First day in Mongolia

So, I have finally completed a full day in Asia. I need to stop coming to these continents for work :)

Vandersteen in Customs with our surgical gear. Took 2 hours and an act of congress to get these things through congress.


Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia has been as advertised: gracious and graceful people, modern culture meets nomadic traditional Mongol life, poverty versus extravagant, crazy driving, terrible smog, and a Russian hospital. We saw over 50 patients in clinic today (can somebody say "shotgun") and documented each one in pictures.

Here are a couple beautiful kids from "countryside" with their mothers:

Most the pictures are medical (and meaningless to the none urologist) so I will spare you the enjoyment. We saw these children like a factory: they would come in, we would "hear their story" in 30-45 seconds via a translator, look at available x-rays, do a physical exam, and then triage to either surgery, no surgery, or needs surgery but we don't have time this week. After the long day, all the patients and their families were waiting in this dirty hospital to see if we would "pick" them. They were lined up in this hallway and we were passing between them - back and forth - while they watched us, hoping and praying that we would help them.

After much discussion, Vadersteen and I felt the same way: we had to help as many as we could. We put everyone of them on the schedule and turned none away. It will be an extremely busy week, but likely one the most rewarding of my young career.

Some interesting, some not interesting and some silly highlights:

View of city from our hotel.

Vandersteen and I got in a 7 mile run (or as he calls it "jog"). It was just a run. The smog and traffic make running in this city anything but fun - not to mention dangerous. But we survived, saw some monuments and got in some miles.

The "list" of surgeries broken into days for Vandersteen, Hurlee (Mongol urologist) and myself to accomplish this week:

Our operative theater and team. Note, that there are two beds in one room. Yep, we do two surgeries and two different patients in one room. Surgeon dream, but not the safest.

The whole team:

Left to right: Tomoko (anesthesiologist - Japan), Adam Childs (urology resident - Mayo, Minnesota) Yoki (anesthesia resident - Japan), me, David Vandersteen (pediatric urologist - Minneapolis, Minnesota), Keira (recovery nurse - Vancouver, BC), Jeremy Myers (urologist reconstruction/trauma specialist - Salt Lake City, Utah), Nori (pediatric anesthesiologist - Japan)



On a silly note. Vandersteen and Childs going down to visit the underground families. People literally live down in the sewer system of the city and these manhole covers are missing at times. Trouble is, at night you can literally walk right into them.