14 days

where do I begin...I have been here a total of 14 days and I've settled in, sort of...

My trip began from JFK in NYC.  Terri and I trekked out there with my bags to meet Dr. James Sirleaf and two other HEARTT volunteers, Bryan Mazzucco R.N. and Dr. Garvey, a general surgeon from Connecticut.  I had no problems with my bags and quickly realized after meeting my three travel partners that I was going to have a fun trip.

After saying a bittersweet goodbye to Terri, Bryan and I boarded our flight to Monrovia via Brussels.  Drs Sirleaf and Garvey would meet us on the other side of the Atlantic since they were taking a different flight through Accra, Ghana.  

We had a great flight, I even had the whole middle row to myself to stretch out and sleep (poor man's first class).  The only hiccup occurred when i woke up and looked on the in-flight monitor and noticed we were heading for Abidjan!  What!?!  I didn't know anything about going to Abdijan (Cote d'Ivoire).  Anyway, we quickly realized that we would make a brief stop there to pick up people before finally arriving in Monrovia.

The first think I noticed flying into Monrovia at night was how extremely dark it was.  I have never flown into a place that has such little light.  Electricity is still a commodity here and although I've been told there has been significant improvements, electricity is not ubiquitous and often goes out in many areas.

We landed without a hitch, and then we were met by a couple men that had been sent by Dr Sirleaf to pick us up.  We then met Dr. Garvey again outside of the airport.  We quickly packed up our things and jumped into the truck.  We took off and 2 seconds later we were pulling into a driveway.  We stopped in front of this building and the driver said we should get out.  We got out and I asked where we were and Dr. Garvey said that this was the VIP area and Dr Sirleaf was in there speaking with his mother, President Sirleaf.  We walked inside and were greeted by some important looking people and asked to sit down.  We sat for a while and talked about our flight experiences then Dr. Sirleaf came out.  He told us that the President was about to leave for the US for a meeting with President Obama and other leaders of state.  We could meet her before  she boarded her plane.  I was excited but felt unprepared.  I wasn't dressed appropriately to meet the President but he said it was fine.  Soon the President emerged from her meeting room and we all lined up.  Dr Sirleaf made the introductions and I said something stupid while everyone watched as we shook hands.  The funny thing was, I was going to prepare something in the off chance I would meet the President, I just didn't realize it would be within minutes off landing in Monrovia.  Oh well.

After she left we jumped into the truck and made our way from the airport to town.  The road is well paved but dark.  It took 40 minutes or so to make our way.  We arrived at the President's guest house (yeah) and quickly settled in.  My room had this really nice bed with a comforter designed with the Liberian flag.  

We grabbed something to eat (there are pictures of Madame President accepting an Award from President Bush Jr. in the dining room) and hit the sack.   

The next few days we stayed at the guest house, met Auntie Jennie and some of the other family members and began work at JFK Hospital.  The hospital is the main referral hospital in the country.  Liberia has over 3 million people and 1.2 million living in the city.  I've been told the city was only designed for a few hundred thousand but during the war people fled the interior and head either out of the country into neighboring countries such as Guinea, Cote d'Ivoire or Sierre Leone or to the city.  The influx of people is clearly evident by just looking out of the window of JFK Hospital to an are called, "Behind JFK."  "Behind JFK" is a shanty town set up during the war.  It is right on the beach and I can hear, see and smell it from my current apartment.  

When I left the guest house I moved into the "Chinese apartment."  The Chinese apt. is an apartment building built by the Chinese government for the Chinese health workers that are stationed at JFK.  They are friendly neighbors although none of them speak English and I can't say much more than hello in Chinese.  We smile a lot at each other though.

My apartment is nice but has it oddities...for example, the shower is just stuck on the wall next to the toilet and i have to aim it away from the toilet and stand in the corner literally up against the wall to take a shower.  Also I have an air conditioner, but everything is in chinese so I just keep pressing buttons until it either turns on or off.  And forget about the washer/dryer down the hall.  There are about 20 buttons on each machine, all labeled in Chinese.  Lucky for me, there is a nice woman, Ma Annie, that works at the medical dorm next door and she offered to do my laundry for me.  

