Taxi Trouble, Black Lion, and Rain
It's been a few days since my last real update and though I have a few stories, it has been a great few days of typical Addis life.
Thursday - Stu and I worked at the mission until Rick arrived, and after seeing his patients, Stu and I took Workinah (Olliere's Disease) and Firtuna (a beautiful 7 year old girl with Hodgkins) + family to a private clinic for blood tests. The tests were uneventful until we got in a taxi to go back to the mission. Right away I should have realized that the tire-size car part sitting at my feet in the cab was probably important, but off we "sped" (in 2nd gear...always). Everything was going swimmingly until we reached the big hill in front of the Hilton, that leads up to the Prime Minister's mansion; then the engine sputtered and died, and our cab driver skillfully manuevered us across 2 lanes of traffic back to the curb as we slowly rolled back down the hill. He pulled on the emergency brake, said "one minute," popped the trunk, and ran off with a fuel cannister in hand. Out of gas. The five of us in the cab waited until he came back 10 minutes later, filled up the tank, and then spent 5 minutes getting the engine to catch...again, it was a sign. We finally started climbing the hill again (1st gear this time), got 50 feet, and the engine died again. Rather than rolling back to the curb, the driver popped the hood, grabbed the massive car part by my feet (maybe a manifold of some sort, or intake, or something else really important) and started fiddling with the engine. We finally realized this car wasn't the trusty steed we had hoped for and so we got out and found another taxi. End of taxi debacle, but another example of how even the mundane car ride can turn adventurous. Side note on the day - no power in Siddist Kilo (mission area), Bole (rick's neighborhood), or Piazza (the hotel area); also, found out that most of Addis's power actually comes from a hydroelectric dam south of the city from the Koka Dam. Back at the mission I hung out with Redai some and then we went back to the hotel. For dinner, we feasted with the GW med students and Ray, a third-year resident from Mt. Sinai, at the Armenian Sporting Club - great shish kabobs (but beutam wedd no).
Friday - Stu and I met Rick @ Black Lion Hospital at 7:30 to meet with his two good friends there, Dr. Amaha (an oncologist/hematologist who is in charge of all non-solid cancers - hodgkins/lymphoma/leukemia etc...) and Dr. Khalid (a young MD interested in pediatric oncology). Dr. Amaha and Rick have been running a study on the efficacy of a certain Hodgkins regimen and it is something that Stu and I might work on collating the data for, so we spent some of the morning discussing this. Dr. Khalid took us on quick rounds through the pediatric ward and explained that Black Lion is the only hospital in the entire country (of 70 million!) where one can get cancer treatment. Though only a paediatrician in title, he is passionate about oncology, but the Peds department heads keep discouraging him. The situation makes absolutely no sense because without Dr. Khalid, there would be no doctors at the country's only public hospital that treats cancer who could treat kids with cancer....typical Ethiopia. After Dr. Khalid left, Stu and I spent 90-minutes in the library reading up on Lymphoma/Leukemia and then met with Dr. Ahama. He took us down to the open "hematology" clinic and let us sit in while he heard consults from the senior residents working the clinic. Both men are extremely smart, dedicated, enthusiastic, and willing to let Stu and I shadow them. We have plans to go to Dr. Khalid's open clinic on Tuesday afternoon and then to Dr. Amaha's clinic on Wednesday morning. I imagine we sill be spending more time at Black Lion in the near future, rounding and attending seminars with their med students...should be lots of fun! After Black Lion, Rick picked us up and we ran a few errands, including a nice 2 hrs @ the sheraton during his swim (the cheesebread/NY Times digest/bathroom make it a very pleasurable experience), then off to his house for Shabbat. Great Shabbat as usual then the Stu, Tom, and I joined Ray back in Piazza for a lil' Independence Day Celebration.
Saturday - The same crew from last night got up early to go to the mission for open wound care clinic. Normal case load but it was a real pleasure having Ray around - my first time doing wound care with someone who has had western experience ("trauma surgery rotation is adequate) and could give us all some pointers. It got a little crowded with many people wrapping, but everyone got seen and I learned a lot. Rick arrived around 11 and we saw patients until 2. The usual parade of terrible backs continued, but the day's most interesting case was "Blayne" (name changed), a 17 yo female Rick first saw Friday. She suffers from a neurologic disorder causing body-wracking tics and has lost almost all fine motor control. Using his digital camera, Rick was able to photograph her iris to look for a sign of a Kayser-Fleischer ring, which would indicate Wilson's Disease. Although a clearly defined ring was not as visible as on a previous patient he had, Rick's initial diagnosis is Wilson's Disease and we await a blood test on monday to confirm. We saw at least 6 back patients (4 scoliosis, 2 TB), a guy with mitral valve regurgitation, and a man with B cell lymphoma. Firtuna (7 yo Hodgkins patient) was supposed to start chemo today, but her blood test showed high levels of hemoglobin so she requires a blood transfusion and was unable to get one Friday at Black Lion, so no chemo today. It has poured most of the afternoon, but we braved the rain to go next door for chemaki/macchiato. Now back in Piazza and looking forward to getting in my sleeping bag. Just finished "The Worst Hard Time" (okay read, but not a favorite) and uber excited to start "Reading the Man: A portrait of Robert E Lee through his letters." Happy 4th of July to everyone back home and happy Flag Day to all of us here in Ethiopia today.
