Off to theater we go!

- June 14, 2014

On midnight of the 1st of June, Dr. James Palleschi and his medical assistant, Victoria arrived from California to help us for 2 weeks. Dr. Palleschi is a urologist and this is his 3rd trip here to do surgeries for us. We had a busy 2 weeks planned for him.
We kept him busy doing hernia and hydrocele repairs and 2 prostetectomies. This is always a big help to us as we have to refer most of these patients away and it is difficult for them to come up with the money they need for the repairs. As usual he brought us a lot of supplies and medicine which helped us to better take care of these patients.
On Thursday the 5th of June, Dr. Shield Kajese and his wife No came to help do anesthesia and No to be our scrub nurse. Dr. Kajese left us in January to move to Harare to do a 4 year residency in Anesthesia. It was great having him back and also for him to teach us some new tricks he has learned. They stayed with us through the 11th of June. Dr. Palleschi really enjoyed working with Dr. Kajese again and was so happy to have him here.
I kept busy cooking and getting the meals on the table for everyone as well as doing some anesthesia and seeing my patients.
On Friday the 6th Victoria and I left early for Kariba for 2 nights at Rhino Camp. This was her first trip to Africa and we wanted to make sure she saw some animals before she left. We got to Kariba and the waves on the lake were like waves in an ocean! Lots of white-caps! I had never seen it like that before. We thought people could have surfed with the crocodiles! They closed the Lake and allowed no boat traffic and so we had to spend the night at a hotel in Kariba. It was like we were at beach front resort on the ocean--hearing the waves all night long! We took our own game safari ride in the evening and saw impala, crocs, lots of birds, a hippo out of water, zebra and elephants.
The next morning we were finally able to get across the lake (bouncing the whole way) and got a quick 24 hours of safari time. We saw lots of animals and enjoyed being at Rhino Camp once again. The wind continued and it was cold during the night--unusual for Kariba! Another bumpy boat ride back to Kariba and we were on our way back to Chidamoyo.
We arrived back for another week of surgeries and post-op care!
On Thursday night the 12th a men’s fellowship conference started at our church for all our church men in our province. They expected about 150 men and I think it was closer to 300 by Saturday! Friday morning they came to the hospital to have morning devotions with us. The men's group brought a donattion of 50 plates and 50 spoons to replace what we lost in the fire last year.They then sang and danced as a send off for Dr. Palleschi and Victoria. What a beautiful send off for them to hear 200+ men singing and some dancing too!
With a sad heart we sent Dr. Palleschi and Victoria off to catch their plane back to California. He is already talking about his trip next year and looking for more doctors to come with him! We so appreciate the work both of them did when they were here and wish them well Monday morning when they return to work and we hope NO jet lag!