My Week in the Hospital

I'm back - again! I spent some of last week down in Peru with Erika because her
mom was going to have surgery for her breast cancer. Although a plethora of
relatives visited, Erika was all on her own as the only child and was mostly
responsible for her mom and needed some support so I made the quick trip.

I spent almost the whole day, every day at the Peruvian hospital where her mom
was staying, and it was certainly interesting. My jaw surgeries were performed
(not by my choice, but the doctor's) at Mt. Sinai hospital. I found out later
that it was one of the top places in the city, and I had a pretty good
experience there. I also spent a year working in the New York City public
hospitals, so I was very curious to compare the Peruvian public hospitals with
those here in the city. It was also funny to be pretty much the only gringo in
this whole huge hospital. I got plenty of strange looks because I was much
taller than average. Erika said that the only gringos that go to these places
are actually doctors...

I found it interesting that her mom had to check in a day before the procedure
so that they could control what she ate and drank before the surgery. OK, maybe
this is something common for these surgeries, but I never heard of that before.
But the biggest shocker to me was that 1.) you have to bring your own toilet
paper to the hospitals with you, and 2.) you have to bring your own soap (which
I didn't see anybody bring) since the bathrooms don't have either one. It wasn't
even like they were always out of soap and/or toilet paper, there was not even a
spot for them in the hospital. Crazy. And needless to say there weren't Purell
dispensers on the walls inside. I can only imagine the infections that must
spread, and needless to say I wasn't eating with my hands much after that. And
thank god I didn't have to do any #2's (or is it #1?) while at the hospital. I
did leave her mom the Purell from my backpack, though they were probably
wondering why they would need to use it :) . Ryan mentioned that he went into a
cevicheria (raw fish) restaurant that had the same thing. Raw fish + no toilet
paper + no soap? No wonder I always come home sick...

My surgeries were more or less on time last year and I don't know how they work
at the public hospitals here, but Erika's mom was scheduled for surgery at
11:00am on Thursday and actually didn't go in until 3:30pm. I suppose that
could happen here. But the shocker? Another lady who was also scheduled at
11:00am was told, sorry, you have to wait until SATURDAY for your surgery. And
of course she had to stay at the hospital those extra days.

The last thing that I noticed was that the shared hospital room (she had a
neighbor) had no window shades and giant windows, so during the day you pretty
much had to wear sunglasses inside the room. I can't imagine spending a few
days after surgery in such a blinding light. I guess these are just things that
we take for granted!

In any case, supposedly Erika's mom's surgery was successful. The doctor said
that she won't need chemotherapy, but I thought that was pretty much standard
these days. Again, I don't know much about this, so maybe I'm totally off-base.
I also know that they are going to do a biopsy (or did a biopsy?) on her lymph
node near the breast with the tumor. Exact details on this were lost in
translation so there are still some question marks. Her mom was having allergic
reactions to something while recovering, giving her rashes on her skin, and was
having stomach problems but otherwise I think she is doing okay. She certainly
enjoyed the company. There were so many cousins, brothers, sisters,
cousin-in-laws, and other distant relatives coming through, it was really
great. I also got to speak a bit of Spanish that I've been learning, though I
still have crazy nervousness whenever I start to say something. I need to study
more!

Outside of the time at the hospital, Erika and I spent time enjoying the amazing
cuisine or Peru, described by some as the best cuisine in the world. Who knew
that there were so many sauces, beans, and multi-ethnic treats? I ate "chifa"
on the first day, which is Chinese food but tt's about as Chinese as our
Chinese food! One funny thing was that I wanted to eat hot & sour soup. Their
equivalent is "hot & acidic" soup, doesn't quite have the same ring to it. I
guess it was somewhat similar, but the "sour" of the American style was
replaced with the "sour" (and acid!) of limes. Overwhelming lime taste!

In addition to the awesome, standard pollo a la brasa (roasted chicken), ceviche
(raw fish "cooked" by mixing it with lime juice), and amazing arroz con pollo
(rice and chicken with crazy chimichurri-type herbs), I also ate quinoa con
maca and leche, which is like a hot cereal served by a street vendor near the
hospital. Interestingly, maca is supposedly like a natural aphrodisiac from the
Incas, no wonder Erika took me there every day ;o).

All-in-all, it was a pretty good and successful trip, mostly because I was with
Erika the whole time. We are in perfect harmony when we are together, it's
actually quite amazing. Her and her family live a very simple life which I
realized even more when we went to her house and I saw their sleeping quarters
and watched (since I am useless in this case ;o) her wash her mom's pajamas -
outside in the sink where clothes and dishes are washed. We've started talking
about the possibilities for the future and spending more time together. I'm not
sure how that's going to happen, but this is J. Riley we're talking about, I'm
open-minded to a number of possibilities!

J. Riley, oh and we did go to a Latin disco with her friend and her boyfriend my
last night there which was of course amazing!