2 Notable Incidents

Two things note have happened in the last two days:

1) Rick emailed and asked me to convince Hanouk , a patient with malignant fibrous mistiocytoma in his left femur, to get his leg amputated. Hanouk's x-rays and biopsy results were sent to experts at Sloane-Kettering, St. Jude's, and MD Anderson, and all agreed amputation asap was necessary. After nearly ninety minutes I was able to convince him that this was the only option, and Dr. Solomon agreed to amputate on this coming Friday (hopefully). There is still time for some hurdles to emerge, but so far so good. Interesting note: Hanouk is currently in a hip cast because of a broken femur he sustained while playing soccer a few months ago, and he was/is convinced that he got the tumor because he played soccer. He believed that because he broke his femur playing soccer, it got infected, and that's what caused the cancer...interesting stuff. Should make for an interesting survey with Stuart, who is about to start his research project on cancer patient's knowledge of their disease and its causes.

2) I got a massage yesterday at the Moonlight Bar/Spa near Rick's. 80 birrh ($8) for 45 minutes and a hot shower. Cheap massages are the biggest perk of travelling in the third world. The spa had wood flooors, chandeliers, molded ceilings, and the fluffiest towels I've ever used. At $8, I plan to go back 2x/week for the rest of my stay...I promise to keep everyone updated :-)