MAY-B-4

THE COMPLEX PLANS OF MESHING MALAWI AND MINDANAO

IN WINTER OF 2002

Dear George:

Wonderful!

I may be searching for an excuse to come down toward Carolina, and we could organize some of the ideas and coordinate visits!

                       WANT TO MAKE SOME GRANDIOSE PLANS?

Now, take in a deep breath, since I have just had an expansive vision of what might be able to be worked into the coming year---and rather than attaching itineraries, I may string several already commited together, and see what might work out in unison!

I am going to Ladakh, again, from July 15 to the first week of August.

I will be leading a group to the Spiti Valley in Himachal, India in September (14--10/1/2001) then bouncing out of Delhi to Kathmandu to continue on to a clinic in Lukla where I have worked before, from which a ten-day trek will be launched toward Everest Base Camp.  I have done this a few times and may have to bail out at Namche Bazaar, to return directly to New Orleans for the ACS clinical congress at which I am presenting a panel on Mission and Mercy-- a discussion of medical missions and a launch of the new book "Surgery and Healing in the Developing World."  (Landes BioScience.)

I have a couple of commitments in the winter period, including UVA, Charlottesville on medical ethics,  on January 22, before or after an as-yet unscheduled commitment to Goa India for two weeks.  In February, probably the latter two weeks or the last of February and the first of March I would return to Mindanao Philippines, again, for two weeks.  If I could work it out, I might go 'round the world, either to, or from Malawi adjacent to the Mindanao trip.  It is often better to start out afresh, since I can carry packs of medicine and the little items I usually carry that never make a round trip, but could be left there. 

                   MY PLANS FOR YOUR AND MY NEXT WEEKS!

These are the items I had planned to discuss---as well as swap a few pictures, as soon as I know when and how it might be convenient for you, if I come down in your direction to visit, sooner, or you were traveling in this direction, later.  I have a colleague just resettling in the Georgetown South Carolina area who asked me to stop down any time, and--of all things-- I have a big ugly taxidermy trophy to pick up somewhere near Fort Bragg, NC at some unspecified point in the future.  I could pack up a bunch of photo albums from the last trips and the itineraries of the next ones, and we could compare notes!

I am leaving for a week on May 31 to go to run the Steamboat Springs marathon in Colorado, to which I will return two weeks later via San Antonio to run the Big Horn Ultra in Wyoming on June 16 (a 54.3 mile jaunt through the Big Horn Wilderness at 10,400 feet)  On my way to that run, which I will fly to via Denver, I hope to visit my son Michael and daughter-in-law Judy, in San Antonio, for a special purpose:  they are going to be producing a wholesale pair of twin grandsons the following month when I am in Ladakh!

I have a blitz of travel associated with my return from the Spiti/Nepal/New Orleans trips in the fall with a string of six weekly marathons in October-November, one of which is the November 11, San Antonio Marathon, patterned to have me back in San Antonio to play with three month old twins!

                              MY PLANS FOR YOU FALL!

If you could look at your time frame of the first two weeks of October, that would be the ideal time to take on Nepal, and I would be with you through the clinics half and the first three days of the trek.  Contact Ravi Singh at ravi@himalayanspirit.com and he will tell you more about the Himalayan Health Exchange.

                      MY PLANS FOR YOUR WINTER

I am adding his email and that of a wonderful fellow Alan Mellicor, a Philippine surgeon who will be leading the Mindanoa mission--both of them will have our contact points through the email addresses above.  You can now read the details of the Mindanao Medical Mission this February/March on my Home Page (http://gwu,edu/~gwg) under the On-Line Journal for these time frames, as they were just put up on the page last night after taking down the previous three years ( and the prior Nepal trek) to make room--and I can supply these background copies by your request.

                     MY PLANS FOR OUR NEXT YEAR

If we work this right, we may be able to pack several lifetimes of adventure in medical missions in the next half year, and still come up with a few more places and ideas for the next "wish list!"  One of my suggestions would be---how about if we combine the trip to the Medical missions international for Mindanao and Malawi, so that I could take you through a place I know well and have exercised already---and teach you how to do as many goiters as you would care to do, along with a bunch of clefts and gynecology---and then we could move on together to Malawi, where you would take me through your turf!

You know--all this just may be able to work out!

GWG

>>> "Poehlman, George" 05/16/01 01:57PM >>>

Glenn-

I hope your travels are going well, it sounds like you are as busy as ever. I would like to accompany you someday to Nepal for trekking or the Everest base camp, just my sort of thing. Well, it does not look like we will be in the DC area for a couple of more months.  I was just asked to lead a group of 60 pre-med students who are graduates of the National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine to China for three weeks to study the Chinese health care system.  I will be leaving the 22nd of June and returning on the 11th of July.  It should be interesting and maybe a bit challenging with 60 college freshman and sophomores. 
My plans for going to Malawi are to leave very shortly after X-mas and spend two months.  If you are looking at your calendar, I would suggest coming after I have been there for a couple of weeks to allow me to get things organized for a real surgeon to be on site.  If we can set definite dates sometime around September or October we can let the staff at Embangweni know and they can start scheduling patients to return for surgery.  But as you know the recall system for patients is pretty weak, you hope they remember to come back when you ask them to since there really is no written communication. Michael King also comes sometimes in January for a day or two to do prostates and other needed surgery.  I think you know him and might enjoy working with him.  He is truly an icon in Malawi.
January is peak malaria and malnutrition month so three or four medical students or residents could easily be put to work on the wards. OB faculty or residents are a real plus since a lot of the surgery is GYN, we always need somebody who can repair Vesico Vaginal Fistulas but unfortunately they don't see them in the US so aren't always comfortable with the procedure. I hear rumors that there might also be a contingency from ECU who wants to come back to Embangweni so I will try to coordinate when I hear more.  I will let you know when we will be in the DC area and when we have my wife's and my travel dates.  It's always good to hear of your travels so keep me on your mailing list.

George

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