Rwanda 2011

We arrived safely at a reasonable hour and without incident ! Some amusing flight stories, but no major holdups, and all of our supplies arrived on time from DHL, thank you Marcus ~! Check in at the Serena was smooooooth and easy, and after Dr Haglund's discussion with the hotel staff, we will be permitted to stay as per our reservations, instead of just the 3 days they decided we should stay ! This am several of us slept thru the most amazing breakfast buffet you would ever want. But we got our 8-10 hours of beauty rest and woke up at noon Africa time, 0700 NC time. It was great to "sleep in" as with our previous trips we usually have to be up and out by 0600 and on the bus by 0700 to get to the hospital no matter what time we got in. We packed ourselves into the van, (good thing we are a close and well bonded team) and we arrived at King Faisal mid morning. After an introductory meeting in the board room, we toured the hospital. It was the most sparkly clean hospital and grounds I have ever seen. So well maintained, but still in need of some updating. I posted some pics on fb for now, until I remember how to post pics to my blog, please feel free to friend me if you would like to see the pics. @Pamela Borden, Raleigh, NC. The hospital staff brought all of our supplies up to the OR for us, and all we had to do was organize them and account for them. Easy breezy. We assessed the equipment and we'll have some troubleshooting to do tomorrow, (Sunday) but it's nothing that Robbie McGyver can't handle. All he needs is one screwdriver and a roll of tape and he can transform anything into a well functioning piece of high tech surgical equipment. And let me just say, it's a good thing Robbie knew that you cannot run compressed 02 as a source of power to run a black max. Whoa, close call. KaPow! Haven't seen it yet, but I hear the microscope is akin to our 1930's version of the ENT scope we use for tubes at Duke Raleigh. Okay, so this isn't brain surgery,......wait, yeah, this IS brain surgery. SO, I'll just think about that tomorra...ahem. Let's change the subject now, and talk about the amazing dinner we had back at the hotel, all courses were delicious and it was so good to be able to sit down at the table with the whole team, and toast to yet another wonderful experience together. Looking forward to making memories and new friendships with each and every one of you, Duke Neuro and Rwandan team alike. Thank  you Dr. Haglund, for helping me live my motto, Life is NOT a spectator sport. Okay ~ Duke Neurosurgery East Africa Training Team, let's roll~! stay tuned for more.....