The hospital is similar, in a sense, to what I experienced in Malawi.  The patients are housed in wards.  I recently took a census and we have 26 inpatients and about 6 patients in the ER awaiting either a bed for admission or xray.  Our xray machine is broken, so patients have to go to another small local hospital to get there xray.   This means there family has to pick them up and transport them, paying for the xray themselves, then bring them back.  If the family doesn't have the money $10 or so, the patient just lies in bed until they can get the money.  

There is a lot of death.  Resources are limited and patients die everyday due to various causes, acute abdomen, bleeds, unknown causes etc.  The ER is separated into Trauma/Surgery and Medicine.  They are packed and there is generally one physician there ( a HEARTT volunteer, ER resident from the states).  I make rounds in the Trauma ER daily, if not multiple times a day.  If not, many things go unnoticed and people suffer.  I recently stopped in by chance on my way out and found a 19 yr old girl lying in bed complaining of neck pain.  An xray had been taking and was read by the ER officers (sort of like a physician assistant) as negative.  She was given instructions to go home and do physical therapy.  Her mother was about to take her home.  I looked at her xray and quickly noticed she had a displaced fracture of C2.  I placed her into a brace/cast.  She cried when she realized she almost went home and could have easily moved her neck the wrong way and become paralyzed and died.  I wonder how many cases like this i miss in a day.

The first week I did some general surgery cases with Dr Garvey and learned that there is alot of bowel perforations here secondary to typhoid.  Tetanus is also a problem here, as is esophageal strictures in children after they mistakenly drink lye (used for making soap and put into random bottle the children mistake for milk).  The esophageal strictures are terrible because the kids just wast away...there is a child in the ER that has been there for weeks if not months. I saw him eating the other day.  He had 2 plates and a bowel of soup and I thought, man this kid is hungry, and I was initially excited to see him take a bite.  Then he vomited into the bowel and I realized he would chew and swallow and the food would back up in his esophagus until he vomited it up.  The bowel i thought was soup was his vomit basin.  Sites like this are heartbreaking. Difficulty is everywhere and it makes the work hard.  So you have to balance it out with other things.  

I had a great time hanging out with the guys.  We were well taken care of.  A couple of times we ate double meals (first at the guest house then asked over to the President's house where we ate again).  We went out  a number of nights to the local restaurants and lounges.  Most of the business are owned by Lebanese and there are a few really good restaurants with extensive menus.  

Over the first 2 weeks I've met so many people and they've all been given instructions to take care of me and have done so.  It's good to have so many friends here now.  I've met people at the US Embassy, the Chinese Ambassador and I went to church with the President and rode in the motorcade.  The motorcade is exciting and nerve-racking at the same time. There are a lot of men with machine guns and the motorcade drives at high speeds for security reasons.  We stop often though when the President sees people (particularly children along the rode).  It's quite amazing to see people's excitement to see her.  The crowds often sing and dance for her.  Anyway, church was a lot of fun.  The President introduced us and asked us to come up and say a few words!  Talk about being put on the spot.  The best part however, was when this 3 or 4 year old boy directed the choir.  We were able to catch it on video and plan on posting it on Youtube.  I'll let you know when we do.  It is great.  

A few days ago we were interviewed for the local press and an article was written about our work here.  http://www.liberianobserver.com/node/1973  It made the front page!  LOL!  Around the same time I was asked to be Chief of Orthopaedics and rebuild the ortho/trauma program.  Additionally I would be given an appointment to the medical school to help teach.  I am excited to add this to the list of jobs i have here.  I find the medical students bright and eager to learn.  Unfortunately, many of them have been in medical school for many more years than the scheduled program requires.  Due to lack of staff as a result of the war, it is not uncommon for them to have been in school 3-5 years beyond the 5 required years.  There simply is not enough qualified staff.  This was the case for the resident I am training.  Dr. George was in undergraduate for 9 years and medical school for 10 years due to the wars.  He has completed a year of internship and a year of residency and has a specific interest in orthopedics.  

Bryan, Dr Sirleaf and Garvey left a few days ago and it's quieted down socially.  In a short period of time we became good friends and I have a lot of good memories and jokes to tell.

Currently, there are 2 other volunteer physicians, Camille - a Peds resident from CHOP, and Meera - an ER resident from Brown.  There's also Diasmer, a Scott Fellow in administration, and Lisa - a social worker.  They are all very dedicated and inspirational and we do the best we can to support each other when times get tough as they inevitably do.

Well, that's all for now.  My Chinese apartment is calling me (yes, in chinese - don't ask me how i know it's calling me, I just do)