Friday March 15

This morning we were invited to have breakfast with the President, and it was a special occasion as always. John and Nathan came here to the bungalow before we left for breakfast,mand reported that Abdul was alive and well ! Then we went to the President's house; besides the 6 of us, the other invitees were Camille Henry, a pediatrician, and Mike Scott and Joe Tunno, both ED residents as well as Dr. McDonald. I had the honor of sitting on the President's right; she asked about our surgical cases, and the state of JFK, and we had a good discussion around the table. Partway through Auntie Jenny came in, exclaiming " And how is our favorite surgeon?" , and came over to give me a big hug and a kiss ! Around 10am the President excused herself to go to work; today is a national holiday, but of course she works anyway. At some point in the discussion I mentioned that I would be back in September, and Aunt Jenny said " But you know you have to come in July ! Or did I let the cat out of the bag?" Dr. McDonald had said something at the retirement function we attended about the President wanting me to be here for Independence Day celebrations at the end of July. I pressed Aunt Jenny gently to explain, but she wouldn't say anything more than I should plan to be here for the July 22-28 week; I'm hoping that more details will follow. But I guess if the President asks you to attend, then the apprppriate thing to do is to attend ! After breakfast we came back here to change, and then went to the hospital. Obviously Abdul was my main interest, and happily he was looking pretty good. He had been transferred downstairs to the ward around 12:30, and said he was feeling better today. His breathing was better, and I am optimistic that he will make it now. Our other patients were all looking good, including the mastectomy from yesterday, and Victor was looking better. At noon we met with Dr. McDonald and Dr. Bobo to talk about the development of postgraduate education at JFK, and the development of surgery in particular. We had in interesting and wide-ranging discussion of needs and resources; for me, the top priorities would be getting a pathologist, and an anesthesiologist, and surgical staff, and developing critical care services such as ventilators, etc. we also had a good discussion about the proposed endoscopy unit, including the equipment needs, staffing and resources, etc. They are extremely enthusiastic about this possibility, and Santiago and I have committed to doing what we can to get the process moving. We then went to look at the proposed site on the first floor, across from where pediatrics used to be. In the afternoon we went down to Front St to the carving shops; I bought an ebony mask and a few other things. It was good having Dewalt with us to do some hard bargaining ! Then after dinner at Sajj we went out to the 704 club in Painesville to meet up with Persillar and many other OR staff or a night of dancing. Dewalt was also there, being very protective of us. At one point I went into the bar with Barbu, and one of the bartenders said "Hi Dr Knight !" He is a friend of Persillar's, and last September she brought him to see me with enlarged cervical nodes. I biopsied one, and it showed granulomas consistent with TB. He told me he is on TB medication and is doing well ! We came home around 11:30, tired and ready to sleep before our last day of surgery tomorrow.