friendly house...

i am super busy with volunteering and enjoying the local culture.
i have much to blog about:
karaoke
mouse loves rice
late nite house call


but until then here is the website for friendly house:

http://web.mac.com/djbiviano/On_the_Path/FOCC_Photos.html

friendly house

friendly house.... a safe house i teach english at....


through the cambodian pavarotti (whom i need to blog about) i found the friendly house. although, unclear, i believe this is a safe house for orphan children and teenagers. it is run by what the cambodians call an extremely old lady - all of 60 years but i will say she does look more like 80 - in a small thatched hut, she cooks and watches over the kids. the meals consist of rice, rice, and more rice. the boys sleep in the hut and use hammocks as beds while the girls are a little luckier, they live in a small cement building and sleep on palm mats, three and four to a mat.

friendly house was founded by an american named dave and a japanese lady helps support it. i thought this was all a con until last weekend when the japanese woman came with gifts of handbags, skin care products and various medicines -- mmmm make-up and bags in cambodia!?! --- i guess it is the thought that counts. then unexpectedly dave stopped by yesterday.


all in all a good place.

the children are eager to learn english, constantly smile and give me hugs. to make money most of the children perform traditional dance or as the cambodians call the aspara dance.

...nightclubbing..

OT also know as operative treatment.

as word gets around that there is a specialist in town we are soon called for consultation at the local hospital. here we are again surrounded by extremely competent doctors, nurses and staff but this provincial hospital does not have the same funding or amount of foreign volunteers. the ortho wing is in a gray cement building with large windows, rooms no doors, and of course no a/c. the beds are planks of wood with a palm mat covering them. the sheets and pillows look like they have never been washed. the patients lie quietly – they are the most stoic people i have ever met. with the rooms full the beds overflow into the halls.


we see patient after patient with injuries from moto accidents. one is a young man of 20 who has an open supracondylar femur fracture and segmental tibia fracture lying with just a splint on his lower leg and small bandage over the open wound – as of now the wound is not infected – i pray that it does not become infected. it is sad because in america he would be treated and walking in no time but here he is likely to succumb to infection, pulmonary embolism or sepsis. i visit him daily and every time i enter the room he gives me a wide grin and his eyes speak volumes. although, i can only say a few words to him, my presence comforts him.

next, is a 17 year old boy, another moto accident, the surgeons inserted screws into the femur but did not fix the hip which means he will not walk. on Friday we took him to the OT – put two screws in the hip – straightened and lengthened his hip – now he has a chance of walking. today, i took peanut butter to him – he quickly grabbed the spoon and indulged. i think tomorrow i will bring chocolate to accompany his PB therapy.

as for the OT – no ekg, no pulse ox, no fracture table, light sedation, scrubbing out of a bucket, many flies buzzing around room. even though the conditions were less than adequate, the staff is dedicated & well educated; they do have xray and a good drill!

there will be more cases. there is much need for us here. in fact, tomorrow we will be taking an anterior shoulder dislocation to the OT for exploration.

a side point about infection. it seems like they are unable fight infection here which i believe is due to lack of nutrition. they have no meat, poultry, or beans. the poorer people only eat rice. i have introduced the idea of eating peanut butter – high in fat and protein – perfect. seems like they are not prone to allergies.

lost in translation part II...

taka & me

.notice how red i am.

last nite we had a goodbye party for some japanese residents -

my conversation....

taka: do you have a boyfriend?
me: no

taka: do you have rubbers?
me: excuse me!

taka: do you have rubbers?
me: this is getting personal.

taka: do you have rubbers?
me: OH! do you have lovers? (a little better)

then somehow we dropped the subject of lovers and chatted it up about age...

sr at night

..new and old friends...

