Monday March 19

      Another interesting day in Liberia :-) Surgical rounds followed by hospital Grand Rounds which finished at 10am. We didn't have a busy operating day planned, and that was probably a good thing. Sandeep and Gbozee did a parotid tumor, and I was going to do a skin graft with David but the patient decided he had other issues after getting on the operating table, so we cancelled that case. Thought the morning we were screening patients for potential surgery, and we seem to have filled up the schedule for the next couple of days.
       I  was feeling frustrated with the slow pace of the day, so I sought some relief...which I found by visiting J, the 10 year old with the kidney cyst which we removed last Friday. She is doing very well, and will probably go home tomorrow. I will miss her smile, which certainly lifted my spirits today.
       We left JFK around 4:30pm and came to the hotel for a rest before dinner. Tonight we had a party on the rooftop terrace with about 20 of our friends form JFK, organized by Masmina and Abdullah Shehny, the owner of the hotel. It was a wonderful occasion with great food including an amazing whole fish, and great conversation. It was quite an honor to have Dr. Jerry Brown, the Administrator of JFK as well as Mrs. Koffa, Deputy Administrator, present as well as Dr.Johnson, Chief Medical Officer at JFK and Prof. Ikpi, Chief of Surgery, and my operating buddy ! No one will replace Santiago, but the experience operating with Prof Ikpi was very cool !
       As we plunge into our second week, it is pretty clear that this HEARTT surgery program will continue for the foreseeable future. It was made very clear to me tonight by several people that we are a valued addition to the Department of Surgery, and to the postgraduate teaching program. Not that I doubted it, but it was still nice to have that affirmation.
      Tomorrow looks to be a busy day, so I'm going to end this and go to sleep.