Back in Black...

... well, surrounded by it anyway. I am here, safe, and tired. My first attempt at posting was thwarted by a blackout but the internet was too slow and my face was too close to the screen to try again when power returned. The flight over was exhausting, mostly because I purposely stayed awake so that I could fall asleep at a normal bedtime here in Ethiopia (but the lap dog yapping away like Joan Rivers didn't hurt either)... unfortunately that method doesn't keep you from waking up at an obscenely eary hour, so I'm still callibrating that part.

I spent my first night at Taitu Hotel, the oldest hotel in Ethiopia. The accomodations were fine and the room was cheap, and now I am a part of African history. The next morning after waking up at 3am, sleeping sporadically until 6:30, I took a Taxi to "the compound," the name given to the enormous, walled Missionaries of Charity property. Apparently the nun in charge of volunteers is gone for a month and the rest are too busy running around to care much about their own work, so I was ushered around by some Canadian woman named Jerry who introduced me to some other volunteers and showed me the quarters I'm now staying in. The space is pretty nice but has been crowded with both the male and female volunteers due to some redecorating of the women's room. Most are leaving tonight for another city, though, so I'll be able to pick a bed that doesn't touch the dining room table. There are three volunteers from Spain, two young and one older; a 42-year old marble worker from Italy; a physiotherapist couple from Poland; a vet student from France; and a med-school applicant from Canada. All but the older Spanish woman, the Italian, and I will be gone after tonight.

On Friday morning after dumping my crud in the volunteer house I headed over to the wound dressing dispensory where I worked with Claudio, the Italian, and two local workers, Abebe and Araya. I watched them change the dressings of a couple patients and then jumped in for my first. Really most of the wounds are pretty disgusting... one noteworthy patient had a foot full of pus but couldn't stand the pain long enough to drain it all. Generally the mornings are busy and the afternoons slow, so from 8:30-noon we have a steady stream of patients and at 3 or 3:30 after the long lunch break we mostly prep for the next day. The real excitement comes on Tuesdays and Saturdays when a doctor takes over the wound dressing wound and we take a supply cart outside to treat outpatients coming in from the street. Needless to say, there were a lot of infections.

When there was no more wait, I tracked down Dr. Rick, an American cancer specialist working at the compound. For about four hours I shadowed him as he consulted patients. Because of the multitude of medical problems people present with, over the years he has chosen to limit himself to patients with heart, spine, or cancer problems. A good percentage of the patients had severe scoliosis or tuberculosis of the spine. One woman had an undiagnosed muscular deterioration condition that her nurses said hit her suddenly a couple years ago. There was nothing Dr. Rick could do for her, but instructed the translator to tell her to wait a month and come back anyway... easier than watching her find out she's doomed, I suppose. There was also a baby girl with bladder extrophy, meaning her bladder is on the outside of her body. Apparently she is also lacking a uterus, so it's possible there is still some ambiguity in regards to her gender. It's cool, though, she can still grow up to be a famous sprinter.

Dr. Rick is an interesting guy. He's a Jew from Long Island who lives full time in Addis and has adopted several local children. He is clearly brilliant, but might relish in the way people treat him like House... to be determined. He showed us a clip on his computer of his Today Show debut and a picture of a kid with a crooked back standing with Natalie Portman, who is apparently a friend of Rick's. His most interesting visit of the day was actually not medically related. It was the long-lost brother of one of Rick's adopted sons. Apparently Rick's son left his village for Addis ten years ago, and two years ago the younger brother also left the village for greener pastures. Rick's son spotted him randomly from a car shortly after and recognized him, talked to him, but for some reason didn't tell Rick about the encounter. Rick's son is now in college in the US, but some sort of communication between the brothers is being arranged and it sounded like the younger one will be able to move in with one of Rick's friends in Addis.

I haven't seen any of the city yet because I've been so tired, but I'll check it out this coming week. We are close to Addis Abeba University and the National Museum, and walking distance from the Piazza. There is potential for a lot of free time with nobody looking over your shoulder to enforce the already lax volunteer schedule. Everyone seems to speak English, so I might not learn as much Amharic as I had hoped, but it makes things a lot easier. Today I'm going to have lunch with the Dutch nurse, Diny, who Joe contacted for me to set this whole thing up. If there is time afterward I'll walk to the Piazza to see what all the fuss is about. Anyway that's it for now... blogs should improve as I get more sleep. Hope everyone is doing well.