CHK Day 6 - When my best wasn't good enough

Happy Birthday Zach, my eldest is 27 today!!! He and Katie are getting married in August down in Baja, Mexico. I've had at least a bit of communication from Triandra, and regularly visit with Tekoa over the Skype but I've not heard from my Buddy Zach. Katie is a great addition to the family... Just wish they lived a bit closer. (to Georgia not Rwanda)


A very restless nights sleep. I was up a couple of times for extended periods (some from my nose and some from the chiles @ La Fiesta). I'm running a bit late in the morning. I try to check my work e-mail but my password must have expired (they rotate new ones every 3 months, I was probably due). If a CVTC employee reads this they could do me a favor and contact the IT department. But, , , I'm ready when Abdul arrives @ 6:30.

I get to CHK before anybody else and take the opportunity to get some pictures of the department. I had a second day teaching two radiographers before the morning crush. Jean Paul is good but Terez would make an outstanding Sonographer. I worked with Dr. C and Dr. Landos is back , , , , , (I know he told me he was to be in Maternite all this week!!) A slow scanning day, just 35 between 8:30 & 12:30. A typical amount of pathology, , with a few interesting ones. A gall bladder with a wall thickness of 2.5 cm, A bladder mass the size of a racquetball with dilated renal calyces in a 21 year old, a prostate that had caused urinary retention to the tune of 3,000 cc bladder size (you could outline it protruding in his abdomen) he also had dilated renal collecting system, No gall stones today but four cases of enlarged lymph nodes.

Intermittently I e-mailed Michael Piecha from Pro-tec trying to figure out what's up with the processor. by the middle of the day we realize that the processors are not exactly the same and they have different software stored on a chip located on the power supply board. Gotta get the old chip, but the power supply board is AWOL from the scavenged processor. Off to find Leonard who knows right where the board is located and he's changed that chip before. Great, change the chip , , , , , no change in the processor. Hmmmmmmm very frustrating. Leonard shows up again 15 minutes later , , , , , He remembered there was a third board and chip... We got that third chip installed it and BINGO Yeah it all works!! I make the announcement, it's high fives all the way around everyone feels good.... until ten minutes later Aphrodice comes and says "It's running slower than ever" Back to the e-mailing, , , , Call to see if Leonard can come back , , , , no dice gone for the day but Maurice (He's the tall one) comes again. Maintenance will be here @ 6:00 pm. Think, think, pray, pray, think think, pray I don't know. I try pulling the chip and resetting it...... Turn on the processor - BINGO Yeah it works. I go find Venant & Aphrodice come see it works but when they come and see it is not working but running as slow as ever. This main drive motor we've put in from the back up processor runs fine if it's been off for twenty minutes but then slows way down after 90 seconds. Okay we'll put the old motor back in and do some sort of workaround. By 7:00 pm I've got the old drive back in, the old motor back in, the E2 error has returned but were moving films through for now (in about 6 minutes) in manual mode. Turn down the temperature in the developing tanks because of the long processing time. Show the night shift guy how to run in manual mode. Report to Venant (who is surprised I'm still here) and on to the guest house.

I'm afraid that this processor business may turn from a positive into a negative if the department goes down from a lack of processing when I've worked on the processor but they simply have two bad drive motors and I didn't make either of them go bad, , , but I don't seem to be able to fix them either and without the main drive motor - No processor and no processor means no Radiography. I can't stand by and see that happen to one of the major hospitals in Kigali if I can help it but at least this time all my efforts are returning without fruit. The folks @ pro-tec have been good as well . . .

It's raining & I don't want to take the moto, didn't pack my Super Duper Birthday present rain jacket that Zach had gotten for me. So I go in a Taxi for the first time. I had to barter hard to get it down to $3,000 FRw. I really need to figure out the buses. Dinner is 1/3 of a fresh pineapple and a large avocado. The cold has moved up into the sinuses and down into my chest. I'm tired and I can't get the smell of processing chemicals off my hands.

One new addition is a site counter. It's fun for me to see who's been accessing the Blog. Here is a map of the last 100 page views. Many of them are in the Rome & Chattanooga area so they show up as a single dot.