And then there were ... one

How to put a date on this one? The International Date Line swindled us on the way to Vietnam, but today we cashed in and got a day back. Wasted it traveling, but a day nonetheless. It was a long day of two nights.

We got up early and had breakfast at the rooftop restaurant of the Elios hotel. It was a great spread with pastries, omelets, various hot Vietnamese noodle and other dishes, drinks, and generally more food than any of us needed. I remember a trip down the Colorado River and the surreal feeling of the transition from the beauty of nature to the world of Las Vegas where we made our exit. After the weeks we had spent with little kids who eat rice and water, all this food left me feeling quite indulgent and disconnected.

Run to the room, pack it all up, down to the bus, play dodge ball in traffic with the boxes and motorbikes, and a ride to the airport. There was not as much traffic because Saturday is a lighter work day, but the people do use Saturday to make up for the lunches and siestas they take during the week. Catherine took charge and the hotel workers were hopping.















A city full of motorbikes again, and one we noticed with a make-shift baby seat on the front.















Our flight from HCMC to Taipei, Taiwan, was packed. Asia is the land of Where's Waldo - bright colors, superimposed crowds of people, and a loss of personal space. I love to travel low on the food chain, leaving as small a footprint as I can wherever I go, but it is difficult to do with all the boxes of equipment. Hard to fade into the background.

















We had a nice meal service on our way to Taipei and some snacking. I sat next to Dr. Bill and we chit-chatted most of the way. EVA Airlines is so sweet - Bill left a jar of treats at his seat when we deboarded, and they went to the trouble of tracing the seat numbers to the names and then to the next leg of our flight, so the treats boomeranged their way back to him.

Upon exiting the flight into Taipei airport, we were notified that our connection would be four hours late. We got food chits to use for dinner, and wandered the many stores at the airport. There were more typical airport prices for food and gifts, a real sign that we were moving west. Wendell and Frankie made the most of it - foot massages!










Finally we boarded for our last flight with the team and the boxes. Everything made it on, and we slalomed our way to scattered seats on a full 777.

There was only one screaming baby this time, but he had the vocal stamina of an auctioneer and the volume of a rock star. He was in Catherine's row of three, and although she kept her ear plugs in, she began to look a bit glassy and water-boarded by the end of the 11 hour flight.

Frankie was right in front of me and occasionally commented between the seats to me, but otherwise we didn't get to visit much. I had two small Asian women flanking me, so I had room to stretch out a bit on my seat. One of them had garlic breath that left me feeling like I was trapped in a jar of kimchi, but luckily it faded over time. EVA has these nice flexible head rests make it easier to sleep by wrapping around the temples like a shock therapy machine. Please don't ask me how I know that... ;o)

I did quite a bit of Oscar-nominee catch-up on the flight and watched My Week with Marilyn, Descendents, and J. Edgar. Great line-up, and really helped pass the time.

About mid-way over the Pacific, the cabin crew called for a doctor. I used to be a flight attendant, so I know this can be grim and sometimes even call for a diversion of a flight. I arrived at one of the jump seats by a galley kitchen to see a mid-aged mad sitting on the seat looking quite ashen and panicky. I began to interview him, held his pulse, and tried to get a sense of what was going on.

I was again impressed by EVA - they had a large aluminum box they had pulled out with automatic blood pressure cuff, ambu bag, emergency drugs, stethoscope, and many other things available for in-air emergency care. I guess one flight diversion would be much more expensive than a very well-appointed medical kit, so they invested in one. The flight attendant already had a blood pressure and gave me report; very good first-responder behavior.

I began asking the man questions, feeling his pulse, and trying to get a feel for the situation. Another doctor showed up and must have assumed I was either not a doctor or not capable (a reaction female doctors get used to) and he took over the questioning. I could have made myself assertive and puffed up my chest, but it is just not worth it, so I stood by and listened to his questions.

When I was satisfied that it was not a serious problem and we came up with a plan, I began to return to my seat. At this point the other doctor said, "I want to be upgraded to first class." The purser looked quite confused, and I said, "He is making a joke - hahaha!" She smiled and looked relieved, but he than said, "I'm not kidding." At that point I turned and left; welcome back to the west.

Later she came by my seat with some paperwork, thanked me again, and offered to upgrade me to first class. I explained to her that I used to be a flight attendant, and was more than happy to help the crew. She put her hands up and gave me a big smile, and turned on her heels. She came by later with a bag of goodies for me, told me the flight attendants were proud of me, and that we were all "sisters". Much better than moving to first class!

I must have fallen asleep, because I was suddenly aware of taxiing along the runway. We had arrived at SFO!

