Rwanda 2011, Day 12

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Shower this morning was cold.
There was good cold water supply, but NO hot water - water would just trickle out when you turned the knob to hot.I was able to Skype with my family and wish them a Happy Thanksgiving since it was still Thursday night in VancouverBreakfast alone again since Christina is at Simon's house.When I arrived at the restaurant, I sat at a different table since there were dishes at the table I have been sitting at all week. The waiter came up and asked if he could bring me breakfast - pointing to my "usual table"He had already set the table for Christina and I! What a pleasant surprise! Clinic went well. It got off to a slow start again, partly because of the excitement of the lab equipment that arrived. The good news: they have equipment! the bad news: for now no one knows how to use it. I pray that someone from Gisenyi hospital will be able to help them set it up and train them how to use this equipment. One of the problems with Rwandan medicine is th most of the time you Erie making n educated guess at the diagnosis because you have no access to testing.We saw several patients, did ultrasounds and discussed some of the difficulties in medicine, whether you practice in Rwanda or the USA. We saw a lot of patients with generalized symptoms with no real pathology. There were several patients with the usual daily aches and pains, especially with the hard life lived here in Rwandas. How to tell them that they are healthy, and can take some pain medication periodically but there is no "cure" for what they are experiencing, because they do not have a disease. It is a common frustration of all doctors and patients alike, regardless of country. After clinic we went to the church for the concert.Christina danced with Dinah's group and it was very nice.We left the church around 7:40 and arrived at the paradise hotel around 8:00 or so. We sat by a fire pit an had sodas. We had dinner around 9:30. After dinner Christina share some cookies and lollipops with the dinner guests. It is a Rwandan tradition for the birthday person to provide the meal or desert for the people that come to the party. We got back to the hotel shortly after 11:00. WHAT A DAY! This is why I will be posting this the morning after. I will post a few closing posts about the trip, but tomorrow is just packing up, taking a bus to Kigali and going to the airport. Then we travel for 34 hours and we are home! Murabeho muzungus!

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