kean, mrs kean & family
mr. T
grandfather
king kong
chicago
loak TaProhm
buntoeurn
and others

silk farm

took a tuk tuk 16km on a dusty road to the silk farm - where they teach poor villagers the art of silk farming. they have 3 types of mulberry bushes .japanese, thai, and cambodian. the silk worms are fed the leaves. after forming their cocoons they are cooked in the hot cambodian sun for 3 days then boiled and spun to make silk. the villagers hand dye the silk - using innovative methods such as curry seeds or rusty nails with tree bark to make brilliant, hot colors.

sorya

sorya = sun


she is one of the kindest souls i have ever met - a nurse at the hospital and also my khmer teacher. one the third day she invited me for lunch - she created the most beautiful and tasty spread - pineapple fish and spicy beef. she shared personal stories and pics - she grew up in battambang with a teacher for a mother. she pursued nursing and is motivated to provide a good life for her family. sorya and her husband have a beautiful family. her daughter is 2 and speaks english well - knows her ABCs!

sorya is always smiling and making me laugh!
more later.....

a day in the countryside

hospital...

i'm so busy with life that i'm neglecting my blog.

a week has gone by at the hospital and i've seen more than most people have in a life time. but it's not the cases that i am so impressed with rather the dedication and kindness of the staff, health workers, and patients. my friend, chenda, works as an anesthesia nurse full time then spends his entire weekend in phnom penh studying medicine. last saturday, all the surgical nurses and docs went out for an authentic khmer bbq - it was delicious and fun! cooking squid, chicken, beef, pork, and veggies at our tables surrounded by good company - can't get any better. the plan is to have them over to the hotel pool - post more on that later.


surgeries are going well - basically we are taking gross deformities and straightening them. only problem is the saws and instruments not being sharp. yesterday, i scrubbed in on what the doc said was his worse thyroid tumor case - we will know more in 3 weeks after the path comes back. keeping my fingers crossed

the hospital

i've been at the hospital for a few days now and each was a page out of an orthopedic textbook.

my first day…

spinal bifida
gunstock deformity
deformity from a proximal tibial greenstick fracture
neglected clubfoot
flexure contracture of the rectus femoris
subacute forearm compartment syndrome



That was just in the am

After a lunch break

It was on to small procedures
lots of flexure contractures of the rectus femoris
posenti methods
achilles lengthing


in my short time here, I have met so many dedicated doctors and nurses. volunteers from around the world and native cambodian doctors and nurses.

on day two we performed a distal humerus osteotomy for the correction of a gunstock deformity. the surgery went well – i would say smoother than back home. the only glitch was the saw and blade not matching but it was quickly fixed. the young boy did great and is now in post-op moving his fingers.

in the clinic we saw many children presenting with perthes disease, a disruption of the blood supply to the femoral head and fracture deformities that we will perform surgery on later this week..


more to come later….
unfortunately the internet is slow but fortunately i am busy with work and making friends. can’t wait to introduce you to the cambodian pavarotti, chloe, lauren, and the children of friendly house! i will also blog more about the hospital and surgeries.

cambodia

siem reap...
it does not feel like over a year since i have been here - the hot sun, the arid landscape, the vivid reds & oranges that pepper the landscape.

just as i exit the terminal, i run into my old guide, kean. it’s good to see a familiar face.


kean grew up under the khmer rouge and tells the stories of his childhood like they happened yesterday. in a matter of fact way, he relates the story of his friend fishing with a found grenade and losing a limb because he did not let go of it fast enough. with all the hardships he has endured, kean doesn’t let the past haunt him. instead, he embraces it. this makes him a little crazy but an awesome guide – even though he almost killed me last year in a nighttime boating accident (not a good idea to be on a boat without running lights). i noticed he wasn’t wearing his yellow guide shirt, but wore a crisp blue pullover instead. he explains he has a new job
maybe he was just a little too crazy to be a guide.


after checking into the hotel, i was dying for lunch and knew just where to go - I b-lined it for Khmer Kitchen!!! this place rocks! i ordered the most delicious spicy chicken, eggplant, & veggie sour soup (tastes like tom yum soup but better) and a huge bottle of angkor beer. it did not disappoint!!!

move over pho, i have a new favorite broth!

