The First Week

It’s been a busy first week...we’ve come home each night absolutely beat. We generally have a beer or two after work and debrief from the day. Mary has been amazing by cooking us dinner every other night...the other nights we go find a restaurant. After dinner I generally look up a few things the Rwandan residents have asked me and verify that I have given them the best possible answer. Then it’s generally bed time at 9ish because the day starts just after 5.

Brian and I have been invited each day to assist with some very difficult cases...and unfortunately there have been a few tough outcomes. However, I’m not sure the outcomes would have been any different in Canada. Everyone did their best.

I’m not the least bit discouraged...there have been many successes, even with only three days in the OR. Here’s a picture of me showing Damascene how to place an epidural for post-operative pain relief. After three years of an anesthesia residency, he had not had the opportunity to see an epidural placed. We'll get him performing them soon.

From Rwanda

When we woke the patient up after surgery, he asked her if she had any pain (which is something like whya-may-ka in Kenyarwandan). She shook her head and said, “No”. Everyone cheered and started high-five’ing each other, and Damascene went and told Bona in another OR across the hall. Then Bona ran into our OR and started high-five’ing, dancing around, and yelling, “no pain in this OR!”, “no pain in this OR!”. It was very touching that they got so excited about pain relief and that I was able to show them a new technique. A few years ago they only had access to Tylenol and an equivalent of Advil...although they didn’t like it, they grew accustomed to patients being in significant pain after surgery. Many CASIEF volunteers before me have helped them implement techniques of pain relief.

I was very excited to see Dr Bona, a staff anesthesiologist who was in Halifax as a resident. We gave each other a big hug in morning report. Here’s a picture of him two years ago at a trip to a cabin in the depths of the Nova Scotia wilderness:

From Resident Retreat 2010

Today I told him we were going to the Hospital Canteen for lunch. His eyes widened and he told us, “you can’t eat there, it’s right across from the tuberculosis ward and many of the TB patients eat there!” There’s a separate room in the back for the doctors, and many other physicians eat there...however the place he took us to was much better so we’ll probably head there for that reason too.

The restaurant is called Karibu and it’s just down from the hospital. It’s a buffet and loaded with fresh vegetables, fruit, and other traditional Rwandan cuisine. It’s cheap and delicious and definitely worth the short walk and I wish Halifax had a similar option. According to Bona, Rwandans generally eat a large lunch and then something lighter for supper.

Here’s a picture of our apartment, which we now have down to a 25 min walk from the hospital:

From Rwanda

This weekend I’m off to Musanze, which is a base camp for trekking to the Mountain Gorillas. The Gorillas are protected in Parc National des Volcans. Here is the location on a map...it’s close to the border with the Congo and Uganda.


View Larger Map

I’ll have two days there so hopefully I’ll be able to see some other monkeys or birds as well.

My father has just informed me that he’s coming to Rwanda this Saturday. Unfortunately he’ll arrive too late for the Gorilla Trek, but we’ll find some other great things to do.