starting work

i've started work on monday, i've done loads of other things since i last wrote anything but this is the coolest so i'll tell you about this now and the other stuff later. i was fairly nervous on sunday night, wondering what exactly was in store but on monday morning Marcelo took me to the hospital where i met the consultant ophthalmologist, who asked me if i'd like to start now so i agreed.
they all had a little meeting where i met the other staff and i had to tell them about myself, so i was able to real off the sentences i know about my profesion, my age, how many sisters i have, what i'm doing in Ecuador etc. then they asked me a few questions- no idea what they asked, so i resort to smiling like an idiot- which i think they found a little endearing (or maybe they are always just friendly). after the introductions i had a little tour of the deparment, which is very small, two consulting rooms, a little treatment room, a stafff room and the waiting area. the whole department is behind a locked door, through which the patients must wait otherwise we'd be swamped by people wanting to be seen. i spent the morning refracting and they also put me in charge of an optometry student (she's 28 and has been studying 4 1/2 years, not sure how their system works or maybe she's just even worse than me at exams!!). in the first morning i saw a girl with congenital glaucoma who was aphakic, a tiny baby, a pseudophakic boy following some trauma and various other squinty children; all very interesting. To begin with they had a doctor check my refraction to see if i was getting it right, then after a while one of them said " tu refraccion es bueno", yes in real life he really said that, cool or what!
the consultant asked if i'd like to come to surgery to watch the following day- yes of course. that is what i've been doing for the last two days. its slightly gruesome but really interesting. i've seen several squint surgeries, chalazion removal and a lacrimal patency check. in one of the operations the girl wasn't fully anaethesised and started screaming so the nurses had to hold her down whilst they injected some more anaethsiea!-which didn't even seem to fully work either, this was a chalazion removal and there was so much blood, i did feel a little faint (chris have you had your's sorted yet?- i'm sure it won't be that bad)
they have also invited me to a staff party that they're having next week which should be fun. i'll make a note not to get as drunk as i did at the harrogate hospital eye ball and to avoid the consultants wife's!!! must go spanish lessons in a mo. x