Becki has been busy with her English classes. What started out as two sessions a week with about 12-15 young doctors in each class, has turned into five classes with about the same number of attendees in each class per week. They are so enthusiastic and willing to learn. I can notice a distinct change in communicating with these professionals. It has gone so well that the OR nurses and CVICU doctors and nurses have all gotten in on the study. She is working from a manual of OR, ICU, drugs, and other assorted medical terms which has been translated into English with equivalent Chinese characters and words. I am going to get a list of OR instruments to make my Chinese translation better! The students have English names such as “Mercury, Vanilla, Ribbon, Eggsy, Wency, and Morty”, just to name a few. They all have such a great time and much laughter is the order of the day. Becki is really in her element!.
On the other hand, I have continued to be busy clinically while CHEN Xing has been in Beijing at the Peoples Congress. In just over three weeks I have completed 42 Heart Operations, including my first heart transplant in 30 years. It was performed on Saturday, after doing an emergency double valve redo on a man who stopped monitoring his blood thinners after having two mechanical valves placed four years ago. Both valves had extensive clot formation. PTL he has done well!. I have posted some photos of the two procedures.
On another note, Jordan Cartwright a PA from Nashville, Tennessee arrived last night for participation in the team. She was a student that lived with us for two months, eight years ago. She will teach the doctors, endoscopic saphenous vein harvesting through a two centimeter incision at the level of the knee. It is a game changer as far as comfort and decreased risk of infection for patients undergoing Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery. We are excited to have her here!