Cheetah Refuge

Because of the top-notch medical and surgical care (with excellent anesthesia care) one of our patients received, he rewarded us with a private tour of Djibouti's cheetah refuge.  This place is a plot of land owned by a French veterinarian who moved to Djibouti permanently to run this preserve, and it runs strictly off of donations.  He founded the place in 2003 to care for cheetahs which were slowly disappearing.  Now, there are a host of other animals as well.

Here is our guide giving us an introduction

We saw many different animals.  I loved the baboons

There were lions that watched our every move

This little gazelle came waltzing by and even tried to taunt the lions.  They didn't even give him a second look.

We spotted this cheetah finishing up his dinner

 Our guide then took us to where we could see other animals roam free

This was who we saw first

 He did his normal routine and was not even phased by us

Then a trail of donkeys came by

I had to get the "asses" of the asses:)

This little guy wanted some affection

This ostrich was very interested in us

 Ok, still that same ostrich in the background

 Our goal was to find the oryx and we finally did but that got cut short...

Um, what is that?

 Well, the ostrich went crazy and decided he didn't want us there.  Imagine being chased through a park by a crazy 9 foot tall ostrich with no cage between you and him and no zoo-keeper to tame him!  We did a very fast-paced power walk to get away from him, but he kept coming!!!  Talk about getting your adrenaline up!!!  I had never been so scared in my life.

 Finally our guides shook their sticks at him and got him to retreat.  Now, it became hilarious.  But five minutes before-- sheer terror!

 Here is another cheetah who definitely loved human interaction.  These cheetahs cannot go back into the wild!

 He loved every minute of it!

 Definitely an unforgettable experience

Happy New Year!!!

So for New Year's Eve, Anna and I decided to do a weekend at the Kempinski, the 5-star resort here in Djibouti.  It was nice to bring in the new year with a nice shower, comfortable bed, massage, pedicure and lounging by the pool.

Here is our room.

So since the restaurants were closed, the only option was to go to the big New Year's Eve Celebration they were having outside.  And what a great idea it was!  There was every type of food imaginable.

Anna and I were early.

There was a band.

There were flame throwers and here is a Turkish dancer that did this beautiful performance with multicolored baskets and a skirt.

 It got pretty packed really soon.

And we partied in the new year!!!

Happy 2011!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas!!

After 11pm mass on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day had arrived.

I was very excited about another holiday feast in the galley but first we had to say goodbye to a good friend from NIACT. 

Here I am with Anna, Senior Chief Eusebio and LCDR Reinke.

Dinnertime!!!

After the meal, we went to try our hand again at BINGO.

It was super crowded this time.  And I didn't win again!!!!!  The only thing to get excited about was when they said O-69.  And the crowd says Oooooohhh!  If you don't get it, you are a good person;)

A Day in the Life

Here are some pictures of the EMF so you all can see where I go and who I work with on a daily basis.

Here are two of our corpsmen manning the front desk.

Here is the OIC of the clinic

Here is our medical admin officer and our chief, AKA the hardest working people in the clinic

Here is one of the corpsman presenting a patient to LCDR Miller

Here is our lab

Here are two of our nurses on the ward, which is usually empty unless we have post-op patients, or those who need iv fluids or prolonged observation

Here is the ER/physical therapy unit and here is our PT tech and radiology tech, AKA the busiest people in the clinic

Here I am in the OR.  We average about 1-2 cases/month.  Most of the work for the surgeon and myself takes place at the local Djiboutian hospital where we go three times a week

But here is where you will usually find me, the second OR, AKA the office for the surgeon and myself

And here are my anesthesia toys.  I know the machine is not the Mercedes-Benz of anesthesia machines.  But it gets the job done just the same.

But then, lo and behold, I got an early Christmas present.  Brand-new anesthesia machines!!  I didn't even know they were ordered.  So once the bio-med tech finishes the assembly, I have two new anesthesia machines to play with.  Yea!!!

And here is a pic of the whole fantastic Djibouti EMF 17 crew.  (I'm in the second row all the way to your right).

Lac Assal

Today some of us officers from the EMF took a field trip to Lac Assal.  It's the lowest point in Africa with a salt lake that lies 156 meters below sea level.  It is said that the lake has a salt content of 35%. 

But first off, we stopped to buy some souvenirs along the way.  I bought a hand-crafted helicopter from this man, Abdullah.  Even though we questioned what the souvenirs were made out of, they couldn't tell us.  No, literally, they did not know the correct English word.  We bought them anyway.

And after a two hour drive, we made it to Lac Assal.  It was so peaceful, serene, and absolutely beautiful!

We're here!!!!

The shore was made of huge salt clumps, no sand.  And it sounded like popcorn as you stepped on it.

Here's a salt crystal that I collected

And this is what the salt floor looked like for miles and miles

Here's a pic of me floating.  As soon as you lay in, you float.  I don't think there are any drowning stories at this lake.

And here's a better pic of the internal medicine doc, LT Harrell

Here's a pic of how I looked after a dip.  All salt, no sand.  It took four bottled waters to rinse off with to look halfway presentable.

After that, we went to the hot springs.  Here we found boiling hot water, which is heated by geothermal activity.  It was REALLY hot!

I found some fish that can survive the heat

And of course, while trying to get the perfect shot, LT Harrell lost his shoe in the boiling water

Luckily, the OIC (officer-in-charge) of our clinic, CDR Brenner, "manned up" and walked into the water to retrieve his shoe...He then requested anesthesia from me for his burned foot.  All in all a great trip!