Last minute check off to do....and leaving to the airport at 2pm.  My daughter Kristin will drive me and i am grateful for this as she is in between classes and taking the time to help her mom.
I am excited to go back to Rwanda this year.   I think it is anticipating seeing my Rwandan friends and collegues and spending time working ( and rooming) with my great friend Ellen.   Ellen is a bit nervous about the trip.   She has been away from the bedside for a number of years ( she is a manager now).   It is also the anxiety of going to a new enviroment and not being able to cope.   I know she will be fine.  She is a low maintence kind of gal and she is a fine nurse...like riding a bike, your skills come back to you and our basic assessment skills of feel, look and listen come to the forfront as technolgy is secondary....we listen to lungs, feel extremeties for warmth and observe mentation/alertness to check for cardiac output....no special monitoring devices...we trust our skills and our collegues to make a diagnosis.  
I sometimes wonder why i get so excited to spend my vacation time working so hard....I think it's like having a baby...you forget the pain of labor and remember the joy of your new child's face.   It renews my practice and in many ways has become my " sabatical".    It also bonds you in a special way to your comrades you work with....we work so hard but get so much joy from the smile of a 12 year old or the touch of a hand with a soulful eye contact that expresses gratefulness as i have never experienced it.    So I return for my 6th trip with Team Heart and i do hope you follow my trip and help encourage me....as the days wear on sometimes my enthusiasm wanes....it is always nice to hear from home.