We made our way out, cleared the entry point, got all the bags, and admired the adorable working beagles. We carted our load out to the front, found Dora and Jim, and handed off the equipment. Mission accomplished!

Ken came to get Wendell, Catherine made her way to San Jose, Bill left with his wife for Napa, and Alice headed off to East Bay. Frankie and I got on the Air Train to the domestic terminal, and the first stop was where I got off. We hugged and waved, and off she went to connect to Seattle. I stood on the landing for a bit just to absorb the finality - where had the time gone?

What followed for me was a two hour layover, great people watching that only SFO can offer, and an update of my email while waiting. Finally I made my last leg to Arcata, made an early arrival, got my bags and wandered outside. Fairly quickly everyone cleared and I was standing by myself under the lone street lamp outside the small terminal. There was a low-lying, misty fog, the very distant rumble from highway 101, jet echoes still humming in my ears, and the musical chirping of the early spring frogs. The air was cool, it smelled of mulch and redwoods, and of course the ever-present sense of the Pacific just beyond it all. Home.

The trek home

Mission accomplished, but then we had to relocate our condensed equipment and get the boxes and ourselves all safely home.

The boxes had been picked up Thursday night and kept over at a man's house ready to drive to Da Nang Friday. The bus for the team was set to come to the hotel early, so we had to manage breakfast and packing before about 7:15 a.m. Frankie and I finished getting the boxes ready for pick up at the hospital Thursday, so they were ready to be en route to Da Nang before we were. Here is a photo Frankie took of us at the hospital, punchy but job finished before the boxes got taken away. The photo almost looks as surreal as we felt. We had to get the boxes on a guerney and down to the truck where a couple of men loaded them into the back. That got us back to the hotel late for our party, but the packing had to be done.














The team was given a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a lovely piece of framed art. We had the picture wrapped and taped for the trip home, but the flowers had to stay, so we all must remember via this photo.
















The drive north was uneventful, except for a pit stop half way at an interesting spot with food, snacks, and gifts, as well as a roomy bathroom area. The stalls were very roomy too, because there was no toilet; only a hole in the ground. After riding in a car for hours, standing still enough and taking enough aim to both hit the hole and miss the shoes is more Olympics than I can take when sleep-deprived. We all did manage to pull it off (no pun intended), but after contemplating the lack of toilet paper and presence of long hose and nozzle in each stall, I had to leave before a mental image became too clear in my mind.

Da Nang airport is quite new and very beautiful, except for the brainless idiot who approved the installation of a Burger King in the middle of it.













The first time I was in Vietnam was in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) back in 1974. It was interesting to look out over the tarmac at the new, modern fixtures superimposed over the old hangers from the war in the distance. Vietnam has come a long way since the days of the '60's and '70's, and some of us noticed how much better fed and kept these children seemed during this trip.












Something familiar to Vietnam - foreign faces. People have been living in Vietnam for over 1/2 million years, and it is one of the first cultures to practice agriculture. We saw hints of this via the many rice fields we passed during our drive to Da Nang. But with a history of several Chinese and other Asian dominations, as well as the French, Americans, and a multitude of missionaries, there has been no shortage of outsiders. For example, the Vietnamese people used to use Chinese characters for their alphabet, but that was replaced by Portuguese Christian missionaries to facilitate the teaching of faith (that is why we English-speakers can almost read the writing here). As I looked around the waiting room at the airport, all I saw was a sea of white faces traveling from Da Nang to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). One was a German man who strutted right up and cut in line with everyone politely queued and watching. No manners!













Once we got our boxes and bags checked through to HCMC, we boarded the flight ourselves and had an uneventful journey to our last stop before home. Our Da Nang flight was too late for us to catch the flight that day to SFO, so we overnighted in HCMC to wait for the next day's SFO flight. Back to a bus, boxes and bags on, long drive to a hotel, boxes and bags off. Can't we just beam the dang things home?

Wendell and Frankie wanted to head off shopping, so we all dropped our things in our rooms and took off for the large market in town. Big cities have many features that are the same, but Vietnam is just different. The wiring for example?










The motor scooters all random and chaotic?











And the largest open market of stalls and goods I've seen anywhere. Do people really need these things, really?















Wendell went off on his own errands. After a bit of roaming around the hot and sweaty market, Frankie and I decided to wander around outside and make our way to the Rex Hotel, where we had all agreed to meet for dinner.

This is a statue of Ho Chi Minh: a Marxist-Leninist Revolutionary, Prime Minister, and President in Vietnam's mid-twentieth century past. He was instrumental in the formation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in the North, and fought for an independent and unified Vietnam until his death in 1969. After its capture in 1975, which officially ended the war, Saigon was renamed to honor him. This statue sits in front of the City Hall.


















