Friday, January 9: Shabbat

Friday is teaching day in our neurosurgery program.  There were two excellent presentations by two different residents; one on stereotactic neurosurgery and the second on brachial plexus injuries.  They are capable of neither of these procedures, and I am always amazed at the quality and depth of their presentations, in spite of their lack of hands on experience.  Actually these presentations provided an opportunity for me to discuss with them several practical, and reasonably inexpensive strategies for adding these capabilities to their repertoire.

I took two minibuses from the hospital to the Ethiopia Telecom office for a problem with my phone.  I can receive phone calls, but not initiate them.  I have an Ethiopian SIM card and you buy cards on the street that have codes you punch into the phone to load money onto the phone.  I bought three different cards and none were working.  I had Ethiopian friends try and still no luck, hence my long trip to the Telecom office.  The lady greeted me with a smile and laughingly told me I have the same problem as everyone else.  The system has not been working for two days.  When will it be working? “sometime”.  How soon?  “I don’t know; keep trying”.  What do I do to make calls? “ buy a new phone and sign up for recurring monthly phone service!”

In addition to no functioning outgoing phone, the wifi at my hotel (and in numerous spots throughout the city) has not been working for two days, but suddenly was functioning again in the evening.

Walked 1 or 2 miles from Telecom to my hotel to greet Paula and Joan, from Rochester,

Joan and Paula

who have been working with deaf children in Bahir Dar for the past 2 weeks.  They left their group a day early to come to Addis so that they could experience Shabbat at Rick’s house. It was the usual spiritual, moving experience with wonderful opportunities to interact with the many children living in his house and his current volunteers, Jeremy and Jonathan.  He gets outstanding recent college graduates who come for a year, volunteering through .. the JDC (the Joint).  Also there for several months is Dan Combs, one of his volunteers from last year who is doing amazing work extending the capabilities of Rick’s various activities.

Walked probably four miles with Paula and Joan, stopped for lunch, when to an Ethiopian supermarket where they bought food related gifts to take home.  Finally back to the hotel for a rest before walking to Rick’s house, just 10 minutes from here for a glorious Shabbat

Jet lag day, Thursday, January 8

Barely slept and was picked up a few hours later by one of the residents for morning report.  The usual 5 trauma cases overnight.

On to the surgeon’s lounge where a post-Christmas (Xmas in Ethiopia was yesterday) morning feast was in progress. 

Two festively attired aides were serving a huge plate of Ethiopian food (which is the same whether for breakfast, lunch or dinner . . . the meat and spices may vary but it all looks the same). Eaten with fingers of ocurse and no napkins.

Hagos, who had visited us in Kansas City 2 months ago, reminded me that he had eaten everything served to him and I should do the same.  I was still stuffed from the airline and lounge feasts so finessed this a bit.

Surgery today was a transsphenoidal removal of a large pituitary tumor which went surprisingly well with a new fluoroscope machine since last year and a microscope that finally was working properly.

tumor is bright white near the center

P.S. Wifi in the hotel was remarkable (compared to experience in years past).  However, as I write this, WiFi, T.V. and phone network are all not working.

This is what oil money can buy: MCI-ORD-DOH-ADD

Tues/Wed/Thu , Jan 6-8,, 27 hours door to door

Flight from O’hare to Doha, Qatar on Qatar Airways was very pleasant.  I had terrible guilt about flying this airline, but have had enough with the Ethiopian Airlines non-stop from Dulles which is vastly overpriced and quite ordinary even in business class, aside from the sleeping comfort of the seat.

Qatar was entirely different.  I was disappointed when boarding with the “plain Jane” appearance of the business seats.  However they were wide and comfortable.  Movie selection was excellent and the service was remarkable.  In addition to the usual amenities, I was offered pajamas (which I refused) and “turn down service” where a sheet and mattress pad were placed over the lay flat seat for sleeping. The menu was amazing; a la carte with more than 25 selections from soup to salad to entrees to dessert.  Each was irresistable and outstanding.

The Doha airport is a sight to behold.

  Undoubtedly new within the last year or two. Amazing in every respect and the business class lounge was indescribable.  Main lounge is the length of a football field and perhaps 2/3’s as wide and that is just the first floor. 

There is a wide winding staircase to a second level perhaps 1/3 the size of the first.  There is an incredible restaurant on each floor and all the food is free!.  Bars galore, vast buffet tables, prepared to order small plates, separate dessert buffet and on and on.

Arrived in Addis 1/2 hour late and the adventure begins.  Apparently only Ethiopian Airlines is allowed to use the main terminal, which itself is clearly third world.  Qatar was required to pull into the “local” terminal for all domestic flights.  This terminal is spartan/primitive third world.  There was not the usual table for “on arrival” visa.  Only after passengers started arriving (I was first off the plane) did they call for a visa agent from the main terminal which is a 10 minute walk away. Finally got out of the airport at 2am and had to bargain for a cab to drive me 1 1/2 miles, 4 min,  to my hotel (they initially wanted $20).

A reception person was sleeping on a cot in the lobby of this 15 room hotel, gave me the key to my somewhat chilly room.  Addis is sunny and warm during the day, and cools to 45 at night.  There is no heating or air conditioning in all but the newest buildings (where it often does not work anyway).

Barely slept and was picked up a few hours later by one of the residents for morning report.  The usual 5 trauma cases overnight.

On to the surgeon’s lounge where a post-Christmas (Xmas in Ethiopia was yesterday) morning feast was in progress.  Two festively attired aides were serving a huge plate of Ethiopian food (which is the same whether for breakfast, lunch or dinner . . . the meat and spices may vary but it all looks the same). Eaten with fingers of ocurse and no napkins. Hagos, who had visited us in Kansas City 2 months ago, reminded me that he had eaten everything served to him and I should do the same.  I was still stuffed from the airline and lounge feasts, so finessed this a bit.

Surgery today was transsphenoidal removal of a large pituitary tumor which went surprisingly well with a new fluoroscope machine since last year and a microscope that finally was working properly. They had never had the equipment or skill to do this surgery in the past, but have obviously done a lot of planning to be able to pull this off.

P.S. Wifi in the hotel was remarkable (compared to experience in years past).  However, as I write this, WiFi, T.V. and phone network are all not working.