Die Weisse Jacke

Up at 6:00am to an internet set alarm clock, then the adventure began. Finding an ATM, breakfast, and the Derm Klinik all happened with time to spare :) It was raining this morning, but it smelled amazing...there are flowers everywhere, kinds I've not seen before and they're all in full bloom. I met my boss's (Dr. R. Dummer) PA Khampa at 8 and she gave me four white lab coats, an unofficial name badge, and a gift from Dr. D. a cute fish mug, a tea cup and a water glass. We then went upstairs to Dr. D's office equipped with cot, desk, table, and windows! He is a lovely man and he wears very chic very Swiss spectacles that I would seek out if I needed some. Watching him with the patients is nice too he sits on the bed when speaking to them and is very empathic. I saw/ learned so much today. Herpes, bloody blisters, an autoimmune blistering disease, more metastisised melanoma than I would ever like to see, excema, a PET scan of the melanoma mets to the bladder, liver, lungs, spleen, bones...it was heartbreaking ( I would guess she was in her forties), a caucasian man turned the color of a black man because his melanin was over producing because of his metastisized melanoma. We did rounds in the morning and then worked with new patients. Only once did I feel like I was going to pass out and walk swiftly out of the room to find a place to sit...then proceed with dry heaves...Maybe tomorrow I'll drink more water, (and here I thought I was immune to jetlag). We then had breakfast! Good bread, qwark, jams, scandanavian crackers, and good cheese. Before lunch all of the residents, students, and doctors sit in this room and see four or so patients in front of everyone. They use a little video camera that feeds into tvs and a big screen to show everyone the presentation of the issue. The histology slides are also presented over the screens, and the case is discussed. It is a really interesting approach, and I wonder if that happens in US teaching hospitals. Dr. D. then gave me a week of free lunch, and I went with some other students to eat lunch. Let me tell you right now Swiss cafeteria food knocks the socks off of US cafeteria food! I had shells with sauce, a mini salad, ans the most delicious stuffed zuchinis! After lunch we did some more work with new patients (all of these are inpatients) and then I went and checked Marjam's research paper on teledermatology Skincheck website...which is really cool, it involved people photographing their suspicious lesions and sending them to a group of derms that tell them whether or not they need to go see a doc. I left at about 5:30...now I'm in my room, and completely exhausted! Alles gut and bis bald!

PS- I would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to Janet Hegman Shier and Karein Goertz, today I was surprised by how much I really do understand, and I was even complimented on my speech by some colleagues. It's amazing what RC German 191 can do for a girl!