King Faisal Day #2

A long night last night as my ileum and colon were actively peristalsing resulting in increased motility and decreased transit time with a resulting insufficient amount of fluid absorption. I had a nice Skype visit with Shaloy this morning and hear that I'm a Great Uncle by my Nephew Phillip Thomas and his wife Loraine. Alivia Thomas born in Boise, Idaho a few days ago. Phillip has this truly wonderful habit of calling us on our birthdays. We had a memorable time @ their wedding a few years ago on Orcas Island in the San Juans off near Seattle. I actually thought of them Sunday when trying to capture a picture while the hippos were up (We had an equal challenge trying to catch images of the breaching Killer whales on a whale watching trip)

My ride (new driver and I don't know what happened to Abdullah - Phone says not working)showed up @ 7:00 am and I wasn't anywhere close to ready and didn't really want to get there that early, so I relaxed, ate a mango and got ready, , , leisurely and caught a moto to the hospital arriving @ 8:00 am. Today I worked with Betty (a radiographer) and Benard (the KHI radiography student). I scanned a few and had her back scan but most of them I walked/guided/helped her to do the exams. We worked with the Radiologist Dr. E today. He was trained in Belgium and I could tell that he was used to and expected to scan the patients. It a bit of a trial for him to sit back.

Some interesting cases today: A 9 cm mass that was seen between the stomach and liver on CT, they wanted to evaluate whether it arose from the liver tissue or was encapsulated and was pushing into the the liver. A case of sub-acute DVT with constant flow, veins that would not coapt, flow had returned but was tortuous through the hypoechoic residual thrombus.

At lunch time I took a moto to KHI to eat lunch with the Radiology staff, inventory the mailings that have arrived (all the boxes sent from CVTC have arrived with only one CD case damaged but no materials damaged or missing) and also to return the processor manual to Leonard @ CHK. I've visited with the Chief Radiologist @ King Faisal today and review the conversation with the head of radiology @ KHI. I've repeatedly heard radiographers say, , , "It doesn't help to learn this because we will not be allowed to practice later". If this is true, they are right & I need to evaluate how I can best help. If it's not true, I'd like to be able to say so. After discussion, we plan to see how to best approach the Minister of Health in the near future, and to see if we can get an official answer about the practice level for trained/certified sonographers in Rwanda.

Back to King Faisal after lunch to work with 4 students and Betty until a patient arrives when I scoot the extra three out of the room. The OB/GYN doctors periodically bring their patients and use the machine. So at 4:00 pm we're asked to vacate for them. After checking to see who I'll be with tomorrow I start the walk home. I've brought the case for my autoharp because it needs sewing/mending and there is a lady who sits next to the road with a pedal sewing machine each day. I stop to see if she can fix it and she is happy to do so. Fifteen minutes and $1,000 FRw later my case is repaired. I'm happy and she seems quite happy as well. I've probably overpaid her but it was worth $2 U.S. to me to have it fixed well.

While walking home I see a familiar sight. There a bunch of people in blue sitting on the public grass areas across from the ministry buildings. Sometimes they are sitting with nobody around and others are sitting in 2s. On closer inspection, I think they are weeding by hand, I don't know what the blue signifies (civil servant or criminal). In Georgia, the prisoners are frequently out on the sides of the roads cleaning but always under guard and I've not seen a guard with these people. Perhaps a Rwandan can leave a comment and help me out.

Home to a supper of fish and chips which are helped along when I see that there is some red vinegar that I can use for seasoning. (tasted similar to the malt vinegar that I like at Long John Silvers). I sit and eat outside under the gazebo and play music for about an hour (autoharp and recorders).

Philbert comes to see me later and I let him try out the autoharp. I'm hoping to get to bed early