More neurosurgery today with Dr. Mauro and Dr. Paulo. After a relaxing morning, Thaynara drove me to Dr. Mauro's and we went to the hospital, Hospital das Criancas, for two surgeries. This time, one was to clear a cyst from around a young girl's spine and the other was an endoscopic surgery in a one month old baby's brain. Both were great! I learned so much and again was able to be up close during surgery. During the endoscope, my eyes were glued to the monitor the doctor was using to guide his motion in the baby's brain. During the time in the operating room, the doctors and nurses were very interested in knowing how surgery in Brazil is different from surgery in the United States. It was an interesting discussion as they were very open about their thoughts on the topic, saying how they expected that surgery in the United States is much more formal and technologically advanced. As I have only seen one surgery in the US, I guess I am not a very good judge, but I think they were really just describing what they saw on Grey's Anatomy.
After surgery and a quick shower, I went to dinner with Tiana and Carlos Roberto at Tiana's sister's house. Though it was already 9:00 PM, we began a family prayer service in which we read part of Genesis, sang songs together, and prayed. This was complete with lighting candles! Finally, after almost an hour and a few drips of hot wax on my hand, it was time for dinner. We had lasagna, rice and beans (of course), and homemade juice. Then for dessert there was a DELICIOUS chocolate cake to celebrate Tiana's birthday again and passion fruit mousse.
