From the Team Leader

Good morning from Dharan,

We have completed our stay at Dharan and about to leave to go back to Kathmandhu.
It would be an understatement to say that it was an interesting experience.

We completed 30 major cases in 5 days. When I say major... I mean major: cystectomy, bladder recontruction, continent urinary diversion, complex ureteroscopic stone ablation, pyeloplasty hypospadias, urinary fistula and strictures, and stone removal.

All the cases seem to get more and more complex and unusual.

All the patients are currently doing well and many have left the hospital already, to the surprise of our surgical colleagues here at Dharan.

Yesterday, we went to clinic and consulted on some more patients. I thought my clinic was busy. I greatly apologize to my assistant, Ivette, and promise her to never complain about my patient load ever again... or at least for a couple of weeks. Anyway, we have had a great educational opportunity. Every morning we began with lectures for the residents and interns. We hope to have provided them with some better understanding about the current urological diagnosis and management. The residents and interns sent some very nice emails and letters about how much they enjoyed working with us. We feel the same way.

I could not have been more fortunate to have such a great team. We all pooled together and worked our behinds off. I thank every one of them for giving 150% effort all day long. To correct Rich, it was not a mouse that scared Jean and Barbara, it was a mole. He came back this morning and visited Norma and Claire and scared the heck out of both of them. I greatly admire each and every one of my team members for their spirits and generous hearts. John, Rich, Norma, Jean, Barbara and Claire are people who truly make the world they live in a much better place. Please do me a favor and let these guys know when they are home what an amazing thing they have done and remind them how great they are every day.

We will be starting our journey back home. We all miss our families and friends very much and hope to bring you all back some wonderful souvenirs from this beautiful country.

Bob