was being partially removed in the surgery that I was watching on Monday. The operation also included a laparotomy (abdominal incision) on the normal baby boy to remove a cyst. The parasitic twin won't be surgically removed for a few months and it will be a tricky procedure. The twin has a piece of the shared spinal cord and the doctors have found that whenever it is stimulated, the baby boy gets aggravated. There is clearly important overlap in the nervous system (the "arm" and "leg" have the ability to move!) and the baby will actually retain both pieces of the spinal cord.

One of my roommates moved out last weekend to be in an apartment closer to her work, so I got a new one in her place. Turns out, she's a third year resident from Canada! She's 28 and working at a hospital in a different area from the Red Cross. Her specialty is internal medicine, but in Canada, this isn't primary care. She's super sweet and I've already been picking her brain about med school! We share medical stories from our days at work when we get home.

I apologize for not having any more great stories to share, but honestly this week has been devoted to getting everything situated for the arrival of my dad and Jess. They'll be flying in on Saturday morning! They couldn't have planned their journey at a better time - now that I've been here for a month, I feel right at home and already have a mental list of places I'm dying to introduce them to. I'm hoping to have Internet at the hotels we'll be staying at, because I'm sure these upcoming couple of weeks will be the "juiciest" part of my trip and I'll definitely be needing to update my blog!

How are you all doing?? This one-sided conversation makes me feel selfish. Shoot me an email if you ever want to share your stories. :)

xo Em

Thought I'd share a few more photos from the weekend:

Group photo after dinner on Sunday