Survival Story (update)

fishermen

Three fisheremen survive nine months at sea.

Salvador Ordoñez Vázquez, Jesús Vidaña López and Lucio Rendón Becerra, are the fishermen who drifted 8,000 kilometres (4,971 miles) across the Pacific Ocean in an open boat for nine months are the toast of Mexico.

They survived rawing fish, seabirds and rain water.

From San Blas, Nayarit (Mexico), to Marshall Islands, Majuro (near Australia) they were found by the Kusskaooss, a ship from a fishing company.

Other related stories:

On 1942, a chinese sailor called Poon Lim survived 4 months on the Atlantic Ocean.

On 1789, the british William Bligh survived 6 weeks.

What a great story, I’m very happy about them.

U P D A T E: They are safe in land

at least

On October 28th, 2005 five fishermen went to hunt sharks. On the very first night, they lost their fishing line. While they looked for this missing line, they exhausted all of their fuel.

During the next few days, to survive, they ate the birds that settled into their boat. They cracked them with a knife, removed their intestines, and used them for food. They walked from one side of the boat to the other trying to fish with hands. They collected gallons of rainwater that slipped into the boat.

One of its more terrible moments was when they shared the night with orcas. They thought that one of them would flip over the small boat. They guarded their fallen companions Juan and “El Farsero” during those three days. Later, they threw their bodies to the sea.

Salvador said: “The day that Juan died, the 20th of January, he called to me and I asked him: ‘What are you trying to tell me, Juanito?’ He looked straight into my eyes and then he died, I will never forget this picture”

They did not want to die, but they let eat, said Lucio, the one from Nayarit. “El Farsero” was the oldest one, but he never wanted to eat, said Jesus. The three assured that the deceaseds were from Mazatlán.

Jesus is the owner of the compass and he frequently let them know that they would eventually arrive in China.
Lucio owned a little Casio watch that prolonged the agony “I had to leave it because each little while they asked me what time was it”.
And Salvador, the master and guardian of the Bible, organized mornings, afternoons and nights of reading.

The mental picture of themselves: Three fishermen on a boat in the middle of the ocean, reading aloud Biblical passages to drive away the fear, the desperation. “He says to God, help yourself that I will help you”.

Nine months and nine tragic days, but on 9th of August, they celebrated when the Taiwanese boat Koo´s 102 found them in the middle of the ocean.

These three men had never had seen such a beautiful dawn in their lives. They were all barefoot, with the swelling in the feet. They were unwell with the marks of the shipwreck in the skin. They saluted. They said that they were well, that they were not scared. They were not cannibals and they didn’t eat their companions as rumored.

The crew of the rescue ship made them put on a T-shirt to take the above picture. These brave men will always remember this journey from the day left the Mexican coast and after more than nine months they appeared in Micronesia. Look out the picture

After 289 days of shipwreck, they said: “We never lost the hope”

Dr. Jon Mikel Iñarritu

First Laparoscopic Liver Surgery

(via)
The first laparoscopic liver surgery in a child, was performed in Mexico.

Mark Thomas, a pediatric surgeon performed the world’s first laparoscopic liver surgery in a pediatric patient. The procedure was on May 24 at the National Medical Center, La Raza in Mexico City. The patient is 2 years old and has liver cancer, on the postop the patient is doing well.

By now, there aren’t published reports of liver resection in pediatric patients with cancer.

Thomas said: “Only a handful of centers in the world perform the number of specialized laparoscopic liver surgeries that we do in Cincinnati”

Dr. Jon Mikel Iñarritu

State-Of-The-Art Surgery

From Medical News Today

Medical Center Accreditated by the American College of Surgeons:

The Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s Carl J. Shapiro Simulation and Skills Center has been formally accredited as a Level 1 facility by the American College of Surgeons (ACS), the first in Boston and New England – and one of only six inaugural certified centers in the United States – to provide simulation-based skills training to health care students and professionals from all medical and surgical disciplines.

I would love to get that training.

Dr. Jon Mikel Iñarritu

Migraine in women is linked with cardiovascular disease

Via JAMA. 2006;296:283-291.

Migraine with aura is associated with increased risk of major cardiovascular disease (CVD), myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke, and death due to ischemic CVD, coronary revascularization and angina. Active migraine without aura was not associated with increased risk of any CVD event.

This prospective cohort-type study enrolled 27,840 women aged 45 years or older who were participating in the Women’s Health Study, were free of CVD and angina at study entry (1992-1995), and who had information on self-reported migraine and aura status, and lipid measurements. This report is based on follow-up data through March 2004.

At baseline, 5125 women (18.4%) reported any history of migraine; of the 3610 with active migraine (migraine in the prior year), 1434 (39.7%) indicated aura symptoms.

During a mean of 10 years of follow-up, 580 major CVD events occurred. Compared with women with no migraine history, women who reported active migraine with aura had multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios of 2.15 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.58-2.92; P<.001) for major CVD, 1.91 (95% CI, 1.17-3.10; P = .01) for ischemic stroke, 2.08 (95% CI, 1.30-3.31; P = .002) for myocardial infarction, 1.74 (95% CI, 1.23-2.46; P = .002) for coronary revascularization, 1.71 (95% CI, 1.16-2.53; P = .007) for angina, and 2.33 (95% CI, 1.21-4.51; P = .01) for ischemic CVD death.

After adjusting for age, there were 18 additional major CVD events attributable to migraine with aura per 10 000 women per year. Women who reported active migraine without aura did not have increased risk of any vascular events or angina.

It will be nice when a novel study evaluates the prevention (triptans, ASA, beta-blockers) of this association between migraine with aura and CVD.

Link to: Acetaminophen + aspirin + caffeine to treat acute attacks of migraine

Regards,

Jon Mikel Iñarritu, M.D.

Cervical Cancer Vaccine (gardasil)

FDA approves the fist vaccine for cervical cancer, a week ago, the vaccine was aprooved in Mexico. With the name of Gardasil, and a cost of US$120.00/dose (2 doses to complete the treatment), I celebrate this effort against cancer.

Gardasil

Here in Mexico, cervical cancer is by far, the most common type of cancer (24.4%) in general population (including males). In females, again is the most common type of cancer (36%). The most common risk factor is infection from human papillomavirus (HPV).

This virus causes cervical cancer, precancerous genital lesions and genital warts; the vaccine prevents against HPV types 16, 18 (causes 70% of cervical cancer cases); 6 and 11 (causes genital warts).

Let’s celebrate this fight against cancer.

Regards,
Jon Mikel Iñarritu, M.D.