Renne - Day 5

We went to Renne today for the scoliosis surgery
i planned to get up at 530.. but woke up at 430 again
bleargh!

so i ate a banana on the way to the Metro
we were already one stop away when Lys asked Alvin.. casually.. if he has the train tickets
and he said no
:|
so we had to turn back to the hotel..
which meant we didn't really have time for breakfast

Lys laughed at me when i tried to pronounce the word 'train' in french
:(
but she said i can stick to my pronunciation cos i've got a charming accent
ahaha
so far, the language barrier has not been a problem
and i'm trying to pick up more.. esp conversation-wise
when they discuss work in french, i try to listen to see if i can understand
right now, it's less than 5%.. but i'm beginnign to recognise the easier words
(that doesn't include the easy greeting messages)

Herve (Director for France-Belux) met us at the train station
i was very very impressed by the train
i found out why we had to pay 91.80 euros each..
it's cos they bought us first class tix
the seats are so much more comfortable than the plane

i made use of alvin to take a pic of Herve and me in the train
:)


as usual, we started talking about work
the only time when we're not is when we're in our own rooms...

about 730, we went to get some breakfast
it's a little carriage with a deli.. that sells bread, sandwiches, juice, the usual..
i was trying to take a pic of the counter.. and the server came
so i asked him to pose for me and he obliged with a smile..

it was difficult cos the average speed of the train is 200 km/h..
and it's quite hard to stand up steadily, let alone take a picture
i tried to take pics of the country side..
but it was too dark still.. and the reflection from the lights inside was too strong

we took a cab to the University Hospital, stopping at a deli to buy some breakfast for the staff
(did i mention how agressive the drivers are? they mount curbs on purpose!)
we had to wait a while before we could go in to the OR
so .. i started taking pics even tho it was colder than in paris

The view from the hospital entrance
the composition sucks and everything.. but it's my first impression of Renne

My macro shot .. :)
many patients/staff were smoking outside the building and looked at me like i'm an alien
cos i was bending over the flower pot with a camera in one hand and a laptop bag in the other

the surgery started at quarter to ten.. and we went in at 1015
i got 'grand stand seats' again.. at the anaesthetic station..
they gave me a little stool to stand on so i can look over the curtain

everyone was so nice.. the nurses, the surgeons, but esp the anaestheticians
there're 3 of them; 2 guys and a lady (none of them speaks english)
one of the guys gave me a coat cos he could tell that i was cold
the other fussed over me when i wanted to sit down; he thought i was gonna faint cos of the blood
ha..
then, the lady.. when i wanted to let her have the stool, shook her head and told me:
"Je grande".. meaning "I (am) tall"..
which she is.. it made me feel like a miniature adult...

the patient is a 16 year-old girl with idiopathic scoliosis (out-of-shape spine)
so the idea is the use screws/hooks to fix onto her bones.. and use Ti rods to straighten it out
the doc was using 2 of our products; PediGuard and PLUS

as demos went, this is the best way for me to learn the implants/instruments
esp with Herve.. who is always ready to answer my questions
me being so inquisitive, i asked him about everything; the systems, the protocol etc

Herve was a little worried that i might not be able to stomach the gore
but i felt fine (after 2 pig labs).. except that i felt really sorry for the girl
apart from her open back, i could see her hands..
and she's a small built girl, almost a child

half way thru surgery, they had a change of scrub nurse
this is the same nurse who gave me my scrub shoes (cos hers was the only one small enough)
so she bustled into the operation theatre with 2 layers of shoe covers.. rattled off in french
(which i didn't understand at all)
pulled down my shoe cover, rattled off some more in french and went off
i guessed why .. when everyone started laughing at her
she came back with a different pair and we exchanged

for some reason, she's very protective of me
it was a very difficult surgery (7 hours in total).. cos the deformity was really pronounced
plus the bone was so stiff and strong Dr Violas had a hard time
so he kept spitting "Putain!" (the F word)
she always looked at him disapprovingly as tho i'm not meant to hear such language
hahaha
once, he swore so loudly that he startled me..
i thought he'd made a breach into the spinal canal or something..
i already felt stressed that she was losing so much blood
(later, they centrifuged it to pump the blood back into her)
so she told me not to worry.. and scolded him not to frighten me
he looked at me with a sheepish smile to say sorry

finally, at 330, he fixed one side.. and he was very happy
so he looked at me.. and said it's time to break for beer
of cos, we didn't
the second rod was not easy to fix as well.. cos one of the hooks kept coming off
finally, at 4, we could leave the OR cos the implants were fixed..
so we waited for the surgeon to stitch up cos he wanted to eat lunch with us
i really regretted eating just a croissant for bfst.. cos i was starving by then
on the other hand, i might have needed the toilet if i ate too much
i was inside for almost 6 hours..

Dr Violas finally met us at about 445..
so he decided to bring us to the Residents' House.. as we need to catch the train at 6
on the way in, he told us not to be shocked at the pictures on the wall
i thought he was joking
but.......
the paintings (stressed out med students) are really really X-rated
luckily, i used to study biology with guys..
so i was thick-skinned enough to ignore them and sit down for lunch in an all-male room
as promised, Dr Violas got us steak, fries, and a bottle of beer each

when they went out for a smoke and coffee, i decided to take some pics..
Dr Violas was so amused that someone wanted to take photos
it was hard for me to find portions with non-pornographic paintings
but here they are:

as i was going around the room, one of the other surgeons (the place is only for surgeons) approached me
he told me to take a particular picture cos he thinks it's the best
i took his advice after checking to see that it's not porn

so we started a short conversation with him speaking mainly in french and me, in english
he said he's an italian cardiovascular surgeon and he's been in Renne for 8 months
he also said he used to speak English before he came..
but once in france, he's forgotten most of it
haha..

maybe it's the places i go to
but it's really not true that the french are snobbish to foreigners..
everywhere i go, there's a smile, a greeting.. an apology if they don't speak english
i was especially impressed by the way pple are never brusque with each other (except at the Metro)

after the lunch, we had to call a cab cos we only had half hour to get to the train station
when we got stuck behind some buses, i tried to take a pic of an old building

Herve said the buildings here are newer than in paris cos they were heavily bombed during WWII
the few ancient buildings i saw tho are kinda gothic
it'd be nice to see them.. but i haven't even really seen the Notre Dame in Paris

we had to run once we reached the station, and we sat down with 4 mins to spare
apparently, the trains here are very punctual; we left at 605 sharp
I was so tired i instantly fell asleep..
and only woke up once or twice in 2 hours

Lys was waiting at the hotel when we got back at 9
cos.. our CEO was at the restaurant across the street to have dinner with us
i ordered cod fish.. but it's too cooked
papa does it much better

and of cos.. we talked about work during dinner
he said something nice about me.. and how it's making his expectations of me higher..
O_o
they also want me to sit in for the second part of the director meeting tomor
which means.. i have to dress formal ..

so.. tomor, we're supposed to be in the office at 8..
i'll have Uni-Thread training before lunch
meeting after lunch til 6pm
then, FlexPlus training from 6-7.30

lucky for me that my jet lag only means less sleep..
and not the other symptoms associated with it