1/6: an impressive day in surgery

Walked nearly five miles to dinner last night. Did not mean to walk quite this far, but missed the restaurant which is set back a bit from the street. Along the way suddenly there appeared out of a side street a few herders with probably 200 sheep. This is on one of the main streets of the city with many new tall buildings. Turns out buying a sheep to kill for the family Xmas feast is a big deal and these poor fellows were probably on their way to be sold. The Ethiopians "fast" for 50 days before Xmas. Fasting means they have a strictly vegan diet--no meat or any meat products including cheese, butter, milk, etc.

When I returned late to my apartment, there was a goat in the hallway


to greet me (there is no front door on the building), probably bought for Xmas feast. For the past 24 hours he has been screeching goat sounds every few minutes.

Today, amazingly, one of the surgeons reluctantly tackled an extremely difficult case. Quite an accomplishment in itself as they much prefer easy cases and I am constantly trying to push them otherwise. You may recall I posted a photo a few days ago of a woman with a huge mass growing out of her head, twice the size of a grapefruit. Dr, Rich had sent a nearly identical case just a few months ago to the university. Of Wisconsin. The surgeon today was impressive and removed the entire tumor, which hopefully may be benign. It takes nearly two weeks for processing and a pathology report so I won't know until after I return home.

I paused half way thru the procedure ( I was coaching and not operating) for lunch and to visit a friend, Lilly, in the coffee shop that she owns 5' from the hospital (walking). Her father owns many businesses and upon her return from 19 years in the US, he gave her two coffee shops/bakeries which she says are very profitable. A wonderful huge cinnamon roll and tea cost only 6 birr (36 cents), but most of the employees make less than 700 birr per month. The shop is full constantly from the time they open at 6 am.

She has invited me to their family feast and "break the fast" tomorrow. Right now I am seeing 3 patients at my apartment.


Standing next to me in the photo above is Berhanu, Rick's wonderful long time assistant. Next to him is Blaine. She is an Ethiopian who is now in her 4th year at univ of maryland med school. She speaks impecable english and amharic and was invaluable in examining these 3 patients. In the background is my apartment (on the right). I am seeing patients at my apartment 3 days in a row and again sunday.

Dinner tonite will be either Italian or Arabian.

Bye for now.