Monday

Off to morning report.  The residents present all the emergency cases over the weekend, about 15 in all.  A whole huge batch of residents (42!) and I know hardly any of them.  All the fellows I trained are now attending, and I am very impressed with them.

Took the students to see their first surgery . . . an enormous sphenoid wing meaningoma.  

The residents assisting, and doing the entire opening exposure were both women.  They have a new state of the art Leica $250,000 microscope recently donated by the Norwegians (The neurosurgery department at the University of Bergen has for many years aided the residency program).  However, in typical Ethiopian fashion they are unable to obtain funds to buy drapes for the microscope so as to preserve a sterile field during surgery.

Leave it to these clever guys.  They did extensive research and came up with a protocol for  exposing the scope to formaldehyde gas for 24 hours.  They then operate directly using all of the controls of this very sophisticated scope without an occasionally cumbersome vinyl drape.

Surgery began at 10am and concluded at 10pm with near total removal of this enormous tumor (we were not there for the entire operation!).

Did not eat lunch until 3pm and had a very late dinner after a very interesting day.