My phone rings more here than at home. A call today from the private hospital where I did surgery yesterday. The emergency room has a sad case of a fellow who fell a few days ago, fractured his neck, and is paralyzed. They have already seen one of the neurosurgeons in town who recommended surgery tomorrow but properly told them it will not help him to recover movement. They are looking for a miracle and want to fly him out of the country but also wanted my opinion.
A call from the doctor who assisted me yesterday to tell me the patient is doing well.
A call from a gal at Ethiopian airlines who was helping me with reservations. We got talking and she told me about her brother who was a professional soccer player but got thrown off the team when he sustained a ruptured disc. Saw them in my apartment today and it turns out they have been seeing one of the neurosurgeons who I was operating with this morning. This has been dragging on for seven months and he is not a moment free of pain. In the US the team would of course be helping him to get the best treatment. Unfortunately here he is simply dropped from the team.
Numerous other calls from several recent acquaintances.
My cook made me lunch today which was quite good. I told her I wanted some vegetables including beets. She did not know what that was and instead bought two pounds of green beans! Anyway green beans, carrots, cabbage, onions was quite good.
Tonite I think I will go to an Indian restaurant and then to hear some African (not Ethiopian) music at a nearby bar.
Ethiopian Christmas is this Friday and very different from elsewhere in the Christian world. NO presents, perhaps an exchange of cards. Mainly a special dinner with family. One of my friends told me they will kill a sheep and have a feast. Most of the shops and restaurants will be open. The holiday is on friday. There is no such thing as Christmas eve and the weekend will be business as usual. In fact I will be spending part of the day, Saturday, at dr. Zenebe's private clinic. Lynn and I were to dinner at his house.
Tomorrow, Rick's assistant, Berhanu is bring three patients to my apartment for me to see. He has been quite helpful tacking me the minibus routes for getting around town. I've actually met some quite interesting people navigating this way.
That's all for now.
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