Tuesday March 10 and Wednesday March 11

     Another busy day using rooms as they became available and taking a noon break to go see Madame President. We did some hernias and small cases in the morning; I have confidence in Sepehr and Mohammed doing hernias together with my supervision. They understand the anatomy and the principles of repair much better thru their experience here, and it shows. They have both been a great asset on this trip.
     At the event on Sunday Ethel told me about a brunch at Madame President's house on Tuesday, and I responded that it would likely be very difficult for us to break free of operating in the middle of the day. This morning Adamah made it clear that we were expected, and that Madame wanted to meet the team, so around 1pm Sepehr and I were picked up at JFK by Adamah's driver and taken to Madame President's house...in our OR scrubs since that is what we wear to the hospital each day. There were lots of other people there including many friends from over the years. We had some lunch, and then Santiago, Sam, and Mohammed came with Mary and other Sam, at which point Sepehr and I went back to the hospital to keep the operative ball rolling. He and I did a thyroid with minimal problems other than a very light level of anesthesia. Finally Santiago and Mohammed did a 14 year old girl with a huge cystic mass in her abdomen. We were hoping she would be another Harriet, but alas that was not the case; she had a big cyst filled with a thin, whitish yellow fluid with some debris. The cyst wall was thickened, and very adherent to the abdominal wall as well as to small bowel. The thought on CT was a mesenteric cyst; the contents looked like chyle. but the capsule was very thick and adherent. Santiago eventually decided that he had done what he could do, and that further attempts to remove the capsule would likely result in injury to her bowel. We will await pathology before suggesting further moves.  
       Wednesday was Decoration Day, a national holiday during which people clean and decorate the graves of their departed relatives. We had the day off, so we slept in, and then met for lunch. Dami Harper, a former HEARTT guy at JFK, had lunch with us and then we took the shuttle bus to Mamba Point to visit the mask and carving shops. Several of the vendors recognized us from past trips, and we had an enjoyable time viewing the wares and bargaining on prices. We then went up to the Ducor Hotel, but it seems the Libyan owners are serious about renovating it finally, and no one is allowed on the grounds. We visited the statue next to it of JJ Roberts, first President of Liberia, and talked with some of the locals.
      Then we went to a new, Liberian-owned hotel/bar on the lagoon in Congotown called D Callabash where we sat on the outdoor porch and had a few beers. It was very pleasant!
      Back to the hotel, then dinner and bed.
      Awoken at 3 am by Santiago pounding on my door to tell me that Trump has put a travel ban in effect for anyone coming from Europe. Since we leave here tomorrow night for Brussels, and then Brussels to NY on Saturday, this could affect us. With clarifications, the ban doesn't affect US citizens who have been screened, so I think most of us will be okay. It remains unclear how this will affect Sepehr who is a Canadian citizen working at Waterbury Hospital on a J-1 visa. Some reports say that visa holders are okay, others don't mention it. The uncertainty is casting a pall over the end of this trip.