Thursday--Cindy stayed home.

Today I ventured out a bit further on my run but still around the Red Cross only.  There were a few cars but it seemed very safe at 6am.  The road is bumpy however.  There are other men and a few women here in the early morning also waiting for the aerobics class.  Some of them run around the grounds until the class starts.

Cindy still looked a bit pale this morning and so I went alone to the Black Lion with Lemma.  I took my big camera hoping to better capture the chaotic traffic at Meskal Square.  Alas, not bad today.  Lemma also let me know that tomorrow is a national holiday and he would not be driving us.  Turns out that it’s a three day weekend at the hospital as well, so we are rethinking our weekend plans now.  We are planning to meet Jeffery’s friend Asfaw at the Black Lion.  We will have to make a few calls. 

Anyway, at the hospital, I went right to the NICU to see what was happening with the two sick babies from yesterday afternoon.  The little 26 weeker’s parents had arranged for him to be transferred to a private hospital so he could be placed on a ventilator if needed.  That was a surprise!  Another place Cindy and I should try to see while we are here.   The other little one went to surgery finally this morning.  She most likely had a spontaneous ileal perforation.  There was local necrosis only and meconium in the peritoneum.  She came back with an ileostomy.  She seemed better actually though there was bleeding at the ostomy site.  We placed a bit of a pressure dressing and the nurses will watch for ongoing bleeding.  She is getting fresh frozen plasma and blood also. 

Before rounds Adene and I worked on having a simpler CPAP circuit.  It seems like would be easy enough to do.  Even with the current nasal cannula prongs, there should be a way to make the circuit simpler and more effective.  Sister helped us as well by bringing out an entire box of cannulae and circuits.  We will tackle this again on Monday.  There is still the problem of inadequate pressure in the system.  I will try and call Phillip over the weekend.  I believe there is a technical component but also related to competition for the oxygen tanks and poor hospital infrastructure related to the air compressors.  I am not hopeful we can fix that.  

Rounds this morning were a bit painful again.  Adene was there with his students.  Lots of questions so the residents don’t get to just have a narrative discussion about each baby.  Abebe, the senior resident was not happy.  I did some teaching as well.  It would nice to just go around with the residents and the nurses.  

After that, I walked around the hospital neighborhood a new direction, by the Swedish Embassy, National Archives, some banks, the National Theatre and eventually to Ambassador Park where there was some lovely music playing.  I read and had lunch and then headed back to the hospital to check on the NICU before heading back. 

Got a little closer to this guy.  My photo of the sign in front isn't clear,
but it's French Sculpture dedicated to Haile Selassie in 1955.

There is a wheel chair training program here at the center this week and there are many people here getting fitted and trained for chairs.  It seems like a very nice program though it must be extremely difficult to travel by wheel chair in Addis. 

The office said that Bogale called to check on Cindy, so he must be keeping track of us even though we have not seen him.