We made our way around to the opera house, which is a stunning building with beautiful, white, marble statues. The geckos think so too!















We finished up our loop by arriving at the top of the Rex Hotel, which was an outdoor covered bar with an amazing view of the city. This 5 star hotel is in District 1, the main downtown area. Supposedly this hotel is where the first American soldiers stayed in 1961 while their tents were being set up. They had their first Thanksgiving dinner on the rooftop, and then the hotel became famous for the daily press conferences about the war. The hotel was where the press conference announcing reunification of Vietnam was made in 1976. The rooftop bar was a popular hangout for military personnel and journalists.













Frankie and I were not sure when we were supposed to meet here for dinner, so we were there for about an hour before anyone showed up. We had a nice visit, and then in walked Bill and Wendell. Soon after came Drs. Hien, Tuong, and Nguon. Hien brought her adorable daughter for us to meet, who enchanted us all. We had a nice visit and a drink, the Vietnamese contingent headed for home, and the team went to dinner.

















The remaining five of us walked to the Lemon Grass restaurant, which is on the 14th floor of the Palace Saigon Hotel. It was a beautiful place to sit, and the core Resurge team finally got some good down-time together and a good meal. Thank you Dr. Bill!

The ladies had a good laugh in the bathroom with its tiny doors. We all piled out and walked home in what was a beautiful night - warm air, refreshing breeze, and finally fewer motorbikes on the road. We made it in good time, even including our stop to view the local wildlife. HCMC is truly a place that never sleeps.

Imploding an OR

All of us came to the hospital early our last day to do a few cases and wrap things up. On the way in, I noticed a few crowds of nurses out on the balconies, probably just starting their shifts. You can see how large the hospital is.















Everything was done at about noon and we began to tally, check-list, clean, toss, and disassemble all the parts. My two anesthesia colleagues were remarkable at helping, especially given that they had never done this before. Their abilities and their energies were an inspiration to me during both of my weeks in Quang Ngai. I feel I have made four incredible friends.

It baffles the mind to see the equipment balloon out of these many boxes, many of which are filled with "soft" supplies that we leave, and then to repack what is left at the end of the trip back into the Pelican boxes. We came with 28; we leave with 16. The biggest job was Frankie's, but we all chipped in where needed to get it all done.











































The lunch man arrived with our daily food, as he always does, making sure that we all got something to eat. The meals have been good and they brought great veggie meals for me.





Being the lightweight, I really have to choose which meals I am going to eat; usually two out of three a day. Any meals that were left, Phi took out to the families to have something to eat while they waited. She is an amazing charity of one!






I caught this photo of the local OR crew just after lunch. It seems to be everyone's habit to take a nice siesta after lunch, and we were left surrounded by a very empty recovery room and operating unit. The room next door was full of napping women, but the blinds had been pulled and I would have had to use a flash.













The afternoon after we packed was the first real daylight we had in Quang Ngai. Wendell, Frankie and I took a long walk looking for a street market we had seen last Saturday on our way out of town to Hoi An. We couldn't find it, but did make our way into a Buddhist Temple. A delightful young man showed us around, and gave us incense to show respect to the various shrines they had inside. It was one of those wonderful, unexpected, random and spontaneous moments in another culture that can make a trip so memorable.

After the temple, we made our way to a supermarket to buy a few items, and then made our final trek back to the hospital to get the boxes loaded. We borrowed a guerney to get the 16 boxes onto a truck for the journey to Da Nang, and while we were waiting, we saw a nurse carry out two tiny twin babies. The young father had an expression of both sheer delight and wary apprehension. It is a daunting moment that no parent every forgets, and Frankie caught it perfectly in this shot.













The twins each had a piece of tape on their foreheads to tell them apart. They were both so quiet, but very well-looking. This appearance of new babies at the operating doors had been happening all week, as there is a busy OB service here.

We took a taxi home, hot and tired, and got a drink to take up onto the 7th floor balcony. In the heat and humidity, we spent awhile looking out over a city we knew from up close, and finally got to see from a more overhead perspective. We could see the stunningly high mountains to the west, with the sun setting behind them. The ocean lies to the east, and except for the East-West flip, is a setting not unlike Southern California. It is an odd city for us though, full of motor scooters, thin small buildings, and funny top floor porches and gardens.

Next came the traditional party given by Resurge at the end of each trip to thank the hosts and local co-workers. We had this in our restaurant at the hotel and about thirty people showed up, including a couple of local officials. Everyone made speeches and then the drinks began to flow, especially for the locals. Vietnamese like to party!

Of course there was dancing, karaoke, group photos, and certificates. Most of our important players made it there, and we got to recognize them for their contribution to the effort we all made here. A job well done by all, and a party to show for it.