ArielP

Tuesday Yeah, went to bed earlier just to wake up at 1:30 am this time. But I feel less wrecked than yesterday. I did a mini hotel work out and now I’m drinking my instant coffee and having some quiet time while overlooking the pool. I haven’t ever seen anyone in this beautiful pool… I’d like to see a Burkini. After breakfast, I head to the medical school and give a lecture to the students. Women are seated on the right, men on the left. They interact with me if I ask direct questions but mainly it’s just like a U.S. medical school lecture: some paying attention, some nodding with various points, some nodding off, some disinterested. I try to focus on a few keys points rather than hammering them with too much information. Rick leaves ... read more

Conference starts at 8:30 after breakfast. I slept poorly with some mild anxiety of unclear origin, probably somewhat related to the struggles of the surgery. I don't like not being my best, the best, and it's hard to be hindered by the environment. I need to get over myself already. So many interesting cases are presented. Gun shots, polio, infections, delayed presentations of congenital abnormalities. We see a case of hydatid disease- pretty much cystic tapeworm Infestation of the body, often fatal and extremely difficult to treat. Think: cysts full of tapeworm eggs that burst and clog up important organs. Takes a lot to gross me out, but... yuck. I find out there are three foot and ankle specialists in the entirety of Iraq. I meet one from Baghdad who hopes to come shadow me at ... read more

We head through security and we check in to our VERY nice hotel. At this point, I break and beg for lunch. I kick myself for not eating the breakfast on the flight. We ate at 5:30am and have been travelling for 10 hours. And I’m a wuss. A buffet for all 3 meals comes with the hotel so we sit for lunch with Ali. Ali is an orthopaedic surgeon and Thamer’s son-in-law (Scott previously told me that Thamer “groomed him” to marry his daughter). He is very kind. The buffet is large and includes many fresh salads (Fatoosh, etc), lentil soup, kabobs, grilled fish, beans, yogurt, hummous and tea. I’m going to be happy here. I feel much better. It’s around 3:30pm and the next scheduled event is a dinner at 8pm. Time for a ... read more

Finally all set. Luggage all packed and in 2 hours leaving for the airport. Seth, the Paragon 28 rep, is going to drop off some supplies and then drive me to the airport. I am meeting up with Dr. Scott Hoffinger, a pediatric orthopaedic surgeon also from Stanford, at the airport and we are flying Emirates from SFO to Dubai to Kuwait where we will await a shuttle to Basrah. That’s what they tell me, anyway. Packing was interesting. I have a lot of long sleeved shirts, long skirts and pants. I have two scarves – unclear if I will need to cover my head or not. I brought my white coat as I feel this will be the most recognizable at the hospital, as I assume most people will wonder what the white, redheaded woman ... read more

We arrived very early, not quite with the sun as the sun rises around 3 AM, but around 6 AM. We make breakfast, pack our lunches and head off to the park. We start our day with a summit of Mount Healy. It's only a 3100 foot elevation gain, but this is accomplished in less than 2 miles so it is quite steep. And to our happy surprise, the sun is bright and shining and it's almost 70°. It is crystal clear, and we have the promise of getting a great view of Mount Denali. Alaska fun fact: Mt Denali is the tallest mountain in the United States, also known as Mt McKinley. The highest peak is over 20,000 feet. Mt Healy is challenging, but the views at the top are incredible. We make our way ... read more