The last two days have not quite gone as expected, but as I am learning there is no set schedule here. You just pretty much have to go with the flow and things will get done sooner or later. I went to the hospital on Tuesday morning energetic and ready to do surgeries. As it turns out the hospital is currently out of surgical sponges and therefore we couldn’t do any surgery on Tuesday. The only sponges that they had were designated for emergencies only. Not to mention that we are currently out of Epinepherine and have a VERY limited supply of Atropine. That being said, Atropine is still present and used appropriately quite often in the OR. Instead of doing anesthesia on Tuesday, Faye, Robin and I ran errands in Kigali. First we went to see the new possible housing for the program. I enjoyed the trip because I was able to see another part of Kigali and it gave me a better understanding of the city. We went to the area of Kigali called Hollywood. It was definitely nicer than the area that we are in, but it is about 15 minutes further away from the hospital by car. I think the new place has it advantages and disadvantages and that either house will work. The main reason I like our place is that we have to walk to work. The walk to work is HOT, but it is nice to see the city on a more local level and I feel more connected with the people that way. I love seeing all the kids running to school. We actually pass three schools on the way to work.
After our day of errands, we went out to dinner with a group of great people at Republica. One of the things I am learning about being here with Faye is that she is great at making new friends. The group at dinner is a perfect example of six people who all came together through Faye’s organization. I am also learning that there is a lot of work to do in Rwanda. Tuesday was a day of organizing projects and hopefully setting up events for the rest of the month.
Today was more of the same at the hospital. The day did start off slightly different in that we had a lecture by Belgian pediatric intensivist on mechanical ventilation. One thing that I thought was hilarious about his lecture is that half of his slides were in English and the other half in French. Love It. We are still out of surgical sponges and therefore only emergency and ENT surgeries could be done today. That being said, there turned out to be quite a lot of ENT surgeries scheduled for today. I ended up doing a foreign body (peanut) in the trachea on a two year old. The peanut was in the right mainstem bronchus and took about 45 minutes to get out. There are a few things that I have learned while being here. First “Absence makes the heart grow fonder” and I can’t wait to get married in June. Second, I have learned the great importance of communication between surgery and anesthesia. This is especially evident during an airway case where the surgeon really doesn’t understand any English. This case dictated that I communicate with the Surgeon and at points that was quite difficult. After today, I have reconfirmed the importance of effective communication in the operating room. After the operating room, Faye and I went to our makeshift office, the Serena Hotel. 
For dinner, we went to New Cactus with friends that we had met on the hike last weekend. They are both ENT surgeons and have just finished their two weeks in Rwanda. We had a lot of fun sharing stories of our time here so far and had a great italian dinner.
Michael Godbold
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