Let's take a second to talk about a really amazing opportunity and experience I had this weekend in a town called Bahar Dar. This small city situated on the intersection of the Blue Nile river and Lake Tana (largest lake in Ethiopia) happens to be the hometown of Yilkal (the head of the department here). … Continue reading Bad Dancing and Airway In Bahar Dar →

OK, we have a lot to catch up on. My lasts couple of posts have been emotionally-driven, so I’ll try to avoid that with the next couple of posts. Our clinical volume and acuity here has dramatically increased which has contributed to my absence. We also just finished our first campaign of this academic year, … Continue reading Airway in Mekelle →

I apologize for my long absence. The last 2 weeks have left me with absolutely no time to reflect. A lot of amazing things have happened in and out of the OR, so, over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be posting a number of short posts. I’ll make this first post non-medical and talk … Continue reading Cross of Fire! →

As a reminder, my last post was out of my normal chronology, sorry about that. This one is about last week. I’ll stop being so confusing, I hope. A LOT happened this past week both clinically and socially, so lets get right into it. If you didn't already know (and I bet you didn’t), Ethiopians … Continue reading A Traumatic New Years →

The culmination of today’s events warrants its own post, breaking from my normal chronology. Today did mimic other Mondays with its clinical burdens, but I feel the need to express what occurs in a day in the life of a head and neck surgeon in Mekelle. Sorry, not many pictures in this post, but next … Continue reading A Day In The Life… →

This post I will keep brief since most of the clinical happenings this week consist of incomplete stories. So, I’ll give a couple updates on patients and present my next extremely challenging pediatric case. Let me begin with a bit of venting. The first emergency case I did here in my 2nd week was a … Continue reading Success Can Only Come With Failure →

The ideologies surrounding mortality have been surfacing far more often than they used to in my consciousness. In my medical training, I saw countless people cheat death, avoid it by lowering their standard of living through medical treatment, and a few others embrace it gracefully. Here in Ethiopia, my role in death is challenged almost … Continue reading Approaching Death →

The weekend back from Addis was wonderful. Although, still recovering from a cold, Saturday was spent relaxing and then with Yilkal’s family watching the Arsenal game followed by dinner in the pouring rain with a wonderful group of people (3 American Peace Corps, 3 Belgium students, and the 4 of us). Sunday, the girls went … Continue reading Lets Get Busy! … Clinically →