My sleeping bag beckons and I pity any mosquito that disturb my slumber....until tomorrow....
Thursday - Stu and I worked at the mission until Rick arrived, and after seeing his patients, Stu and I took Workinah (Olliere's Disease) and Firtuna (a beautiful 7 year old girl with Hodgkins) + family to a private clinic for blood tests. The tests were uneventful until we got in a taxi to go back to the mission. Right away I should have realized that the tire-size car part sitting at my feet in the cab was probably important, but off we "sped" (in 2nd gear...always). Everything was going swimmingly until we reached the big hill in front of the Hilton, that leads up to the Prime Minister's mansion; then the engine sputtered and died, and our cab driver skillfully manuevered us across 2 lanes of traffic back to the curb as we slowly rolled back down the hill. He pulled on the emergency brake, said "one minute," popped the trunk, and ran off with a fuel cannister in hand. Out of gas. The five of us in the cab waited until he came back 10 minutes later, filled up the tank, and then spent 5 minutes getting the engine to catch...again, it was a sign. We finally started climbing the hill again (1st gear this time), got 50 feet, and the engine died again. Rather than rolling back to the curb, the driver popped the hood, grabbed the massive car part by my feet (maybe a manifold of some sort, or intake, or something else really important) and started fiddling with the engine. We finally realized this car wasn't the trusty steed we had hoped for and so we got out and found another taxi. End of taxi debacle, but another example of how even the mundane car ride can turn adventurous. Side note on the day - no power in Siddist Kilo (mission area), Bole (rick's neighborhood), or Piazza (the hotel area); also, found out that most of Addis's power actually comes from a hydroelectric dam south of the city from the Koka Dam. Back at the mission I hung out with Redai some and then we went back to the hotel. For dinner, we feasted with the GW med students and Ray, a third-year resident from Mt. Sinai, at the Armenian Sporting Club - great shish kabobs (but beutam wedd no).
Friday - Stu and I met Rick @ Black Lion Hospital at 7:30 to meet with his two good friends there, Dr. Amaha (an oncologist/hematologist who is in charge of all non-solid cancers - hodgkins/lymphoma/leukemia etc...) and Dr. Khalid (a young MD interested in pediatric oncology). Dr. Amaha and Rick have been running a study on the efficacy of a certain Hodgkins regimen and it is something that Stu and I might work on collating the data for, so we spent some of the morning discussing this. Dr. Khalid took us on quick rounds through the pediatric ward and explained that Black Lion is the only hospital in the entire country (of 70 million!) where one can get cancer treatment. Though only a paediatrician in title, he is passionate about oncology, but the Peds department heads keep discouraging him. The situation makes absolutely no sense because without Dr. Khalid, there would be no doctors at the country's only public hospital that treats cancer who could treat kids with cancer....typical Ethiopia. After Dr. Khalid left, Stu and I spent 90-minutes in the library reading up on Lymphoma/Leukemia and then met with Dr. Ahama. He took us down to the open "hematology" clinic and let us sit in while he heard consults from the senior residents working the clinic. Both men are extremely smart, dedicated, enthusiastic, and willing to let Stu and I shadow them. We have plans to go to Dr. Khalid's open clinic on Tuesday afternoon and then to Dr. Amaha's clinic on Wednesday morning. I imagine we sill be spending more time at Black Lion in the near future, rounding and attending seminars with their med students...should be lots of fun! After Black Lion, Rick picked us up and we ran a few errands, including a nice 2 hrs @ the sheraton during his swim (the cheesebread/NY Times digest/bathroom make it a very pleasurable experience), then off to his house for Shabbat. Great Shabbat as usual then the Stu, Tom, and I joined Ray back in Piazza for a lil' Independence Day Celebration.
Saturday - The same crew from last night got up early to go to the mission for open wound care clinic. Normal case load but it was a real pleasure having Ray around - my first time doing wound care with someone who has had western experience ("trauma surgery rotation is adequate) and could give us all some pointers. It got a little crowded with many people wrapping, but everyone got seen and I learned a lot. Rick arrived around 11 and we saw patients until 2. The usual parade of terrible backs continued, but the day's most interesting case was "Blayne" (name changed), a 17 yo female Rick first saw Friday. She suffers from a neurologic disorder causing body-wracking tics and has lost almost all fine motor control. Using his digital camera, Rick was able to photograph her iris to look for a sign of a Kayser-Fleischer ring, which would indicate Wilson's Disease. Although a clearly defined ring was not as visible as on a previous patient he had, Rick's initial diagnosis is Wilson's Disease and we await a blood test on monday to confirm. We saw at least 6 back patients (4 scoliosis, 2 TB), a guy with mitral valve regurgitation, and a man with B cell lymphoma. Firtuna (7 yo Hodgkins patient) was supposed to start chemo today, but her blood test showed high levels of hemoglobin so she requires a blood transfusion and was unable to get one Friday at Black Lion, so no chemo today. It has poured most of the afternoon, but we braved the rain to go next door for chemaki/macchiato. Now back in Piazza and looking forward to getting in my sleeping bag. Just finished "The Worst Hard Time" (okay read, but not a favorite) and uber excited to start "Reading the Man: A portrait of Robert E Lee through his letters." Happy 4th of July to everyone back home and happy Flag Day to all of us here in Ethiopia today.
My sleeping bag beckons and I pity any mosquito that disturb my slumber....until tomorrow....
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