Spent the morning at Shaio, in the operating room with Dr. Ricardo Buitrago.. Either my gringa accent is improving (doubtful) or I really have become a familiar face around there..  Observed Dr. Buitrago perform a couple of cases; the second was a VATS thymectomy, which definitely ranks above the traditional sternotomy.

Dr. Buitrago, thoracic surgeon

Ran into some strangely reticent native english speakers in the halls of Shaio today.. (Usually Americans, Brits and the like get real familiar with each other when we see another..) Didn’t introduce themselves even after I made a point of introducing myself.. Something’s up over at Clinica Shaio.. Is it a medical tourism company, or an impending branding agreement?  I’ll see what I can find out.

Next I checked in with Dr. Gamboa, DDS – for those of you reading from afar – dental evaluations are completely different – they require an actual patient visit (no observation here.)  Now that all of my family, friends, classmates and housemates have served as confederates for dental visits – I knew what was next when I cracked a tooth last week.. (Just so everyone knows how dedicated I am to my research – I had several dental repairs without anesthesia of any sort.. (no local, nada).   And truthfully, it went very well.. (and my teeth look / feel great..)

last, but certainly not least for today was Dr. Fabian Emura, MD, PhD.  He didn’t have a lot of time today, so I am going back Wednesday so I can tell you more about him, and the Emuracenter, which is doing a lot of interesting things for the diagnosis and treatment of gastric cancers..