To digest - a stroll through the market.
seam reap has a small central market that has clothing on the periphery, then veggie, fish, and meat stands in the center. it was busy with people shopping, getting haircuts, eating lunching and of course drinking beer to celebrating the chinese new year.

leaving..

Tokyo daisuki!!!

today started early . 4.30am . with a a trip to

tsukiji fish market

this market is one of the largest fish and seafood markets in the world. it is located in central tokyo and opens around 3.00am with the arrival of fresh fish.


after a midmorning rest. sahori and lavinia arrive:


we spent the day at the national art center tokyo and roppongi

sahori is a gifted potter who was kind enough to take me around tokyo
she showed us world class architecture
and took us to the best organic lunch spot
and for sweets & tea

http://yufuku.exblog.jp/i9/

thanks sahori!
next time i am in japan i will be visiting lavina in yokohoma!
lavina is another gifted artist you will meet her later

tokyo

today, i explored tokyo with Masa


Masa is my good friend's (lolo - howbourgoise) friend. currently, he lives in tokyo, although, he does miss michigan. Masa took me around for a crazy day.


we started out in Asakusa, known for its temples. at the sensoji i picked my fortune and of course it was the unlucky one. after laughing it off, i tied it to a string to rid myself of it. Masa explained i was actually very lucky since it is very hard to pick that fortune.

yeah sure - masa.

next we went on to search for the otaku, people who obsessively love anime, often watching it with no sleep. at "tech town" -- success! there we found many otaku and experienced our first maid cafe! here girls dressed like anime maids and greet you with "welcome home, master" or "mo-eh"

http://www.cafe-athome.com/

after an interesting cup of coffee we moved on to lunch.

okonomi-yaki
flour batter+egg+cabbage+meat and griddle cooked with special sauce = delicious!

the afternoon was spent shopping, visiting more temples and drinking more coffee in Harajuku & Aoyama. this district reminded me of paris with its tree lined boulevard. the streets were filled with young japanese ready to spend money. here we wandered into the central park of tokyo and discovered the most beautiful and peaceful meiji shrine.




next dinner.

nothing beats beer and yakitori
ok i lied the the hamachi kama did!

dinner was awesome!!

- salmon sashimi - some kind of fish - hamachi kama - pork with tomatoes- yakitori -

yakitori, grilled bird, made from several bite-sized pieces of chicken meat skewered on a bamboo skewer and barbecued, usually over charcoal. often japanese eat this with beer.

the yakitori we ate:
nankotsu..chicken cartilage (the best)
kawa..chicken skin, grilled until crispy
tebasaki..chicken wing

other..all parts of the chicken mixed together



i got lost in translation

in the end it was a great day - thanks Masa!

i heart tokyo!

a friend in tokyo.

lauren, guess who?

ok hint: MSU

update

i am only a day into my travels but it has been a bumpy start. we arrive at dwt with time to spare. in typical fashion, checking the baggage was a huge ordeal. they lost our bag right at the counter! after taking a few seconds, we asked to the clerk to go to search the baggage area. he was reluctant but mentioning our volunteer work did the trick. with the four bags found we headed for security check for our 5.30 flight - no probs. at the gate we found out that the scheduled 1pm flight had just returned to the gate. next announcement 3pm flight to o'hare canceled. o'hare was fogged in with 16th of a mile visibility - hundreds of flights canceled:

http://www.nbc5.com/news/15212586/detail.html

lucky for us we had the right plane with the right pilot - an advanced navigational system and an experienced pilot.

stuck....

i am sitting in the smith terminal blogging cause o'hare is fogged in.



amber this one is for you ....namaste....

1 day...

as i watch the superbowl, i am reminded of what lies ahead....